Tag Archives: Port Edgar

Coorie

20 July 2022 billpaterson1@me.com 7 Comments

A lot has happened since our last post from Gleneagles. We suppose the biggest news is that Boris has gone … though he is still here? He’s resigned but is still Prime Minister. Don’t worry if you don’t understand, confusion is a kind of Boris speciality. He’ll be absolutely gone soon but not before he has given out honours to all his equally inept buddies. We shouldn’t be thinking about this here in Coorie on a lovely day in beautiful Limekilns but it’s almost impossible to ignore. His long overdue departure would be cause for much merriment and dancing in the streets if it wasn’t for the fact that all the contenders to replace him are equally inadequate. We could easily have a situation where the country ends up being run by someone 95% of the public have never heard of. That’s democracy, UKstyle.

Scorchio

The other big news is that Scotland has become subtropical with temperatures today in Limekilns topping 32C. The government has told us that if we dare to venture out between the hours of 11 and 3 we will probably die a painful shrivelled up death. Turns out the UK is not prepared for anything. It’s either too cold, too hot, too dry or too wet. Whatever it is, prices always have to go up because of it … or is that just too cynical? However, it does make us wonder how other countries, where temperatures like this are perfectly normal, manage.

Anyway, we only had a brief walk from our lovely cool air conditioned car and were quite happy to be ushered towards a table in the nether regions of Coorie, as far away from the windows as possible. Only a few brave souls were sitting outside melting.

The Art of Coorie

As it happens, this place is almost next door to the Sundial Cafe we reviewed back in 2018.

A sign in Coories — No problem with any of these and I am the best at staying humble

Then we told you that Limekilns featured in Robert Louis Stevenson’s book Kidnapped. He chose the village as the point of escape for Alan Breck and David Balfour when they were being pursued by dastardly redcoats. Exciting stuff. but back to today. The word Coorie derives from Gaelic and means to snuggle. Its kind of onomatopoeic .. it sounds warm and snuggly. A recent book called ‘The Art of Coorie‘ teaches us to enjoy life the Scottish way through simple pleasures. That’s certainly the feeling we got here. Nothing particularly fancy or ostentatious … just a warm welcome, good food and cheery service. What more could you ask for?

Magnets

We ordered some lunch and a fruit scone to share. The lunch was perfect and so would our scone have been had there been cream … but no cream! Not to worry we thoroughly enjoyed what we had … loads of fruit and the strawberry jam was great.

Afterwards we took a wee walk along the beach but it wasn’t long before the air conditioned car was acting like a very powerful magnet. We returned home via Port Edgar where we watched loads of kids being taught kitesurfing and paddle boarding … great day for it.

Forth Road and Rail bridge — The Forth Road Bridge from Port Edgar. Built in 1958 it is currently closed. The rail Bridge in the distance was built in 1889 and is still going strong

Great day for us as well. Coorie by the Coast was really enjoyable. It’s only been going a couple of years but it seems to be getting things right. We wonder if we will be able to say the same of the next incumbent in 10 Downing Street … probably not! Someone new to complain about! And we shouldn’t really complain about the weather!

Queensferry Crossing from Port Edgar — The Queensferry Crossing looking towards Limekilns

KY11 3HL tel: 01383 872999 Coorie by the Coast

///stocked.fruits.socket

Ordinary, Scones

Down The Hatch

29 June 2018 billpaterson1@me.com

When you come to a place called ‘Down The Hatch’ you are probably not expecting a fine dining experience. When you realise it’s situated in a wooden hut in the middle of the industrial estate that is Port Edgar marina, any such lingering thoughts will have been well and truly put to bed. This place, however does not pretend to be anything other than what it is. A no frills restaurant with a kind of North American diner vibe going on. For that it has to be commended.

Got Poutine?

Seems that it can’t quite make up its mind whether it is Scottish or Canadian. It appears to have a foot in both countries. However, having one Canadian owner and the other, his Scottish wife, goes a long way to explaining all the maple leafs and other Canadian references.

Their blurb says that the food is influenced by North American tastes and that their USP is that they always have a different daily special … “that tends to walk on the wild side”. All the staff wear t-shirts which features a maple leaf against a Saltire background. However, what is the “Got Poutine?” all about? Turns out that poutine is a dish which originated in Quebec and is now thought by many to be Canada’s national dish. It consists of twice fried french fries with cheese curds covered in gravy. Dietitians all over the world can be heard screaming “why the hell do we bother?”

Sloppy research

We skipped the poutine however the same could not be said for the scones. The big question was, would they be walking on the wild side as well? Pat decided on cheese and I went for my usual fruit. It wasn’t until afterwards we discovered that they also had bacon and maple syrup scones. Now call this sloppy research if you like but we would definitely have tried one of these had we known about them. Maybe next time.

