Tag Archives: Fonab Castle

Mingary Castle

24 July 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 8 Comments

After having all cobwebs unceremoniously removed at Arnamurchan Lighthouse we retraced our route back to Kilchoan and Mingary Castle. Returning on the same road (the only road) we felt the sheep looked even more indignant.

External view of Mingary Castle — Built in the 13th century as a MacDonald stronghold, Mingarry Castle, with its nine foot thick walls looks difficult to get into. That was the whole idea. One ship from the Spanish Armada laid siege to it for several days before giving up.

First impressions of Mingary can be slightly off putting. There doesn’t seem to be any windows and you have to walk round to the western end to find a small door. Once through the door, however, you come in to an inner courtyard and everything changes.

Internal courtyard at Mingary Castle — The inner courtyard

How do they do it?

Sheltered from the wind it is warm and cosy in the summer sunshine. We were staying over in the MacDonald suite which ranged over two floors under the roof to the left of the above picture. This place is almost impossibly remote yet recently it has been showered with awards … AA Hotel of the Year, and chef/owner Colin Nicholson, Chef of the Year. Incredible!

We had to be careful. Dinner in the evening meant that we had to have our afternoon tea early enough not to spoil our appetite. These are the problems with which sconeys like us have to wrestle. The young girl looking after us (she had a university degree in Gaelic) was fantastic. Firstly she brought us a delicious variety of sandwiches and later presented us with three tiers of goodies. Savouries on top, sweet things in the middle and fruit and plain scones on the bottom layer. All the while keeping us continuously supplied with fresh hot tea. What about the scones? You can probably guess by now that they were absolutely perfect. Just the way we like them. Accordingly, an easy topscone and another serious competitor for Fonab Castle’s title of “best scone in the world”.

Battlements at Mingary Castle — View from the battlements towards the Sound of Mull

The media

You do feel remote here and far away from the travails of the modern world. It’s an extraordinary place. Reluctantly we looked at the news and discovered that the wall to wall coverage of Kamala Harris had been replaced by news of Janet Jackson’s upcoming tour. How fickle is the media? Which is more exciting … Kamala or Janet?

Tomorrow we head back home via the Corran ferry that brought us here. That will complete a little circular tour of this fantastic part of Scotland.

PH36 4LH tel: 01972 614380 Mingary Castle

///isolating.reconnect.liberated

Scones, Top

Lamlash House

7 June 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 13 Comments

We’ve been trying to book an afternoon tea here in Lamlash House since what seems like forever. It’s always fully booked because they only do them once in a while. For example, the next one isn’t until 7th September. Anyway, we managed to get booked so here we are in the lace manufacturing town of Newmilns in deepest Ayrshire.

Although lace manufacturing has largely died out in the town MYB Textiles still carries on the tradition. Now, they are the world’s only producer still making patterned lace on their 100 year old looms.

Banking To Banqueting

The Tannahill window at Lamlash House — One of several windows dedicated to Scotlands writers and poets. This one is to Robert Tannahill.

Lamlash House was built in 1889 for the Royal Bank of Scotland. It’s opulent Victorian interiors were obviously designed to impress but they are only evident today due to the monumental renovation undertaken by its current owners, Gordon and Jonathan. To begin with they only had the upstairs but in 2014 when the bank decided to quit they acquired the downstairs as well. Years of intense restoration followed before they were able to open the doors again in 2019. And what a job they have done! The attention to detail is astonishing. It is like stepping back in time but with an air of playfulness replacing the rather stern solidity of the bank. Their years of toil have really paid off.

Today they were celebrating a five year anniversary so everyone was presented with complimentary fizz on arrival. Our tea was served in what used to be the main banking hall; now styled around Charles Rennie Macintosh. From the Leaf Tea and Infusion Menu we chose the Lamlash House Signature Blend which was billed as the perfect accompaniment to scones … just what we needed!

The afternoon tea was a cornucopia of goodies from delicious sandwiches to citrusy posset with a raspberry on top. And fabulous scones, of course. All this combined with perfect service in beautiful surroundings made it a wonderful experience. Although not quite Pat’s birthday she was suitably serenaded and presented with a cake complete with candle. This was an experience which could easily rival Fonab Castle and Schloss Roxburgh as our sconey benchmarks.

