It’s a sure sign that summer is coming to an end. Could it be the lower temperatures, the leaves turning, or the days shortening? Well yes, but it’s more that we have started going to the movies after breakfast. We enjoy it. It supports our local picture palace and it feels slightly sinful when you come out and it’s only lunchtime. It also allows us to explore the town of Bo’ness and find places like Nosh, the scene for today’s scone.
Inside the Hippodrome
We haven’t been here at the Hippodrome, Scotland’s oldest cinema ,since February when we saw ‘Till’, an excellent movie. This time it was ‘The Innocent‘ a French romcom heist caper about stealing a truck load of caviar. Enjoyable enough although subtitles can be hard work when they go rapidly … why do the French speak so quickly?
In some ways watching a French film in Bo’ness is kind of appropriate. Bo’ness was once one of Scotland’s largest ports and would have traded the black stuff (coal not caviar) with France for many centuries. Scotland was France’s oldest ally since the two countries formed the Auld Alliance in 1295 in an attempt to control England’s many invasions. Trade between the two circumvented England and ports like Bo’ness and Leith thrived. It may also explain why Scotland has always thought of itself as much more European than England.
After the film we ended up here in Nosh, one of the few cafés we haven’t visited in the town. It’s located in a building built in 1750 as a tollbooth.
Built in 1750 but who were ‘RB’ and ‘EB’?
It’s more of a takeaway place for sandwiches and the like but it does have a few tables.
On the counter, under a glass dome, were two scones individually wrapped in cling film. We never think this is a good idea. Scones need to breathe after all and sometimes it means that they might not be entirely fresh. Anyway, we ordered one to share as well as a some coffees. Our scone turned out to be not at all bad but a long way off a topscone.
Obedience
The Prime Minister has single handedly managed to upset almost everyone by announcing that he is rolling back on his commitment to green policies. The date for net zero will now be 2035 instead of 2030. Goodness knows what it will be by the time we reach 2030? Right or wrong it does demonstrate this Tory government’s unswerving dedication to screwing things up. It wouldn’t be so serious if there was a better option waiting in the wings, but there isn’t! The only thing the Labour Party, “the opposition” seems to do is support the Tories. Voters are caught between a rock and a hard place. In Scotland, after one invasion too many by England, we have no say and just do what we are told!
A watercolour of Nosh’s building
Meanwhile King Charles and Queen Camilla are in France trying to thaw out relationships after the disaster of Brexit. Good luck with that!
Shetland seems like a distant but very fond memory now. We will always remember the friendliness of the people there. These days there’s a tendency for people to be a bit self-absorbed so it was great to see a healthy spirit of community on these islands. Anyway, now it’s back to reality. Although we would have a cheek to call Cairn Lodge in Auchterader, reality!
If it is reality then we are having a very soft landing. Today we were invited for breakfast by friends which was fabulous. And now we are at Cairn Lodge because other friends have invited us for afternoon tea. How lucky are we?
One of our aunts really liked Cairn Lodge so we used to come here years ago. Since then it has been taken over by Aurora Hotels and they have completely revamped it to become a luxury destination. Probably just as well because its next door neighbour is the well known haunt of the rich and famous, Gleneagles Hotel.
Friends to the rescue
It might be an age related thing but ‘time’ seems to play tricks on us these days. Huge amounts of it seem to simply disappear. We haven’t seen these friends since they rescued us from a car crash near their home … and that was over six years ago! Incredible! Ironically, the car that crashed into us was racing to try and catch the ferry from Aberdeen to Shetland. Nobody seriously hurt but our car was completely wrecked. Our friends, however, galloped to the rescue. They fed and watered us then insisted on delivering us to our destination many miles away in Pitlochry. Much water has flowed under the bridge since then so there was a mega amount of stuff to catch up on!
The young lady looking after us was superb and within two shakes of a lamb’s tail she was filling our glasses with bubbles and presenting us with an absolutely delicious artichoke based amuse-bouche. Then came a three tier stack of afternoon tea. Two of them between the four of us as well as a separate plate of sandwiches. Sometimes we think that afternoon teas are misjudged in that there is often too much of everything. We thought this one was judged perfectly. Separate little pots of jam and clotted cream completed the presentation. It probably goes without saying that everything was delicious and the scones were no exception. There was a plain scone and a whisky soaked fruit scone for each of us.
