Tag Archives: K2 telephone box

Scones, Uncategorized

The Little Big Dairy Company

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The Little Big Dairy logoThis post is slightly different.  It doesn’t actually involve any scones directly but rather indicates how to ensure your scone is spoilt rotten by treating it and yourself to some real cream. It’s all part of sconology. According to our New South Welshman correspondent (rides shotgun for our Bathurst correspondent), cream doesn’t come any better than that produced by the Little Big Dairy Company and its herd of 800 Holstein cows. In his own words, here’s why:

“The first Saturday in September is Father’s Day in New South Wales (remember we are no longer Australians, but a collection of warring states). Little big Australian real creamYour Bathurst corespondent’s loving daughter presented a most wonderful jar of health-giving cream, from a small family-owned ethical dairy. Food for thought.  In my childhood milk was extracted from a happy cow, placed in a large bowl in the fridge, and later the cream scooped from the top with a large spoon. Oh, bliss!   Occasionally a separator was used— awful to wash up.  At the same time, most farm kids had lumps or scars in their necks from bovine TB. Scottish milk was described (in Microbiology lectures in the late 1960s) as “ Tuberculous Pus”

Public health rules have undoubtedly produced many benefits, but pondering the origins of our food is important. Most milk in Western countries is now produced in industrial factories. Cows in sheds, no sunshine, no happy days playing in green grass. Cream emerges from the end of a factory, great distances from the cow

Jam on top?
Little big Australian real cream
Stand your spoon up cream

Your Bathurst correspondent was in heaven eating his ethical cream on fresh scones. (It’s so thick it must be eaten in the Devon way— cream first, jam on top — even if YOUR Queen disagrees). Pay a bit more, get the real stuff”.

Fantastic, more power to the Little Big Dairy Company! However, we may have to agree with Her Majesty about cream placement … no matter how thick it is! We would like to say that we were not around in the 60s to enjoy “ Tuberculous Pus” but of course we were. Happily, we can report wonderful silky smooth necks though some say that’s due to continuous use of Brasso. Unfortunately, for most readers, you have to live in New South Wales to enjoy the benefits of the Little Big Dairy Company’s produce. In this globalised world, however, it would not surprise us if someone started importing Little Big cream to the UK. Crikey, we complain about Scotland importing Rodda’s Cornish cream.

Good riddance

He also comments on some political news. Even though he says Australia is now a collection of warring states they all seem to have come together in a show of unity to say “good riddance” to former Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott. In case you don’t know, in yet another of Boris’s brain farts, he has appointed Abbott as an official trade adviser to the UK. “Thank you so much for taking Tony Abbott off our hands. If “ The Mad Monk “ is your answer, what is your question??   Our pugilistic, misogynist, climate change denying, failed ex-Prime Minister will happily negotiate away anything you value. Goodbye NHS, affordable pharmaceuticals, any health, ethical or environmental regulations. Welcome chlorinated chicken and any man-made toxin now banned in the EU. Please keep him. He and Boris obviously get on very well.”

Mystery?

No wonder they get on very well! Boris Johnson says that Abbott was elected by the “great liberal democratic nation of Australia”, but he fails to note that Abbott broke almost every election promise he ever made. Abbott reckons climate change is “absolute crap” and as far as we know he has never negotiated a trade deal in his life. Maybe Boris just wants some advice on how to cope with being ditched after only one term in government. How do eejits like Abbott, Johnson and Trump get elected to the highest office in the first place? It’s a mystery! It’s unbelievable!

Our New South Welshman ends reassuringly: “We are surviving well by finding small pleasures in life, like a shared liking of scones”. Nice to think that on the opposite side of the world we are surviving in exactly the same way. Many thanks JB, keep up the good work.

