Tag Archives: King George VI

english, Scones, Top

St Paul’s Hotel

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What is now the elegant red sandstone St Paul’s Hotel started life as St Paul’s School, founded in 1509. Since then the school has occupied numerous locations. Currently it occupies a large site on the south side of the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. Between 1884 and 1968, however, it was housed here on the other side of the river.  Like Eton and Gordonstoun, St Paul’s was designed to populate the government, civil service, diplomatic service and the armed forces with men who could maintain the Empire, They were also expected to keep their parents in the manner to which they had become accustomed. And, of course, keep the riffraff in their rightful place. Amongst its alumni are Samuel Pepys and George Osborne. Quite why they would admit to someone whose main achievement, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, was to double the national debt to £1.7 trillion, is quite beyond us.

SWALK

Luckily this rather beautiful building has found a renewed sense of purpose serving scones to the riffraff. Enter riffraff. Poster for the film 'Melody', filmed at St Paul's Hotel, HammersmithThe hotel has lots of beautiful rooms and, in what used to be the lecture theatre, General Eisenhower presented the final invasion plan to General Montgomery, King George VI and Winston Churchill just three weeks before the D-Day landings took place in 1944.

For our cream tea, however, we were ushered into the very comfortable Melody Restaurant & Bar. So called because the school provided the backdrop for the 1971 cult film about ‘puppy love’. The film is sometimes known as S.W.A.L.K (some of you will know what these letters stand for) and if you click on the poster and have an hour and forty three minutes to spare you can watch it. Though you would probably be better served just continuing to read this post.

Scone threesomes

The service in St Paul’s Hotel would best be described as ‘efficient’. Absolutely nothing wrong with it but maybe lacking a certain friendly personal touch that would make all the difference. Then again they can probably spot riffraff a mile off and are trained not to be overly effusive in their welcomes. Scones at St Paul's Hotel, HammersmithThey offer a range of teas and we elected, in true adventurous style, for Indian breakfast rather than English. Quite a good choice as it turned out. The presentation of the scones was as you would expect in such a place. Nice bowls of jam and cream, crisp linen napkins etc. The scones come in threes. Okay they’re quite small, and although some of them could never be described as ‘beautifully formed’, they were delicious … nicely warmed, crunchy on the outside with super soft centres, topped off with a light dusting of icing sugar. Fab … topscone!Interior view of St Paul's Hotel, Hammersmith

Meeting in the forest

You cannot turn your back for a second! While we’ve been away Theresa May has ‘done’ Scotland on her “strong and stable – I am the one” general election tour of what she doubtless regards as ‘the provinces’. Lets face it the Tories see Scotland simply as a place to shoot grouse and store nuclear missiles. Oh, and a source of funding for all their fancy London projects. She really got down and dirty with the locals … not! Her only appearance was in a village hall in a forest near to that well known Labour stronghold of Crathes in Aberdeenshire. It had been surreptitiously booked for a children’s party. No shortage of balloons then? It is hard to imagine anything more pathetic. Okay, okay, George Osborne, but at least he has managed to get another job he knows nothing about, as editor of the Evening Standard?

W14 0QL            tel: 020 8846 9119                 St Paul’s

self-service

Glamis Castle

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In this post we are visiting Glamis Castle for their Christmas Fayre. However we did not expect it to be anything like as busy as it was. It was mobbed. Great for fund raising and for all the locally based traders who had set up stalls in the castle grounds. Maybe not so good if you are waiting for a scone in a long queue.

Situated near the pretty village of Glamis there has been a castle here since 1376 though most of the present building dates from the 18th century. It has had a fairly chequered history with tales of witchcraft, ghosts, monsters and people being bricked up in rooms. Must be great to have enough rooms that, if you take a dislike to one of your guests, you just brick’em up!  The castle was the setting for Shakespeare’s MacBeth and was also the birthplace of Princess Margaret. However, it is probably most famous as the childhood home of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who eventually became the wife of King George VI in 1937. After his death she went on to become Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Glamis 02

There is not much we can say about the obscene wealth and privilege of monarchy without the distinct risk of being cast into the Tower of London and left to rot for ever. Perhaps the least said the better. Having said that, the Queen Mum is a bit of a hero. She had a magnificent wine cellar which we are trying hard to replicate. Best of all, however, she managed to die owing umpteen millions. Something we would love to emulate but are still looking for the right backer. Despite their largesse with royalty, we suspect that Coutts  bank would not happily entertain rather lowly sconeys. Even with our equally hedonistic lifestyle!

a very busy castle café
a very busy castle café
Minions

Because of the Christmas Fayre the castle’s old kitchen, which serves as a restaurant/tearoom, was busy busy busy. The staff were all working their socks off but in spite of lengthy queues everyone seemed happily imbued with Christmas spirit. Content to wait their turn, chatting to each other. Don’t think there would have been any direct royal involvement in the making of our scones. Probably just a minion somewhere, but tGlamis 04hey were very good. Well endowed with fruit; lots of jam and cream; nice crunchy exterior, but just one problem … a tad overdone on the bottom. A relatively small problem for us. However, since the royals are obviously avid readers of ‘thescones’, that poor minion is probably being bricked up as we speak!

roast toasty wood burning stove in the old original range
roasty toasty wood burning stove in the old original range

Just to go off at a tangent for a minute … the NHS figures recently released by the government showing that NHS Scotland is the best performer in the UK. That’s good news. We mention it here simply because, despite extensive coverage, you will not find that particular nugget mentioned anywhere by the BBC, not even BBC Scotland, so you may have missed it.

Refuweegees

Another thing you may have missed is the arrival of a new dictionary word; refuweegee …  a person who upon arrival in Glasgow is embraced by the people of the city, a person considered to be a local. Isn’t that rather nice in this season of goodwill to all men. A sentiment very much in evidence amongst all the holly, mince-pies and of course, the scones, at Glamis. Unfortunately, if you are one of the few who did not make it to the Christmas Fayre you will just have to wait until next year. It is on for three days but by the time you read this it will be too late .. sorry!

DD8 1RJ     tel: 01307 840393      Glamis Castle