Harmony
Thinking about it now, it seems unbelievable that, in Scotland, this is the first whisky soaked scone we’ve ever come across. Lovely and warm, nice and crunchy on the outside and a delicate soft interior with that ever so subtle hint of the amber nectar. Two of our favourite things brought together in perfect harmony! So good they almost made our ‘totallyeffinbrilliantscone’ category!
Not so brilliant perhaps was Scotland’s new First Minister, Humza Yousaf’s first week in his new job. Many have expressed disappointment but we feel he needs to be given a chance. He has a mountain to climb! Isn’t it peculiar that all political parties recognise Scotland as a nation yet refuse to give us permission to determine our own future. What sort of logic is that? It’s also a bit odd that we now have Humza Yousaf, a practicing Muslim of Pakistani extraction and Rishi Sunak, a practicing Hindu of Indian extraction fighting over Scottish independence. You couldn’t make it up!
Today has been fantastic and it is all down to our wonderful friends. With friends like ours and whisky soaked scones, what more could we possibly ask for?
At the risk of becoming repetitive and boring with our cinematic exploits … here’s another. You are all aware by now that we have developed a rather sinful habit of going to our local cinema … in the morning! They even give you a cup of tea and a biscuit! How nice is that?
Hippodrome, Scotland’s oldest picture palace
In our defence, we do try and bring you a fresh scone with each of these outings … this time it’s the turn of Food@34a.
There are garages … and then there are garages
Timing wise, this morning was rather difficult because our car was booked in for its annual MOT. Our garage is out in the boonies but no need to worry. They said they would give us a lift to the cinema, MOT the car and pick us up afterwards. How nice is that?
This time the film was called “Till”. An excellent movie set in 1955. Based on a true story about a fourteen year old black boy, Emmett Till, moving from Chicago to Mississippi for the summer to be with his cousins. He met a horrendous end, however, at the hands of white supremacists. In essence though “Till” is about a mother’s love for a lost son. It was extremely well done but we found it a difficult watch. It left us both a bit raw.
Hell
For some reason it always seems naughty to be coming out of the movies and then going for lunch. And since. they gave me an indulgent slice of caramel shortcake with my tea instead of a biscuit, I’m sure I’m going straight to hell.
Food@34a is directly opposite 1884, a cafe we reviewed five years ago. It’s a rather odd name and the external appearance cannot be described as particularly inviting. Inside, however, it was a different story … bright and clean and airy! Problem was, however, all the tables were taken. We were just about to walk back out the door when a lady called over and said that we could have their table as they were about to leave. How nice was that?
As a bonus the table was at a window so we are able to look out at the traffic … yeah! Honestly, the ‘biscuit’ at the cinema was all we had had all day so we were ready for something more to eat. After an excellent bite of lunch we launched into the fruit scone we were sharing. It was nicely presented with little bowls of jam and butter. We asked our server if they had cream. She said that they sometimes did but she would go and find out. She returned very apologetically saying that they didn’t have any today. Disappointing but how nice was that?
We particularly liked the food and cheery helpful service at Food@34a and would not think twice about going back. Oddly, in the short time that we were there it went from completely full to pretty much empty. When the garage picked us up they had given the car a clean bill of health. How nice is that?
In out previous post, Hope Street Cafe, we said that we couldn’t really understand why our PM, Rishi (couldn’t punch my way out of a paper bag) Sunak hadn’t fired his Party Chairman over his £4.8million tax oversight. Well he has gone now, but only because Rishi’s ethics adviser advised him to do so. Just the presence of an ethics adviser infers that Rishi is unable to tell right from wrong by himself. Now he has a couple of dozen bullying complaints about his Deputy, Dominic Raab to deal with. He’s appointed a high powered lawyer to help him with that. The Tories certainly love their scandals!
The other day, when we told a friend that we were going to Balbirnie House for scones and a seven course dinner, he said “You lucky bloggers” … at least, we’re pretty sure that’s what he said. Although the seven course dinner with matching wine flight was quite enticing what swung it for us was the promise of a cream tea on arrival. How could we resist?