Dubbo NSW 2830           tel: +61 02 6887 3443          Little Big Dairy

///basher.fashioning.sour

K2 telephone box
FMF hope to persuade BT to reinstall a K2 in the High Street … the only K2 in Scotland.

ps: Our telephone box enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that our little organisation Falkirk Made Friends (FMF) have convinced BT to take away all removal notices from the town’s telephone boxes and persuaded the local Council to adopt three of them. Falkirk manufactured the first K2 boxes in 1926 and, over the years, most of the subsequent K4s and K6s. The town was within a week or so of completely losing this iconic symbol of its industrial heritage. There is much more work still to be done to ensure their future in the form of an Iron Heritage Trail. In the meantime, we would be grateful for photographs of telephone boxes from anywhere in the world.

Ordinary, Scones

Jamesfield Farm

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Jamesfield Farm is not in a part of the country we visit often. It’s not often we drive along the the south side of the river Tay, however, today is an exception. We ended up here at Elcho Castle but it was shut for the winter!

External view of Elcho Castle
Elcho Castle, built in 1560 as the family seat of the Wemyss family

No worries, Elcho is not the main reason we are here. Acting on a tip-off from our Trossachs correspondents, we were actually looking for a very rare K3 telephone box. One of only two left in the UK and the other one is in a museum.

Rarities in Rhynd

Apologies but scone purists will simply have to bear with us. Since we seem to have acquired a fair number of scone/telephone box enthusiasts, we feel we have to try and cater to everyone. Fear not, we will get to the scones! Just up the road from the castle we found our K3  outside the old post office house in the tiny hamlet of Rhynd. Not only was the box open, it was in perfect working order!

wide and close up view of K3 telephone box at Rhynd
This K3 has a preservation order and is one of only two left in the UK

This was probably more to do with the preservation order it enjoys rather than the need for functioning public telecommunications in Rhynd. All K3s were made of concrete with teak doors and like the K1 and the K5 were painted cream with red windows. Rather oddly the K3 was introduced in 1929 … after the K4?? The K2 was deemed too expensive to install outside of London so this little box may have been one of the first in Scotland.  If you are looking for a K3, however, and can’t make it to Rhynd your best bet is probably to take a holiday in Portugal where they are still fairly numerous.

Ducks and geese

Anyway, all this excitement, rather predictably, created hunger pangs that simply couldn’t be ignored. Not far from Rhynd we came across Jamesfield Farm Shop and Restaurant which prides itself on having been organic for the past thirty years. Some of these farm shops seem to be housed in fairly industrial looking buildings and this one is no exception. In the title picture the restaurant is located in the distance behind the roosters.

View from the Jamesfield Farm restaurant near Perth
View looking north from the restaurant

On the plus side, the grounds have been landscaped quite nicely with several ponds for ducks and geese. The restaurant itself is big and rather utilitarian but they did have a good range of scones and the service was very friendly and welcoming. Internal view of Jamesfield Farm restaurant near Perth

Since we were having some lunch as well we eventually decided on one of their large cherry scones to share. Jamesfield is a great example of a family owned farming business that has had to diversify to survive. With their restaurant, shop and garden centre, they do it very well. What effect withdrawal from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy will have on farming remains to be seen but we suspect that it won’t be for the better. A scone at Jamesfield Farm restaurant near PerthGiven our government’s constant carping about the cost of the CAP, they are hardly likely to be more generous once it’s gone. If scones are anything to go by, however, Jamesfield will do okay no matter what happens. As well as producing lots of fruit and vegetables they do all their own baking. Although our cherry scone wasn’t a topscone, it  was very enjoyable nevertheless.

Soap operas

Never thought we would see the day that ‘Live in Parliament’ would threaten to overtake Coronation Street’s viewing figures. It is fast becoming debatable which is the most riveting soap.

