You might think that Bridge of Allan is a slightly odd name for a town but it is pretty obvious really. It’s built around the bridge over the river known as the Allan Water. And the Allanwater Cafe is almost built on top of the bridge. Before railways and cars, bridges were super-important. They provided the means of avoiding long and difficult circuitous routes to cross rivers. Nowadays people driving in and out of the town wouldn’t even be aware that they were crossing a bridge and wouldn’t give it a moment’s thought.
Man and horse
Bridge of Allan is a very pleasant place sporting many large mansion houses much favoured by today’s overpaid professional footballers. Its origins, however, were much more humble … mining copper. The mines closed in 1807 but a few years later the local laird discovered that mineral springs were leaking into the mines and decided to make Bridge of Allan a spa town. No flies on these laird types! In 1830 Bridge of Allan was described as “everything a village ought to be: straw roofed cottages, a mill, old inns with entertainment for man and horse, and a row of neat little villas for the fashionable who flock to it in summer.” If it’s good enough for man and horse it should be good enough for us lowly sconeys. There are many cafes and restaurants in the town and we thought we had visited them all … except this one!
Amazingly, it has been run by the Bechelli family dynasty for more than one hundred and twenty years. There are plenty other cafes around. The multinational Costa is directly across the road but has closed permanently. Also across the road is Nairn’s a brand new up market restaurant venture and but it was almost empty. The Allanwater Cafe, on the other hand, was buzzing. The Bechelli dynasty must be doing something right.
It would have been good to sample some of their lunch offerings but we just wanted some coffee and maybe a scone to share. When we said we wanted to share a scone our waitress said “Yes they are big“!The service was very friendly and helpful … perhaps they were part of the family dynasty. Anyway we soon had everything we needed. The staff seemed to know almost everyone in the place which gave it a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. Our scone was enjoyable as well but fell short of a topscone.
Dynasties
If the Bechelli family dynasty is getting things right the same does not apply to all such dynasties.
The Paterson Memorial (nothing to do with us) to a local doctor
Surely the best news of the week is media-mogul Rupert Murdoch’s announcement that he is retiring. He has been a malevolent force around the world for far too long and if he and his sordid News Corp organisation were to disappear off the scene tomorrow it would not be a moment too soon. Without his interference Trump would probably never have made it out of the starting blocks and Brexit would never have happened. As with all things Murdoch, however, it is not straight forward. He is handing over the reins to his even more right wing son, Lachlan. It’s just a pity his name so ably demonstrates his Scottish ancestry. Perhaps Lachlan should come to the Allanwater Cafe to see how a dynasty should be run?
When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote “Treasure Island” he may have been thinking of the place we are in today. He certainly was when he wrote “Memoirs of an Islet” and the poem “A Good Boy”. We know this because his ill health meant he spent much of his childhood years in this small spa town. Later when he was living in Hyères in the South of France he wrote “I shall never forget the days at Bridge of Allan; they were one golden dream”. Yes, we are in Bridge of Allan, not to take the waters but rather the scones at the Westerton Arms.
Footballers
How times have changed! Seems odd nowadays to think that, in Victorian times, whole towns grew up around a spring. There was nothing particularly special about the water apart from the fact that it was clean; something we now simply take for granted. Wealthy Victorians would flock to these towns for their health benefits. You can see echoes of this past everywhere in Bridge of Allan. Lots of green spaces and grand mansion houses that, nowadays, are largely the preserve of obscenely overpaid footballers. By the way, if you look to the left of the title picture, you can see the Paterson Memorial clock … nothing to do with us! The Paterson in question was a local doctor who served the local community for many years.
The Westerton Arms began life in 1831, almost twenty years before Stevenson was born. He, like us, may well have come here for a scone? Although almost 170 years old it is surprisingly fresh and modern inside and would appear to be undergoing still more refurbishment. The staff were very welcoming and soon had us kitted out with some excellent lunch.
Reasons to go to Samoa?
They brought our coffee while we waited for our scones and lo-and-behold it was our favourite from Henry’s Coffee Company. It doesn’t get much better than this so things were looking very promising. Unfortunately, it didn’t continue. The scones (£2.95 each) were decidedly average and served with American jam and French butter … quelle dommage! The scone itself was a fairly lifeless affair. When we expressed our disappointment we were told that all the other cakes were made in their own kitchen but they didn’t know where the scones came from?? Maybe this is why Robert Louis Stevenson left Scotland and ended up in Samoa?
Holding your breath
The Pope, on his recent visit to Greece, has scolded almost all western leaders over their treatment of immigrants. Likewise Tony Blair has been scolding the same leaders over their handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Neither Tony or Francis have the power to do anything about anything so it’s easy for them to go off on one! Will their words effect any change? Don’t hold your breath!
ps: The next day we got a lovely surprise when one of our neighbours popped in with some scones. If only the scones the day before had been as good as these they would have been topscones.
by Bill and Pat Paterson and is about finding good scones throughout the world, with a little bit of politics
When we said we wanted to share a scone our waitress said “Yes they are big“!The service was very friendly and helpful … perhaps they were part of the family dynasty. Anyway we soon had everything we needed. The staff seemed to know almost everyone in the place which gave it a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. Our scone was enjoyable as well but fell short of a topscone.