The hotel is only a thirty minute drive from home, in the Kingdom of Fife. “A beggar’s banquet fringed with gold“.. that’s how James VI of Scotland once described Fife. The “gold” referred to the lovely beaches all along its coastline. Balbirnie House is in the village of Markinch in central Fife … so that’ll be the begger’s banquet then! Could this be an omen for our dinner?
the Orangery
We did not want our cream tea to spoil our appetite for our ‘banquet’ so we arrived early in the afternoon. The spacious Orangery was where it was served. Our scones were very good. A nice crunchy outer layer combined with a warm soft interior … just the way we like them. Plenty jam and cream so what was the problem? Just the size. Normally we expect to get two relatively small scones with a cream tea but these were just too big. Pat only managed one. I did my best with the second but was eventually beaten into submission. And there was another problem!
Size is everything?
The coffee was Nespresso which meant that it was good but served in small Nespresso cups. Even though we could get as many cups as we liked, we don’t think that these pod machines are appropriate for situations like this. It just seemed a bother to keep asking for more. A nice big pot of coffee is much better. Argh, so the scones were too big and the coffees were too small. Are we turning into grumpy old bloggers?
after dinner drinks by the fire
Seven
Anyway, us ‘lucky bloggers’ had to report later on for dinner. If we couldn’t manage a couple of scones what would we be like with a seven course dinner. As we get older we no longer seem as able for huge feasts, hence we normally share everything. No need for sharing here though! Each course was ideally sized and consequently we got through all the courses without a problem. Helped, of course, by four different specially selected wines.
However, by the time we were finished we were absolutely stuffed. We had to retire to one of the lounges for recuperation by a big log fire. This blogging game cannot be taken lying down … or maybe it should be?. No, it requires copious amounts of grit and determination, not to mention stamina! Honestly, after eight years of doing this, we are in the peak of condition … don’t scoff!
Rishi Sunak, the latest Prime Minister through that revolving door at 10 Downing Street, made his first visit to Scotland the other day. Currently he is presiding over a disastrous situation of strikes across the entire public sector. A situation skilfully crafted over thirteen years of Tory rule by his predecessors.
To celebrate his sojourn north of the border, he and Scotland’s First Minister met for dinner in Inverness. We don’t know how many courses! Rishi has the honour of being Nicola Sturgeon’s fifth Prime Minister since she came to power. She seems to be collecting them like the Queen used to do. He seems to have survived the experience and emerged relatively unscathed but probably with several fleas in his ears. No point in going through the promises made because promises from Westminster are not worth the paper they are written on these days. Actually, not just these days, as long as we can remember!
The bar
If you ever get the chance to experience one of Balbirnie’s dinner you should take it. Great experience and great value.
This post is entitled Schloss Roxburghe 2 which is a bit unusual since it was only October when we were last here. Normally, years pass before we revisit places. In our previous visit we talked about all the ambitious building work that was taking place at the time. This time we had been informed that many of the changes had now been completed so we were back to see for ourselves.
new 58 additional rooms and the pool area
Hardships
Of course, we cannot pretend that this involved any hardship on our part. This place is definitely not noted for hardship! That said, we had hoped that the heated outdoor swimming pool, sauna and plunge pool would have been completed but no, not quite … argh! The weather has taken quite a frosty turn … ideal for a swim in a lovely warm pool. I’d even packed my Speedos! Disappointing but we reckoned we could survive that sort of hardship. But would there be any more hardships?
Spa reception
Well yes, the spa area wasn’t quite finished either. But the new gym was open 24/7.
the Gym
By the time we had walked the length of the gym and looked at all the apparatus for inflicting self induced torture we both felt quite light headed … we needed refreshment and somewhere to sit down.
the State room
What a State!
The State Room was the answer … another splendid addition since our last visit. A cosy log fire, very comfortable surroundings … and a bar! A place to relax with a whisky or a G&T … or even a scone.