External view of the entrance to the Jamesfield Farm restaurant near Perth
Entrance to the shop and restaurant

The government defeated three times within an hour and held in contempt for the first time in history. Wow, and, like Coronation Street, this is real life! Simultaneously, Theresa May maintains her mantra. The answer to every single question of the past two months “I alone know what is best for everyone”. When she explicitly says that she knows what is best for the people of Scotland she doesn’t seem to have any inkling of how insulting that is. The country that voted overwhelmingly to not do what she wants to do.  Thank goodness for Dominic Grieve who has perhaps made it possible to rest power away from the May dictatorship. If we weren’t so irritatingly polite in this country we would have a gilet jaune movement too.External view of Jamesfield Farm restaurant near Perth

KY14 6EW     tel: 01738 850498         Jamesfield Farm Restaurant

english, Ordinary, Scones

John Forrest Bakery

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When we write about places like Claridges, the Connaught and even the Bingham Hotel in Richmond, readers could be forgiven for thinking that we only frequent the well-to-do areas of London. Only mix with the upper crust! Well, you would not be far wrong. The thing is though, it just sort of works out that way … honest! We don’t seek these places out! After our sojourn the other day to the Tide Tables Cafe in wealthy Richmond, today we find ourselves in the Kings Road in Chelsea. Home of Sloane Rangers and Hooray Henrys, but not by choice … we are here on an important errand to fix an incapacitated handbag. It just so happens that the Handbag Clinic is here on the Kings Road. Yes, they do have clinics for handbags, however, the less you know about that the better.

Supercars

Famous for its Chelsea buns, the important thing was to check out a Chelsea scone and fill that gap in our collective sconological knowledge base. This part of London offers you the opportunity to pay ten times what you would pay anywhere else on just about anything. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration … but only slight. The streets are lined with super cars … McLarens, Ferraris, Maseratis. The sort of cars that, if we were to sell our house and our children, we would still not be able to afford. Sorry kids if you are reading this, it is just a turn of phrase, it does not mean that you are not worth much. It just means that if you were worth more we might get a supercar … okay!!

It’s ironic that these cars, capable of 200mph, would throw a major party if, by some miracle, they ever got to reach 30mph in London. For most of them, that’s a rather forlorn ambition. Some of them are painted matt black like stealth bombers. Initially we thought this might be to make them invisible to traffic wardens. However then we remembered that the owners of these cars would not be the slightest bit bothered with a hundred parking tickets. So, in a way, the paint finish doesn’t matter … except to look a bit pretentious, of course, and make it difficult for the butler to polish. Golly gosh, what a laugh that would be!

The holy hour

Okay, for those of you thinking that finding a scone in such surroundings should be a piece of cake … not so! It was after 2pm but everywhere we went we were refused. Scones only served between three and five … what? We knew the world had gone mad but this surely is the last straw!

However, there is something oddly right about this. Any other food item you could have any old time of the day but scones, as befits their status of course, only in this blessed two hour window. The conversation goes something like this: Me “may I have a scone please?” Waiter “Is it three o’clock, sir?” Me: “no, it’s half past two”. Waiter: “Yes sir you may have a scone but you will have to wait half an hour.” Play park where we ate the scone from the John Forrest Bakery, Kings Road, ChelseaAbsolutely no use to us though because we had yet another even more important errand than rescuing an ailing handbag to run. We simply could not hang around until the holy hour when scones would appear, presumably, as if by magic.

Now, readers should know by now that we are not ones for giving up. However, just as we were about to do just that, we stumbled on the John Forrest Bakery. It had scones that could be bought any time of the day or night, yeagh! It wasn’t ideal though … no seats inside and the few they had outside were all taken.

Not to worry, they provided us with two teas in polystyrene cups, a ham & cheese roll … and a scone in a white paper bag … all for £5.10. We take back our previous comment about everything being ludicrously expensive. We then slunk off up a nearby alleyway looking for somewhere to sit and eat. A scone from the John Forrest Bakery, Kings Road, ChelseaFortunately it led to an enclosed area surrounded by rather utilitarian looking apartment blocks. The hidden side of Chelsea where real people live. In the middle was a kiddie’s play park with a couple of wooden benches. And we had it all to ourselves. It was wonderfully quiet after the hustle and bustle going on only a few yards away.

