Tag Archives: Scottish Government

Ordinary, Scones

Café Jaques

After our last visit to the Edinburgh Festival where we visited the very french La Barantine boulangerie, we are back. This time we are in Café Jaques which is just along the street from Petit Paris. Have the French invaded? Are we really leaving the EU? Petit Paris at the Edinburgh International FestivalWith every day that passes we look more and more continental. Al fresco dining at the Edinburgh International FestivalLots of al fresco dining.Street performance at the Edinburgh International FestivalNo idea what’s going on here – it was completely silent for us but they were having a brilliant time with their headphones. The EU certainly seems to have come to Edinburgh but maybe the photo below gives a clue as to why we have Brexit. Oh no, she’s American!SMUT in the Grassmarket at Edinburgh International Festival

After dithering over “Abrupt Erotica” we felt the need for a calming scone and it just so happened that it was Café Jaques that came to the rescue … phew! Not that we escaped completely, there was a bunch of  Festival folk sitting outside the window having a great time. You just can’t escape the happiness of Edinburgh at this time of year. Maybe they had all been to “Smut While U Wait“?Happy festival goers at Café Jaques in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh

But lets be serious for a second, we came in here to get away from all the nonsense and for a bit of sensible sconing. Even though it was going to be French yet again! Internal view of Café Jaques in the Grassmarket, EdinburghBy comparison with the shenanigans going on outside this place was a little oasis of peace and tranquility. They only had fairly large fruit scones so we decided to share one. This time, would you believe it, the coffee was Italian. You would think that in Café Jaques they would at least have French coffee.

Not only that, when our scone arrived it was presented already halved through the middle with its insides exposed to the elements. Has the world gone completely mad? A scone at Café Jaques in the Grassmarket, EdinburghWe had to reassemble it so that you could see it as it in its unmutilated state. Not to worry this was a very reasonable scone and a good attempt for someone French. They’ll get the hang of it eventually. Touching Greyfriar Bobby's nose

Elsewhere in the city people were queuing up to touch Greyfriars Bobby’s nose in spite of a huge campaign to stop it from being worn away.  Self evidently the campaign was not working so why not put a collection box there so that you have to make a contribution if you want your wish to come true. That way they could have a brand new statue ever year. Anyway, Edinburgh on this visit looked fantastic and very continental … lets hope the Scottish government can miraculously find a way to keep us in the EU, after all that’s what Scotland voted for. Sorry keep forgetting. It doesn’t matter what we vote for in Scotland! Vive le Festival d’Édimbourg!

EH1 2JU    tel: 0131 220 5358       Café Jaques TA

Ordinary, Scones

Onich Tearoom

We were heading north for a few days but were caught up in some sort of cycling event. For the first one hundred miles of our journey there was a cyclist every two hundred yards. With a queue of traffic waiting to overtake each one, it made for a very slow journey indeed. Having finally shaken them off at Ballachulish we thought a congratulatory scone was called for.

Onich Hotel at the Corran Ferry was our destination of choice since neither of us had ever been there in spite of having passed it many many times in days gone by. It was sconeless! The girl we spoke to, in her broken English,  only seemed to have the vaguest idea of what a scone actually was … aarrgghh! In high dudgeon we set off for Fort William but no sooner had we started than we came on this place, Onich Tearoom … just the ticket!

K4s and K6s

The eagle eyed amongst you will have immediately spotted a K6 red telephone box. It is currently used to store baby seats for the tearoom. We couldn’t get access to the manufacturer’s label but it would almost certainly have been made in Kirkintilloch.

K6 telephone box in Buenes Aires
K6 in Buenos Aires

We say “almost certainly” because our indomitable Trossachs correspondents, on return from their K6 experience in St Kitts & Nevis,  remembered a similar experience in Buenos Aires a couple of years back. What are they like? When they looked out the photos, however, they were surprised to see that it was made by the Carron Company in Falkirk and thought it might be a fake. Definitely not a fake. A few K6s were indeed made in Falkirk but the vast majority were made in Kirkintilloch. On the other hand all K4s (the ones incorporating a post box) were made in Falkirk. First to send a picture of one of these wins a prize!