Last time we thought the Schloss Roxburghe scones rivalled those of Fonab Castle as ‘best scone in the world‘ … quite a claim! We certainly didn’t imagine that they would have dropped their standards since October but thought we should check, just in case. We have to be rigorous … don’t we? No problem they were just as good and, of course, served perfectly by some of the friendly helpful staff. At the end of the day, it was simply a case of reinforcing our original topscone award with another!
No pampering south of the border
In the evening we had the pleasure of experiencing the brand spanking new Charlie’s restaurant. Its name commemorates a visit by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. He was about to set off into England with his army and presumably felt the need for some pampering. He doubtless knew he wasn’t going to find any of that where he was going.
Charlie’s restaurant
In contrast to the cosy restaurant we enjoyed last time in the old hotel, Charlie’s provides a gleaming modern dining experience. It was great and our dinner was super!
this is how it used to be for children before iPads
Autumn/Winter Collection
During our stay, Schloss Roxburghe was playing host for the launch of Lyle & Scott’s prestigious Autumn /Winter collection. Surrounded by its own golf course and just down the road from the town of Hawick where Lyle & Scott started off in 1874, this was an ideal venue. They’d invited guests from all over the world.
All we can say is that if you are going to impress clients with everything Scotland has to offer this isn’t a bad place to do it. We actually thought that the Lyle & Scott brand had disappeared many years ago … how wrong could we be? Great to see it, alive and kicking and very much a global player.
A montage in Charlie’s restaurant depicting the Bonnie Prince
Britain is not much a global player these days. It seems to come bottom of almost every league table and seems destined to be in recession for a long time yet. The much vaunted International Agreements with non-EU countries are actually costing us money! The whole country is grinding to a halt with industrial unrest. And just when you thought things could not get any worse, England has been eliminated from the World Cup by the ‘old enemy’, France. The economy may be disappearing down the plug hole but we’ll doubtless be treated to days and days of mindless analysis of why this calamity happened.
The invisible man
We do have new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to sort all this out, of course … or do we? After a series of blatantly incompetent Prime Ministers we now have an invisible one. Even his own party are nicknamed him “the invisible Prime Minister“. To avoid all these rather annoying irritations we recommend moving into Schloss Roxburghe permanently. As you sip your whisky by one of the log fires you’ll be blissfully unaware of anything other than the need for another log … and even that is taken care of.
You know how it is … you drive past a place on a regular basis and every time you do you think “I wonder what that place does?” but you never actually make the effort to find out. That’s how it was with this place, Forth Valley Sensory Centre. Barely half a mile from where we live yet it was a complete mystery. The name, of course, kind of suggests help for those with impaired senses but it doesn’t give that much away. Today we decided to find out what it was all about.From the main road you don’t see that much of it but it’s actually quite big and very modern. And to top off our surprises, it has a cafe, Cafe Tiki … excellent!
Wellbeing
The Centre provides services for those who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as those who are blind or partially sighted. It also seems to provide services across a huge area including Clackmannanshire and Stirling. It has over 30 groups, classes and activities to improve the wellbeing of folks with compromised sensory conditions. They’ve even got a Sensory Garden but the weather today meant it wasn’t a day for exploring that. Technically there is nothing wrong with our senses. We know that many of you might disagree with that but we did wonder, in these circumstances, what sort of reception we would get. No problem, we were welcomed with open arms. Under interrogation though we did confess to an excessive-fondness for scones. And that’s when they directed us their scone treatment centre … Cafe Tiki.
It was mid afternoon and it was about to close so we had the whole place to ourselves. We were looked after by a very friendly lady (she was from Glasgow so, of course, she was friendly) who informed us that there was only one single scone left. “That’ll do” we said “we’ll share it“. She disappeared behind a screen and before you could say Jack Flash she was back with the scone. It was already divided into two and loaded with jam and cream … argh! Not to worry, the intention was good. And it wasn’t as if she could give us another one.
Cooking blind
We sat at a table adjacent to the counter and our lady proceeded to chat to us the whole time we were there. She informed us that one of their chefs is deaf and completely blind. Can’t really imagine that! We were quite enjoying our scone but she said that someone else baked them. This was not a topscone by quite a way but we really enjoyed being here and finding out about all these valuable services.
During the course of our cafe chat we did at least learn how to ask for the essential accoutriments for a scone in sign language.