Trials and tribulations

The scone, which the John Forrest folks had kindly buttered for us had loads of fruit but it wasn’t the best by a long chalk. At least it served to illustrate the trials and tribulations we endure in order to bring our sconey readers news from the UK’s nether regions. Actually, as we sat there on our park bench with our strong tea and very fruity scone, we did not feel trialed or tribulated at all. We did, in fact, feel rather blessed with the whole experience. Without it we would never have discovered this quiet little sanctuary.Play park where we ate the scone from the John Forrest Bakery, Kings Road, Chelsea

Sanctuary is what Theresa May needs as forces range against her from all sides. And she demands that the EU treats the UK with respect. She wants respect from the club we are leaving presumably because we think it’s crap! In the circumstances, we think the EU has been extremely respectful. Meanwhile, no one in government has a clue what is going on. The opposition is worse than useless. As a result the entire country is paralysed in a kind of collective nervous breakdown. What fun!

Picture this

If we had to choose a picture to depict Britain’s current sEdvard Munch's The Screamtate of mental health there would be only one contender, Edvard Munch’s, The Scream. Even inanimate objects are having issues because the Handbag Clinic was doing a roaring trade. However, what will Brexit mean for handbag clinics?

SW10 0LR      tel: 020 7352 5848        John Forrest Bakery FB

ps: we did see a couple of K2 telephone boxes but were unable to photograph them.

Ordinary, Scones

Mariners Coffee Shop

If you were asked to name a village in Scotland which is south of both Carlisle and Durham you might be more than a little perplexed. However, if you were a bit of a smartypants, you might have said, Drummore, at the southern end of the Rhins of Galloway. And you would have been right! We’re here because we decided to visit the  lighthouse which is just two miles further south and as far as you can go without ending up in the sea.

Mull of Galloway lighthouse on a misty day
Mull of Galloway lighthouse … almost!

 

As you can see it wasn’t a great day for visiting lighthouses, or birdwatching or anything else for that matter. Even driving was difficult. We found out later that it was only this little area that was under a cloud, about 15 miles away the whole country was bathed in sunshine … c’est la vie! Hence we ended up at the Mariners Coffee Shop hoping to brighten our mood if not the weather. Not sure about brightening our mood but it certainly changed it. This place is a tad different!Internal view of Mariners Coffee Shop in Drummore, Mull of Galloway

Bike enthusiasts

A veritable cornucopia of what might otherwise be justifiably called ‘junk’. It’s soooo bad, it’s good! There’s a drum kit as you come in and behind that a motorbike in the window. Not just any old plastic replica but an actual full sized motorbike. Goodness knows why it’s there, it’s not on display or anything. It’s just there taking up room. Given the motorbikes outside you begin to understand that this place may be owned by bike enthusiasts. As if further evidence was needed the ceiling is completely covered in old speedway progammes from all over the UK. Internal view of Mariners Coffee Shop in Drummore, Mull of Galloway

Fred Wedlock greatest hits

Music enthusiasts as well! One wall was decorated with old vinyl LPs. Not the covers but the actual records and they displayed somewhat diverse tastes … Elvis, the Beatles, Santana, Chopin Nocturnes, Bob Dylan, Elaine Delmar and, of course, Fred Wedlock’s Greatest Hits. Internal view of Mariners Coffee Shop in Drummore, Mull of Galloway

Southerly scones

The amount of stuff in here is slightly overwhelming, everywhere you look there is something else. In amongst it all though we did notice some scones. Pat decided  on cheese while I went for my usual fruit. A scone at the Mariners Coffee Shop in Drummore, Mull of GallowayUnfortunately they did not live up to their exotic surroundings. Or maybe they did? Mine was okay but nothing special while Pat left half of hers … disappointing. No topscone but this would have qualified as Scotland’s most southerly scone had it not been for the fact that there was a scone bearing cafe at the lighthouse. It was a typical touristy kind of place, however, so we decided to give it a miss. This place had much more in the way of quirky character but probably has to settle for second most southerly scone. A K2/K6 telephone box near Drummore on the Mull of Galloway