Small but perfect

Afterwards we went out to the garden to finish off our bubbles in the sunshine. And after that we went to what they think may be the smallest bar in Scotland – the Strongroom Bar. Obviously it used to be the walk-in safe for the bank and it features one which used to sit in the main banking hall where we had our afternoon tea. It’s great fun and, as expected, beautifully reimagined as a bar. However, it can only accommodate a couple of people so our cocktails were served next door in the Library. It’s not a lot bigger but is beautifully appointed and does have a couple of very comfortable easy chairs.

The Library at Lamlash House — Pat had a French Martini and mine was a Cosmo-Not. Served, of course, on £50 notes (napkins)

Lamlash house has a real family feel about it. No one seems to be in a rush. It was Jonathan’s mother that answered the door and it was her and her friends who were working in the kitchen. Long after afternoon tea was finished they still took delight in showing us around the premises and explaining the significance of some of the features and the difficulties experienced during renovations. Of course, they can only do this because they carefully manage the number of small weddings and other events they hold to keep stress levels to an absolute minimum … perfect!

Pat with Gordon and Jonathan — Gordon, Pat and Jonathan beside a vintage bicycle in the garden

Lock in

We have seldom enjoyed a visit as much as we did this one. It was an absolute pleasure. It seems a shame to sully it with political comment so we won’t.

Stained glass at Lamlash House — Flora, Roman Goddess of Flowers and the Season of Spring at the front door

Except to say that we missed the TV Leaders Debate between Sunak and Starmer which we referred to in our previous post from Stockbridge House. Of course, the media have been talking about nothing else so we almost feel as if we did actually see it. There was no mention of anything of importance like the National Debt, Brexit or Scotland. Instead they just lied to each other and to us. With leadership like this we wish we could just lock ourselves in Lamlash House until it is all over … or even longer!

KA16 9AD tel: 07912 874 600 Lamlash House

///racked.smashes.etchings

Scones, Top

Fingal

5 June 2019 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

After our visit to Titanic Belfast we have aquired the nautical bug. This time we are staying aboard the Fingal, a floating hotel moored in Port of Leith. Now before you jump to the conclusion that we just move from one luxurious hotel to another like a couple of itinerant millionaires, let us set the record straight. It’s not like that at all. Well, maybe a little bit but not that much. And we only do it with good reason. It’s a special day for Pat and, of course there’s always the potential for a scone along the way. We are doing it for you, our sconey readers … no, really! If you come on pictures that make it look as if we are enjoying ourselves it is simply to help ease your conscience.

Pat beside the Fingal — Pat about to board

Challenging scones

Now we are not going to lie and tell you this was some sort of old bathtub of a boat. It wasn’t. Probably about as far away as it’s possible to get from that description. It has a beautiful ballroom and a glass lift that automatically compensates for any movement of the ship. So, not too bathtubish! The bottle of ice cold Moet & Chandon in our room completely dispelled any lingering doubts. Tempting though a glass of champs was, duty called. We knew we could get an afternoon tea on board but neither of us felt able for such indulgence late in the afternoon and risk spoiling our appetite for the evening. A cup of tea and a scone would be just fine. Although, for the management, this was going slightly ‘off piste’, nothing was too much trouble.

Scottish stuff

Ours scones were beautifully presented and they even gave us a few finger sandwiches, just to tide us over. You all know by now that our sconological benchmark is a cream tea at Fonab Castle in Pitlochry. Perfect scones, perfectly presented in beautiful surroundings … the best scones in the world. In over 300 scones reviewed on this blog, Fonab has never really been seriously challenged … until now!

Fingal’s chef Brendan had produced scones that, at long last, could easily give Fonab a run for its money. Nicely presented, they were warm and had that delightful light crunchy exterior and the soft inner that we crave in a topscone. There was a fruit and a plain one for each of us but they were precisely the right size, so no problem. We could not fault them. They came with jam from Galloway Lodge Preserves in Gatehouse of Fleet and even the butter came from the Edinburgh Butter Company in Stockbridge. It’s so easy to present quality Scottish products like this. We are constantly amazed that so many Scottish establishments source their products from everywhere but Scotland. Well done Fingal, the easiest topscone we have awarded in a long time. You may take pride of place along side Fonab Castle … that’s quite an achievement.