Prime Ministers in record numbers
Perhaps, since this is a sensory centre we should have mentioned our rather painful sensitivity to recent political news. Could they desensitise us? Too late, the news has just come in that Rishi Sunak is to be the next British PM. There have been 58 British Prime Ministers … three of them have been in the last seven weeks. At this rate we might even reach 100 by the 2024 General Election.
Of course, Rishi is merely leader of the Conservative Party at the moment. In true British obfuscatory style, there’s only one man in Britain that can appoint a new PM. That’s King Charles III and Sunak will be his first. In her 70 years on the throne the Queen had 15 Prime Ministers but, unbelievably, the way things are going, Charles could beat that record. Unless Keir Starmer can nobble the King, or Liz refuses to come out of the cupboard under No10’s stairs, Rishi should be PM by tomorrow. He will be the 10th conservative PM in a row that Scotland hasn’t voted for… isn’t that great!
Perhaps the value of the Sensory Centre is best summed up by one of the volunteers “it gets me out of the house and allows the person that I am picking up to get out as well. When they turn around to me and say they’ve had a great day, it makes my day knowing I have helped”.
After our previous visit to the Soup Dragon near Balfron today we are in a very different place, the Kitchen in Poole. About as far away from The Soup Dragon as you can get without leaving the UK. However, Poole is the most haunted town in Dorset … so spirits of a different kind perhaps. None of that for us today though. Poole Park which opened in 1890 is the place for us. It is over 100 acres of open parkland with lovely gardens and even a saltwater lagoon … fab!
Sharing again
The Kitchen is at its centre and provides sustenance for many of the parks users. It has a large restaurant area as well as an outdoor waterside terrace. There’s also Scoops ice cream parlour. It seems to have everything but what about scones? Yes, there was, fruit and plain! We had had lunch elsewhere so it was just a fruit scone to share and some tea. Sharing was a great idea because neither us wanted to finish even the half that we had. They were fairly obviously shop bought and probably not bought this week judging by the rather stodgy texture. Ah well, you can’t win them all! Shame though, because everything else on offer is probably very good and it’s a great facility for the park.
Hanging by a thread
One of the benefits of staying down here with family is that there is not much time for news. So no rants this time you might think. Well no, when we do get a glimpse it’s the same old, same old. The BBC interviewing innocent passers-by about the cost of living. Typically it goes like this “You’re already struggling to make ends meet and now the government says that cost increases will double over the next few months. How do you feel about that?” What? Are they really expecting someone to say “Oh, I’m absolutely delighted“. And yet they go on doing it … endlessly. And, now it appears that their ‘Director of Impartiality’ is a died in the wool Tory, surprise, surprise! Our BBC licence fee is hanging by a thread.
Incomprehensible
The current cost of living crisis is incomprehensible. Britain is, to a large extent, self sufficient in energy and the same goes for wheat, yet we are told it’s all the fault of the Ukraine war. Our energy costs are to go up 200% … in France it’s 4%. Scottish energy producers have to pay massive amounts of money to feed into the grid yet producers in the south get paid massive amounts to do exactly the same?? Could it all be caused by nothing more than systems designed and developed by the wealthy to make themselves even wealthier? Surely not?
Incomprehensibler
Meanwhile we are assuming that the lightweights vying to become the next PM are still arguing about everything. Liz Truss, still the Foreign Secretary but with ambitions to become a mini Boris, saying that she doesn’t know if the French are friend or foe while simultaneously dumping tons of raw sewage into the English Channel. And Sunak is about as far away from the man in the street as its possible to get. One of them will soon be running the country because 0.2% of the population voted for them. Fantastic!
Two K6s in Poole Park. One made in Falkirk (on the right) and the other in Kirkintilloch
Anyway, the cost of living crisis doesn’t show too much down here but, of course, it is one of the wealthiest areas outside of London. Still can’t produce a topscone though!
What’s the coldest village in the UK? A clue, it’s well over 1000ft above sea level and has a mean annual temperature of 6.6 °C. One April it even managed to record a high of −1.0 °C for the month … brrrr!. Okay, we’ll tell you … it’s Dalwhinnie! What’s more, we’re here at the Loch Ericht hotel and it’s actually quite hot! The village also has a distillery.