Likewise the prize for Scotland’s most southerly telephone box would have gone to a Saracen foundry K6 in the village but we accidentaly deleted the photo, sorry! The eagle eyed Pat however spotted this K6 at a farm not far from the village, so maybe it should take the prize … it’s a bit on the small side and might even be a K2. Difficult to tell sometimes when they are manufactured in China, no attention to detail. No idea why it’s there either!'Big Scare' MOD map of Luce Bay

Big scare

Outside the village there was an interesting map in the sand dunes showing Luce Bay with a bit outlined in red which is designated a danger area by the Ministry Of Defence. They use it to test weapons. For some reason the most southerly bit is labeled “Big Scare“! Ooooh, that should keep Putin at bay! What with the Facebook, Skripal, and Windrush scandals still going strong and, the ultimate distractions of Royal babies and weddings, Brexit has all but vanished off the radar. Among all the clutter  in the Mariners however was a sign which probably sums up the ongoing Brexit negotiations.Pigs flying sign at the Mariners Coffee Shop in Drummore, Mull of GallowayDG9 9PS            tel: 01776 840550               Mariners Coffee ShopTA

Scones, Uncategorized

2017 scones

Because we have been badly neglecting our sconological duties of late we thought we should at least do something for the festive season. Just to remind readers that we are still alive and wish them all the best for Christmas and 2018. This post is simply to do that rather than bring you a new exciting scone …. sorry! We certainly haven’t eaten 2017 scones. Though by the time we get through the festive season we may feel as if we have. Some of our correspondents, however, have been much more diligent.

Posh place specialists

The title picture was sent by our London correspondents. Since it is almost two years since we reported from Claridge’s they thought that they should check that standards had not slipped in our absence. They are posh-place specialists and elected to take  our latest granddaughter, aged 5 days, along as an adjudicator in the event of a split decision. Thankfully, everything was hunkydory and the new arrival did not have to be pressed into service … phew!! A K2 sandwich server

Our old friend, the Pedant, found a website that bemoans the use of weird objects to serve food on rather than plates. It is aptly named www.wewantplates.com. He also pointed out, given our interest in such things, what he thought might be a good way to serve scones. A miniature telephone box (K2) used to bring little sandwiches to the table. Thanks for the suggestion but we want plates as well!

During the past year we have had the great pleasure of visiting many lovely parts of the UK and discovering lots of wonderful scones. And, of course, some not so wonderful. Have we learned anything in our travels? Notably, we came to the conclusion that scones improve the further north you go. We realise that sconeys in Devon and Cornwall might find this contentious. However it has to be said that in the far north, including our visit to Orkney, we found nothing but topscones.

Phone boxes

We were also pleased that readers took such an interest in what became something of a hot-topic. Telephone boxes and, in particular, where they were manufactured, Falkirk, Glasgow or Kirkintilloch. We received pictures of K6s from as far afield as Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv.

A K6 telephone box on South Ronaldsay
A Kirkintilloch K6 telephone box in splendid isolation near Quoyeden on South Ronaldsay

On our own travels we came on many K6s reinvented as libraries, defibrillator stations and greenhouses. A sign of the times perhaps that even in the most remote locations they no longer serve their original purpose. It’s called progress but that is not something that abounds these days.

Headless chickens

Quite the opposite in fact, at times the whole world seems to be going backwards. The only constant seems to be that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. As Theresa May loses yet more of her cabinet colleagues you might be forgiven for thinking that our Brexit negotiations might as well be conducted by headless chickens. Even though they claim to be making progress you cannot help but ask yourself what progress turkeys voting for Christmas can actually make? Forgive all the poultry analogies, it’s that time of year.