To the Shore

We could have stayed on board for dinner however the ship is only a few minutes walk from the Shore area of Leith where there are loads of excellent waterside pubs and restaurants. A spot of exploring was called for! We had a quick drink at Sofi’s and then an excellent meal at The Ship on the Shore. The light had almost gone as we made our way back to the mother ship.

On the deck of the Fingal — A life on the ocean wave … ignore the buildings in the background

Man sized scones

Today is the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings however Fingal is far too young to remember any of that. She was built in 1963 in Glasgow and spent her whole life supplying remote lighthouses around Scotland. Each very comfortable cabin is named after a lighthouse. Ours was Lismore which coincidentally was a lighthouse with which we became very familiar when we experienced Kiki’s man-sized raspberry scones on the Isle of Lismore.

Pat with old friend at the dockside — Pat relaxes with a new friend on a late evening return to Fingal

Today is also the day that Donald Trump leaves the UK after his state visit. It’s probably also the last day that Theresa May will make a public appearance as Prime Minister. Huge sighs of relief all round.

Fingal was a great experience and Charlotte, Catriona and all the staff made it great fun as well. We would thoroughly recommend it to all itinerant millionaires.

EH6 7DX tel: 0131 357 5000 Fingal Hotel

///cloud.aims.wing

Ordinary, Scones

Loch Melfort Hotel

19 March 2019 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

Politically, things have been so dire recently that we have been reluctant to venture out for a scone. Not because we had gone off scones, you understand, but because it would then require us to say something cogent about the current situation at Westmonster. A veritable impossibility. How is it possible to end up in a situation where the government is the most diabolically pathetic ever in the history of governments and the opposition, which is supposed to save us from such things, is even worse? Unbelievable!

We have had to break our silence, however, because believe it or not, this is our 300th scone. And still, if we turn sideways, you can barely see us. It’s truly amazing. In 2015 when we wrote our first scone post in Dunkeld, we certainly did not expect that exactly four years later we would still be at it.

View from Loch Melfort Hotel — View from our window

Stats

A lot has happened in those four years on allaboutthescones. We have mentioned Brexit 78 times. Not surprising you might think but remember, back then, the word Brexit hadn’t even been thought of. Trump hadn’t been thought of either, at least not seriously, but he managed to get himself mentioned 53 times. Theresa May only managed 43! In terms of scones we have had 76 topscones and 2 apple pies. Fonab Castle has maintained its position on top of the scone pile throughout. An extraordinary achievement by any standards.

Would our 300th provide a fitting crescendo? Where would it be?Serendipity dictated that it would be here at Loch Melfort Hotel. A lovely spot if ever there was one. It’s situated in Arduaine Gardens which in themselves are reminiscent of a tropical rain forest. The North Atlantic Drift, sweeping up from the Caribbean, has a profound affect in this part of the world. Palm trees and bamboo abound. Lichen grows in huge tresses from all the trees indicating the purity of the air. The hotel used to be the ‘big house’ of the estate but when the gardens were taken over by the National Trust for Scotland it was converted to its current use. Anyway, so what about this 300th scone?

The wrong reasons

We were fortunate to be able to sit in glorious sunshine in one of the hotal lounges looking out towards Croabh Haven and the Isle of Luing. As far as settings went this was absolutely perfect. The scone itself came nicely presented with plenty of jam and whipped cream. Unfortunately, that was the good bit. The scone had a sort of leathery skin the like of which we have never come across before. Once it had been penetrated with a knife the innards were nothing to get excited about either. This 300th scone was notable for all the wrong reasons. The jam and cream made it sort of edible however. Quelle dommage! Everything else was fantastic so it was really unfortunate that the scone let the place down so badly. Heyho, life goes on!

Democracy

Life may not be going on much longer for Theresa May. The Speaker of the House of Commons, dastardly chap that he is, has gone and foiled her wicked plan to run down the clock on Brexit. Isn’t it odd that the folk who scream about democracy having to be respected are so dead set against democracy taking its course in another referendum? Anyway we still have a few days left before the cliff edge. It has been nice knowing you all!