Dalwhinnie distillery
We are here because we decided to take a slight detour off the A9, the road that runs from Falkirk to Scrabster in the far north. This section of the road was opened in the 1970s and had the effect of bypassing Dalwhinnie. At the time, many thought it would kill the village off completely. Actually, back in our early days when we decided on the Cairngorms rather than Glencoe for our weekends we would pass through Dalwhinnie quite a lot. Back then there was only one road and it went straight through the village. Gosh, how old are we?
Crushing
It was a military road built by General Wade back in 1731 so that the English army could have better and quicker access to the Highlands. You know what those pesky Highlanders can be like! They thought the Highlands belonged to them and, of course, that sort of thing had to be discouraged at all costs. Wade is actually the only person named in the National Anthem:
Lord grant that Marshal Wade May by thy mighty aid Victory bring. May he sedition hush, And like a torrent rush, Rebellious Scots to crush. God save the King!
Tumbleweed
We could easily have whizzed past but today we decided to see what affect the bypass had had on the village. We fully expected tumbleweed and the odd highland cow wandering about aimlessly on the road. Not a bit of it … it was buzzing! The hotel doesn’t exactly scream out at you, in fact we struggled to find anything indicating it was a hotel at all. There were lots of cars though and when we went into the restaurant area it was big and very busy.
The folks behind the self service counter were very smiley and friendly. Soon we were kitted out with some lunch and a scone to share and went off to find a table. It was surprising that so many others had taken the trouble to come off the main road to visit the village. It has a distillery, did we mention that?
Must be love
Lunch was excellent and then we turned our attention to the scone. There wasn’t any cream but it did come with some nice Scottish jam and Irish butter. Pat normally takes the top half but this time she cut it the other way so I could have a bit of the top as well. Must be love! It was all very nice but what with it being self service it was never going to make topscone grade. Very enjoyable though.
Fancy stories
When we were leaving Pat suddenly announced that she wanted to buy me a bottle of whisky at the distillery … hurrah! Did we mention that there was a distillery? Only a couple of hundred yards further on and we were there. From the outside it looked deserted but when we went inside it was heaving with people, you could hardly move!
They had a weird system where you actually had to retrieve a bottle from the display cases opposite the counter then take it to the counter to pay. Very confusing! No pricing, so suffice to say that the bottle Pat selected turned out to be £65. We left empty handed. Disappointing but I had to agree with her, that’s a lot to pay. No matter what fancy stories they tell on the label … it’s still just whisky! We are heading for Speyside so plenty more whisky buying opportunities to come … fingers crossed!
Brilliant
One of the things about being away is that you don’t get as much news. These days that’s a good thing, as Sunak and Truss battle it out, making ever more outlandish claims. One thing is for sure … neither of them give a toss about Scotland. Truss has even said that she plans to completely ignore Scotland and its government … brilliant! The population of Dalwhinnie is around 80. That’s just slightly less than the number of people who will decide who the next Prime Minister will be … brilliant again!
What a DISASTER! No we’re not talking about the Sunak/Truss clash last night on telly. The only thing they seemed to agree on was that the last few years of government (of which they were part) was a disaster. No we are talking about our 501th scone. Let us explain.
Explosive stuff
For several years we have had the Canary Girls Café in Glasgow in our sights. The story was one we thought would interest our readers. They also made empire biscuits with the icing in the form of a Scottish saltire! Had to get one of those. The Canary Girls were the women who were employed in munitions, manufacturing TNT shells during WWI. The chemicals reacted with melanin to turn their skin yellow. … not good. They even had Canary Babies with the same yellow skin … even more not good! The lady who owned the café named it in honour of her grandmother who had actually been a Canary Girl. What with COVID and everything, we never managed to visit … but today we did. Guess what? They were in the process of dismantling the place as it’s closing for good … disaster!