Elsewhere, after all the kerfuffle over Catalonia, it looks like ending up back exactly where it started with a cessationist government. Spain has headless chickens as well! On the other side of the pond, Donald Trump impersonators continue to do better impressions of The Donald than he does of himself. And you might be better off taking them more seriously. Perhaps the world would be better governed by headless chickens. Or is it already? Is that what we are not understanding?

On that cheery note we will bid you a fond farewell for this year. Thanks to to all our readers. And a special thanks to all our correspondents  who venture fearlessly into the world’s nether regions on your behalf.  And for 2018, may all your scones be top ones.

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

Riggs Coffee House

Coffee cup at the Riggs Coffee House, FalkirkCall us boring, call us unadventurous if you like. Our previous post on Sorochas was from Falkirk and here we are again posting from Falkirk. We can explain ! We haven’t been anywhere else! So … continuing with our boring unadventurous lives we ventured once again into the nether regions of the town. This time to Riggs Coffee House, which until a month or so ago, was Forth Valley Butchers. Advert at the Riggs Coffee House, FalkirkIt’s hard to keep up with our ever-changing high street as yet another coffee house replaces a traditional business. The burning question, of course, was … would this newcomer have scones?

Riggs specialises in Italian coffee and makes quite a song and dance about it – the advertising appears everywhere. It is difficult to understand the thinking behind putting a picture of a young, presumably Italian, stud lying on a beach with a beautiful girl and a Vespa, in front of people in Falkirk on a wet windy Wednesday afternoon. A tad annoying … especially when you’ve always wanted a Vespa. Got the beautiful girl already! Doubly annoying when there’s great local coffee, made and sold here in Falkirk, in the form of the Cat’s Pyjamas. Why don’t they make a song and dance about that, it’s very good. 

Fields of flax

There is a problem though – what sort of equivalent picture could be used to advertise Scottish coffee?? Tricky one … suggestions welcome. Anyway Riggs is on the corner of the High Street and Lint Riggs (fields of flax) which used to be the centre of the linen industry in the town. The flax (lint) was prepared here before making its way a few hundred yards to Woo’er (weaver) Street to be made into garments. All that is long gone now and in 1903 the state of the street was considered to be so poor that it was demolished in its entirety and a new Lint Riggs (the one you see to the right of the header picture) was built. Interior view of the Riggs Coffee House, Falkirk

Entrepreneurial ladies

Riggs Coffee House is tastefully done up but when we entered the chap behind the counter looked as if his entire staff had just phoned in sick. Not a happy chappie! He did have scones though! Apparently he had not intended to stock such unitalian items but a lady came in one day and offered to supply him. The resultant trial period had  scones flying off the shelf so now they are a permanent feature. One up for the scones! A scone at the Riggs Coffee House, FalkirkThere was a choice of plain, fruit or treacle and we opted for fruit.

They were very good, nice texture, plenty fruit and they went very well with the much vaunted Italian coffee which, in spite of not being quite “the cat’s pyjamas”, we had to admit was very good. In fact, with the exception of the scone, nothing we had here; jam, butter, coffee, came from Scotland … shame! In the end this was not quite a topscone … good effort though. Well done that entrepreneurial lady. Oh, by the time we were leaving your man’s demeanor seemed to have improved dramatically. We wish him and his venture every success.

FK1 1EY        tel: 01324 627028       Riggs Coffee House FB

One of our correspondents, fondly known as “The Pedant” has been in touch. He came across a K6 (Kirkintilloch variety) at the Henry Moore Collections in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire. Don’t worry the telegraph pole sticking out of the roof is not a new design feature.A K6 at the Henry Moore Collection in Much Hadham

Much Hadham

Much Hadham sounds like the sort of place that the EU should be conducting its Brexit negotiations. Last year, the oil company Shell, which operates in 70 different countries, paid tax in all of them. It paid the Norwegian government £4.3 billion to add to its £1trillion Wealth Fund. Our brilliant negotiators here in Britain ended up paying Shell £187 million so presumably Shell must operate out of Much Hadham as well.