PA34 4XG tel: 01852 200 233 Melfort Hotel

ps: In the nearby village of Melfort we came across this K6 telephone box. It was manufactured by the Saracen Foundry in Glasgow and was the first box we have come across functioning as a prison. A padlock on the door was ensuring that the large gnome inside was prevented from escaping. We have no idea what misdemeanour the gnome had committed to deserve such a fate. Explanations on a postcard please.

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

The Scottish Cafe

22 February 2017 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

As we walked back to Waverley station in Edinburgh we had to pass the Scottish National Gallery. You can’t miss it, it’s the large imposing Parthenon like building at the bottom of the Mound. As you have probably gathered by now, Pat and I are not exactly what you might call ‘mad keen culture vultures‘ but we do have our moments. The odd concert here and there; the odd exhibition now and again. Sooo, as we approached the rather grandiose home of Scotland’s art treasures we had but one thought … ‘they must do a scone in there’!

Gallery at the Scottish National Gallery — Inside the Scottish National Gallery

Once inside and as we walked around one of the galleries. We paused in front of a small Rembrandt and wondered if you might be interested in our thoughts on the iconicity of the gesture spatially undermining the substructure of critical thinking … or … if you might like us just to get straight to the scones? Okay, the scones have it! Like many galleries it is both fabulous and pretentious in almost equal quantities but The Scottish Café wins, hands down, when it come to pretentiousness. Who came up with that name? It had better be good!?

Deceased sconeys spinning

Early signs were less than encouraging because it’s a bit of a soulless barn of a place and all self service. The young girl we got to help us was not from the UK and acted as if she wished she had never come. When asked if we could have something other than a paper cup for our coffee … no, was the monosyllabic answer! Ah well, after our recent sojourn at the Wee Lochan this was a bit of a let down. It’s not cheap either … £3 for a fruit scone must have had deceased sconeys everywhere spinning in their graves. In their favour, it has to be said that the café and the rather nice looking restaurant next door, do try to use locally produced Scottish fare. A large blackboard, next to where we sat, explained it all in exquisite if somewhat bewildering detail.

Value for money?

There was only one scone left. That we had no option but to share, so we got a pain au chocolat to share as well. After we had cleared a table to sit at we looked at what we had got; a self cleared table, an expensive scone, a wooden knife, two pats of butter, a wee bowl of jam and coffee in paper cups. Things were not looking too good. Pat, however, started on her half of the pain au chocolat and was soon making all sorts of soft “mmmmm” noises.
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Eventually, once I had unpacked the butter and spread the jam, I took a mouthful of scone. Damn it, it was good as well! Maybe it was because of our expectations being lowered to such an extent by the surroundings and service that we thought they were good. But no, they actually were good. In fact it might have got a topscone if we hadn’t felt it would unfair to the likes of Fonab Castle and the Wee Lochan where the value for money is much much greater – no topscone! You see, we can be ruthless when it comes to maintaining standards!

View from the Scottish Café & Restaurant at the National Gallery, Edinburgh — View from The Scottish Café & Restaurant

Grasping at straws

Talking of standards, we watched the debate in Parliament about Trump’s state visit later this year. It was good to see our elected representatives at full throttle, giving it wellie on both sides of the argument. And struggling to make themselves heard over the anti-Trump protests going on outside in the street. The visit will go ahead of course. At the moment, the government is grasping at anything that looks vaguely like a straw. However, it’s a pity he won’t be able to address Parliament. With all the eloquence of a football manager, it might have been a good watch.

p.s. apologies to football managers everywhere.

EH2 2EL tel: 0131 225 1550 The Scottish Café & Restaurant

Scones, Uncategorized

A Ton Of Scones

11 March 2016 billpaterson1@me.com 4 Comments

Motorcyclists often refer to ‘doing a ton’, meaning 100mph, so this post is the scone equivalent. Not reviewing a particular scone but rather 100 scones; a ton of scones .. as a pie. Our last post from Liberty was our 100th so we thought it was time for some analysis. Bearing in mind our limited mathematical dexterity, 100 makes it easy to work out percentages. Our first post was Palmerston’s in Dunkeld almost exactly one year ago which works out at almost one scone every 4 days. How’s that for dedication, and amazingly, we are just as sylph-like as ever .. or at least Pat is.