We’re not sure about walking on the wild side but there was a distinctly North American feel about the scones. Big and served with steak knives! Maybe that’s all they had but it did seem a little bit odd. Needless to say they did make short work of cutting a scone so maybe they are on to something. Spreading the frozen butter wasn’t easy though! Pat found her cheese scone a bit doughy and left some of it but I finished mine even though it wasn’t particularly inspiring. Overall it was a tad disappointing though it was good to see that the coffee was local from the Forth Coffee Roasters. Of course our favourite local coffee remains the Cat’s Pyjamas from Henrys Coffee Company … brill!

Prima donnas

For all you petrolheads there is a garage directly opposite Down The Hatch which specialises in renovating Land Rovers … its called Engine 710. It gets its name from a lady who came in asking for a replacement ‘seven ten’ cap. Eventually they discovered that she had been looking at the ‘OIL’ cap upside down … heyho! What else is going on in the world? Ah yes, the World Cup is in full flight with loads of prima donnas all trying to outdo each other’s acting skills. We can’t wait for it to finish so that Coronation Street can get back to its usual slots. Today is also National Cream Tea Day. Get out there and cream tea it!EH30 9SQ tel: 0131 331 1387 Down The Hatch

Scones, self-service, Top

The Orangery – Hopetoun

21 January 2018 billpaterson1@me.com

This is becoming a habit. Eating scones in orangeries that is! It’s not that long ago since we were at an orangery at Ham House in London and here we are at it again. Life can be hard. Today we were actually trying to track down Shapes auction house which had notified us of a move to Port Edgar from Edinburgh, when we came on this place. It’s in an excellent garden centre which we have known for many years. It started life in the walled garden of nearby Hopetoun House but twenty years ago moved a mile or so to its present site. And became known as the ‘New’ Hopetoun Garden Centre. On the way in you are greeted with this sign which makes you wish you had been here on Sept 5 1792, it must have been quite a day. It was a Wednesday!

Not to be confused with Sept 5 forty years earlier in 1752. Not only did nothing happen, it didn’t even exist. That year, in order for Britain to catch up with the rest of the world which used the Gregorian calendar (we know, it is hard to imagine Britain being out of step .. but just try), it was decreed that the day following Sept 2 would be Sept 14. Just like that, eleven days just vanished! You thought time travel was just a figment of the imagination but the entire population of Britain was actually doing it centuries ago!

Good mood

We digress. The Orangery is everything you would expect from a garden centre tearoom … spacious, bright and with a good range of food and drink on offer. It is self service but, even though it was busy, we were quickly attended to by some very friendly staff. Pat decided on our traditional choice of a fruit scone but I opted for cherry … hey, why not? Both scones came with loads of jam, butter and cream. They had really crunchy exteriors with soft middles which made them delicious but a bit difficult to manage. They tended to crumble very easily. We thoroughly enjoyed them though … topscone. Because service is usually a factor we don’t normally give topscone awards to self service establishments but the self service here was great. The sun was shining and we were in a good mood … well done The Orangery!

Pilgrimage

A little bit further along the road we came to Port Edgar near South Queensferry. The ‘Edgar’ bit comes from Edgar Aetheling, the brother of Queen Margaret of Scotland who set up the ferry crossing in the 11th century to help pilgrims on their way to St Andrews. It operated until 1964 when the road bridge was built.

The old Forth Road Bridge over the river Forth with the Forth Railway Bridge in the background — The Forth Road Bridge from Port Edgar with the Rail Bridge in the distance

Originally a naval base it is now a leisure marina. Visitors to Port Edgar are now treated to an excellent view of the new Queensferry Crossing … opened only a few months ago.

The Queensferry Crossing over the river Forth — The Queensferry Crossing from Port Edgar

Costs

It is a magnificent feat of engineering and now, with Boris Johnston talking of a bridge across the English Channel, it is perhaps worth explaining some facts about this one. It was built by the SNP government on time and under budget. Obviously Carillion was not involved. It was opposed by all other political parties who promptly fell over themselves to take credit when it was completed. There was no funding from Westminster. Something to remember if the Channel Bridge ever gets the go ahead. Scotland will undoubtedly be saddled with 10% of the costs of HS2 and Crossrail for little or no benefit. Anyway, we did find the new premises of the auction house which was massive but shut. Not opening until the end of the month apparently. Heyho, we had thoroughly enjoyed our day!

EH52 6QZ tel: 01506 834433 New Hopetoun Gardens

p.s. our Trossachs correspondents sent this picture. We thought they had been quiet recently. Maybe they just can’t get out .. or are just too busy building snowmen!

Scones, history and a dollop of politics