Internal view of Onich tearoom with K2 souvenir telephone box
Onich tearoom with K2 souvenir telephone box
Definitive guide

To confuse things even further they had K2s for sale inside the tearoom … almost certainly all made in China. Sconey purists are probably thinking that we are getting carried away with telephone boxes rather than concentrating on the day job. Apologies but we do keep coming across them and they do raise a lot of comment. For the allaboutthescones definitive guide to telephone boxes click here. A scone at Onich Tearoom

Anyway, enough of that for the moment, back to the job in hand! We ordered two fruit scones to go with our tea. Our friendly helpful host brought them with a generous portion of jam and a pat of Irish butter. Although freshly baked that morning by his wife, we felt that there was just something missing in the taste department. Couldn’t quite put our finger on it. Enjoyable enough but no topscone!

Onich, lies on the shores of Loch Linnhe just short of Fort William and its name in Gaelic means ‘frothy bay’. At one time it was considered to be one of the prettiest villages in Scotland. On our visit however it was a wee bit dreich (raining) so we didn’t see it at its best. Old postcard of Onich village ... prettiest village in Scotland

Whose fault?

Nothing dreich about Scotland’s economy according to the latest figures. It is both bewildering and amusing to see the media’s treatment of the news that Scotland’s economy is doing four times better than the rest of the UK. And that’s after ten years of SNP government. After years of delightedly reporting that Scotland’s economy was on its knees they are still trying to spin this into a bad news story. The government’s spokesman, Rupert Murdoch, eventually resorted to saying in The Times, that it was all down to the influence of London. We hope they remember that when Scotland’s economy is not doing so well. Then, of course, it is all the Scottish government’s fault.

View from Onich Tearoom
View from Onich tearoom towards Ardgour and Ardnamurchan

PH33 6RY         tel: 01855 821230              Onich Tearoom TA

Ordinary, Scones

Monachyle Mhor

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It’s 2017, belated happy new year to all our fellow sconeys, we hope it will be a good one. Predictions for the year, however do not look too promising! The UK government continues with its headless chicken act over Brexit. Problem is, it’s not an act! It seems that the Labour party’s new year resolution, particularly in Scotland, is to be even more irrelevant than last year. That’s a tough one but, under its current leadership, probably achievable. At least the Scottish government is giving all newborn babies a ‘baby box’ full of nice things so that they all have the same start in life. And all for no more than the cost of one banker’s bonus. Laudable as this is, rumour has it that the Tory government is investigating the ‘box’ to see if it qualifies as extra accommodation under the bedroom tax?

swings at Monachyle Mhor
swings at Monachyle Mhor

 

Before we all get too cynical maybe we should get on to the good news. It’s a brand new scone year and where better to kick it off than back in Rob Roy country in the splendid isolation of Monachyle Mhor. We’re here with a couple of young Dutch friends who, having been here a couple of years ago, wanted to return. Also, I used to spend my childhood holidays in Balquidder, where my uncle was head forester. So for me it was a great chance to revisit old and fond memories. Two birds with one stone so to speak!Lounge at Monachyle Mhor

This working hill farm has 2000 acres of fabulous scenery overlooking Loch Voil and Loch Doine enabling it to provide walking, hunting and shooting holidays. Since the old days, when it was just a farm and I used to come here to get the milk, Monachyle Mhor has become a ‘destination’ for foodies. Watch this video to see how they do it. You can even come for lunch by seaplane if that’s what floats your boat. Otherwise it’s a somewhat tortuous drive along an ever diminishing road which eventually peters out completely at Inverlochlarig, just a few hundred meters further on from Monachyle Mhor. Scones at Monachyle Mhor

We were welcomed into a lounge where the log burning stove was promptly set ablaze for our comfort and the twenty minutes we had to wait for our scones to be freshly baked was taken up with playing Billie Holiday tracks on a record deck. There is definitely something special about vinyl!