A K2 telephone box in London
A London K2

 

How come, with all the hundreds of billions of oil money that has rolled in over the past thirty years the UK, in stark contrast to Norway, has simply acquired massive debts. Where did it all go? While you write your answers on a postcard can we make a plea for some Norwegian negotiators to come over and help us with the Brexit talks.

Still on the subject of telephone boxes, our ever adventurous Trossachs correspondents have sent a photograph of a rarely seen K2 on a recent visit to London. Don’t know precisely where it was manufactured but was most likely, Kirkintilloch. We will endeavour to be more adventurous in future. We must be running out of new cafés in Falkirk anyway. Musn’t we?

Ordinary, Scones

Browns of Edinburgh

Having already reported on scones in Harvey Nichols and the Dome you might think we would be running short of alternatives on George Street In Edinburgh? Not a bit of it, there are plenty more! Browns of Edinburgh is just another one on the city’s principle shopping thoroughfare. We had actually been invited to an evening event nearby. With a couple of hours to spare, however, what else would you do but head for afternoon tea?

Browns of Edinburgh has some history for us. As a young couple with no money and no experience of posh restaurants this was our first foray into what is oft referred to as “fine dining”. Internal view at Browns of EdinburghIf memory serves us correctly we were all dressed up to the nines and slightly nervous about being in such auspicious surroundings. That was many years ago and this is our first return visit. It doesn’t look nearly as intimidating as it did then! Has it changed, or have we changed? Probably both? Today, it does not look like the small intimate restaurant of memory. Rather its, almost cavernous interior and perhaps slightly impersonal atmosphere are more in keeping with a mid-range establishment.

Culinary highlights

Nowadays, we don’t think that even they would class themselves as ‘fine dining’. Afternoon tea at Browns of EdinburghWhatever, what about our afternoon tea? Champagne in the afternoon always seems a little bit naughty. This was very nice champagne, however, and an excellent start to proceedings. See, it’s us that’s changed, we probably had pints on our first visit. We wouldn’t have know what else to ask for! Presented on a sort of chrome wheel contraption there was a fair assortment of cakes and sandwiches with two small scones each. Call us old fusspots if you like but we prefer to have bread sandwiches with the crusts cut off rather than the little mini rolls used here. Arrgghh, we have changed. A slice of square sausage with tomato sauce between two slices of plain bread used to be the highlight of our culinary lives.top tier of afternoon tea at Browns of Edinburgh

K2 or K6?

The scones were nice. When they first arrived we felt them and they were nice and warm but, by the time we got round to eating them, that was but a memory. A scone at Browns of EdinburghAll in all, this was very relaxing and enjoyable and a great way to kill some time but the scones, although good, did not quite make the grade and everything else, excepting the champagne, was just a little bit flat. The service, for example, was okay, but like a lot of places that automatically add a service charge to your bill, they did not have to try too hard. Picture of a telephone box at Browns of EdinburghOne of the nice things about Browns is that they have lots of interesting photographs hanging on the walls. We thought this one would enable us to test your knowledge of red telephone boxes. Remember we supplied a handy indentification guide in an earlier post at the Butterchurn. Obviously it is not a K4 but could it be a K2 or a K6? Answers on a postcard.

Scones as a measurement of time

Continuing with the quiz theme we thought it might be interesting to measure, in scones, how much time Theresa May has left as Prime Minister. You probably think we are not taking politics seriously. However, with Michael Gove, the only man who can instantly poison any environment he walks into, being appointed Environment Secretary. And the odious DUP in coalition talks with the government. Oh, and the Queen’s Speech being delayed because of the need to write it all down on goatskin paper. What is there to take seriously? This is the second post since the general election result became known and Theresa decided to carry on as if nothing had happened. How many more scones can we post before she is deposed? Answers on the same postcard as the telephone box.

Edinburgh looking dramatic in evening sunshine
Edinburgh looking dramatic in the evening sunshine

EH2 4JS         tel: 0131 225 4442         Browns Edinburgh