They said the nearest café was only a short walk away and it was called Patricia’s. Obviously, with a name like that we had to go. Patricia’s is a nice plan but when we asked for a scone she just shook her head … disaster! Not wanting to walk any further we decided to stay and have something anyway. But first, a question:
Yes, we decided to have coffee and a mascarpone cake. They said it was the closest thing to a scone they had. We asked for their wifi. No wifi … disaster! Also no telephone and their website is also a disaster so we haven’t added it. On the plus side the mascarpone cake was delicious and the coffee was excellent.
If that wasn’t enough disasters for one day we have just heard that Boris, who for some unfathomably reason is still PM, is threatening not to go after all. We’re doomed!!
Q: what cheese would you use to tempt a bear out of a tree?
As “Priestfield” its history dates back to the 12th century but in 1681 it was burned to the ground by anti-Catholic rioters who objected to the name. What are folk like? It was rebuilt six years later and the name changed to “Prestonfield.” It became a hotel in the 1960s and in 2003 it was bought by restaurateur, James Thomson. He owns the atmospheric Witchery by the Castle restaurant and much of the sumptuousness of Prestonfield is largely due to him.
one half of the Rhubarb restaurant
It started with a post
This is the quintessential Edinburgh place to indulge and celebrate. So what are you two doing there you’re wondering?
Rhubarb was introduced to Scotland here and now adornes their plates
Well, we can hardly believe it ourselves, but this is our 500th post on allabouttthescones.com. How mad is that? Perhaps, even madder, is that so many of you have been with us as budding bloggers right from the start. That was at Palmerston’s Coffee Shop in Dunkeld back in early 2015 … incredible! We are sure you would agree that such an auspicious occasion deserves to be marked in some way. Why not a scone at Prestonfield House eased down with some Billecart Salmon champagne? We can do decadent!
Good company
one of the drawing rooms
We decided to have our afternoon tea in one of the drawing rooms rather than the famous Rhubarb restaurant. A good decision as it happens because we had the company of three lovely Scandinavian girls on their first trip to Scotland … talk about doing it in style!
Eating rotten things
We don’t normally like the sort of formal subservient service you can sometimes get in places such as this however the young chap who was looking after us was delighfult. He was Spanish and had been here six years. He explained everything we were getting in great detail but with such a strong accent that we really didn’t catch much of it. No matter it all looked fantabulous, the sight of it was quite enough, . One three tier stand with sandwiches on the bottom, cakes on top and scones in the middle. In addition there was a separate plate of savoury goods which included some haggis treats. Only one of our new found Scandinavian friends dared take a little nibble. Goodness, did they not know the celebrated status of haggis in Scotland … and these Viking types eat rotten fish, don’t they?
Anyway it probably will come as no surprise to all you sconeys to learn that this was a topscone. We weren’t able to eat all of them because we felt they were a bit on the large side for an afternoon tea, but that was our only criticism. They were beautifully soft with that crunchy exterior we love. lots of jam and clotted cream as well.
Barefoot
We didn’t think we would ever mention Thatcher twice in one post but she dined here, as did Churchill and a host of other celebrities. More importantly perhaps, Sandie Shaw once strode barefoot across these marble floors.
Deluded as Trump
Boris says that he will be back as PM within a year … we’ll have a pint of whatever he’s drinking! Folks who worked alongside him when he was with the Telegraph say he just made stuff up for his column. Who would have thought it? And although they knew what he was writing was completely false, the newspaper never once offered a retraction. Says it all about British politicians and media.
Colin for PM
The last time we were here they had a lot of peacocks roosting in the trees however we were told there is only one left now … Colin. We went to look for Colin to tell him that we would rather see him running the country than any of the current contenders. We couldn’t find him…opportunity missed!
The path leading to the Stables … no horses these days, it’s an events venue
Bo’ness was once one of Scotland’s largest ports and would have traded the black stuff (coal not caviar) with France for many centuries. Scotland was France’s oldest ally since the two countries formed the Auld Alliance in 1295 in an attempt to control England’s many invasions. Trade between the two circumvented England and ports like Bo’ness and Leith thrived. It may also explain why Scotland has always thought of itself as much more European than England.
We never think this is a good idea. Scones need to breathe after all and sometimes it means that they might not be entirely fresh. Anyway, we ordered one to share as well as a some coffees. Our scone turned out to be not at all bad but a long way off a topscone.