The Results:

75% gained no accolade or categorisation other than they were just fairly ordinary or self service scones. That does not make them bad. In fact many of them were very good, but not good enough for an award. Notably the Biscuit and the Bingham Hotel just missed out on a topscone award.
Wee Blether

Annoyingly the Corinthian had superb scones but abysmal service, otherwise it would have had a topscone award. 1% of this category, the Buckhaven scone, wasn’t even a scone. Some, like the Wee Blether were just great fun.
21% gained a topscone award. We think this is rather good but like the ordinary scones not all were equal. If we were to select our top three topscones it would be Fonab Castle, the Olympic Studios and the Dormy.
Ardanaiseig

The other 18 topscones were all excellent but not quite as good as these three. Some locations like Ackergill Tower and Ardanaiseig were fabulous. Our most expensive scone was undoubtedly Claridges but what an experience!
1% was classed as ‘foreign’. The Duke was based on information from our Iberian correspondent.
2% was classed as ‘homemade’ … made by friends and not sold commercially. One, Dan’s was so good it got a topscone. The other was on Nicola Sturgeon making scones but we didn’t taste them so couldn’t give them an award, though we are sure they would have been first class.
4% were classed as ‘weird’. This did not mean they were in any way bad. They were just weird. The ‘thunder and lightning’ scone at Mother Murphy’s was memorable as was the ‘bacon and cheese’ scone at Habitat.
22% were self service scones. In itself this did not make them bad but none of them made topscone This was partly because it is about the whole experience and waiting in a queue is never as good as being waited on.
8% were island scones … The Puffer on Easdale being the best.
The Puffer
11% were English scones. Difficult to say if English scones are better than Scottish, they certainly have some odd ideas about the prioritisation of jam and cream. Might need further investigation.

A Dash of Politics: Our rants have probably got progressively more and more ranty as the year passed. Sincere apologies to all, but it makes us feel better!

Summary: All in all it has been a wonderfully enjoyable year. There are some places we won’t be rushing back to, either because they were too bad or too expensive. The vast majority, however, we would happily visit again .. which is great! Many thanks to our benefactors who have treated us to the odd scone here and there and thanks to our correspondents who have shared their scone stories with us. Thanks are also due to the places we have visited who, by and large, have enjoyed the reviews and given us lovely feedback. Will there be another ton? We shall see!

english, Ordinary, Scones

Gail’s Artisan Bakery

9 April 2015 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

This is the BBC (baby buggy central) otherwise known as Gail’s Artisan Bakery. Barnes is a very nice spot on the bulge in the Thames where the boat race will be contested in a few days time. Only an ‘artisan’ bakery would do .. otherwise the natives would revolt.

As you might expect then, Gail’s is a very nice coffee shop which seems to be busy no matter when you go. Lots of yummy mummy’s and people ‘at the office’. Once saw a couple juggling two laptops, two iPads and four mobile phones, ah the joys! One reason it seems so busy is that it’s small. Although it has overspill seating outside it sometimes seems as if the whole of Barnes is trying to squeeze in here, and no wonder. Lots of great looking home baked breads, cakes, pastries, biscuits .. and scones. You order at the counter and pick up a paddle so that they can find you at your table. Hats off to the staff, they work like trojans, picking their way through the conglomeration of people, bags and buggies.

Being fussy

We had never tried the scones in here before so it had to be done. After a short wait it duly arrived and the reason for the wait became obvious, they had been toasting them. A little too much as it happens. They were so hot it was difficult to handle them and as a result the base of the scone had become too hard and the scone itself had become a bit on the dry side. They came with little bowls of cream and strawberry jam which were very nice. Bear in mind that we are comparing with the likes of Fonab Castle here so are being deliberately fussy. Overall we enjoyed Gail’s scones and are sure that the fact that ours were a little over toasted is not the norm. This place is definitely worth a visit.

SW13 9HH tel: 02087410987 Gails

Scones, history and a dollop of politics