Before long our scones arrived beautifully presented on silver cake stands. There was plenty jam, butter and cream and the scones themselves were wonderfully warm and fresh. We couldn’t wait to get started! If there was a criticism it was that they were too big. And there were two each!! Pat also felt that, even with them being freshly baked, they were slightly doughy in the center and our friends from Amsterdam agreed. I was outnumbered. As we have already said, the scones were too big and too many. And, though we didn’t have to eat them all, you know how it is. None of us needed much to eat that evening.

Antler christmas decoration at Monachyle Mhor
a typical Monachyle Mhor christmas decoration hanging above the reception desk

 

No topscone award unfortunately. But overall we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and it was great to be back in this neck of the woods. As the Mhor empire continues to expand with a chip shop, a bakery and a motel, we wish it well. It is great to see such entrepreneurial flair in this part of the world. Many thanks to our readers for unstinting support throughout 2016 … here’s to more scones in 2017 … cheers!

FK19 8PQ    tel: 01877 384622    Monachyle Mhor

Ordinary, Scones

Shieldbank Coffee Shop

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Destination unknown

You know how it is … sometimes you set out with a certain destination in mind and then end up somewhere completely different. No … maybe it’s just us then. We do it quite a lot? A wrong turn meant we found ourselves in the pretty, former weaving village of Saline, in the Kingdom of Fife. Been here many times before, so we weren’t lost … just not where we thought we would be. Complete change of plan. Seeing a sign for the Shieldbank Coffee Shop, ‘third left then follow road for one mile’, we thought we would cut our losses and head for there. Shieldbank 04

The road goes from Saline to Blairingone and, were it not for that sign, we would never ever have been on it. As it turns out, however, it was the first ‘walking and cycling friendly’ road we have ever come across. A speed limit of 40mph along this lovely country road is all it takes. Can’t really see the police mounting speed traps but everyone seemed to be abiding by the rules anyway. Great idea. The good folks at Shieldbank don’t exactly go big on publicity and it certainly doesn’t jump out at you, tucked away among the trees. Shieldbank 06The weather has been hot and this morning saw some very severe thunderstorms and torrential rain. When we arrived they were still mopping out the café after their worst flash flood in over twenty years. The last thing they wanted was us arriving. They told us so! In spite of everything however we could not have been made more welcome.

Mopping scones

Shieldbank is actually a riding club where they specialise in horseback gymnastics. People like us have difficulty just sitting on a stationary horse. We view the whole concept as just plain ridiculous. However, for those who relish somersaults and handstands on the back of a galloping horse .. this is definitely the place for you. Shieldbank 03For the less adventurous (us) there is the coffee shop. Vic Beasley is the man in charge and responsible for handcrafting everything. He made the café itself three years ago and all of today’s jam, cakes and scones. There wasn’t a great selection on offer. Vic had been preoccupied with mopping duties, on his fourth change of clothing so we thought we should maybe cut him some slack. Nothing was too much trouble however, he provided a scone while we waited for him to prepare us a brand new carrot cake.

Vic is one of these guys who proclaims to hate people and would dearly love to be left alone on a mountain top. However, we don’t think he would last five minutes without a good blether. Shieldbank 01Everything he gave us was excellent, including the scones. Not quite topscones but pretty close.

A nice touch in the cafe is the ability to look through a window directly into a stable. Great for kids. Interesting place, particularly if you are the horsey type. Although hard to find, it was definitely worth it.

Vanishing warships

Talking of things ‘hard to find’ … after the botched military coup in Turkey, fourteen warships, including a frigate, have been reported ‘missing’! What is it with disappearing warships? Before the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, fourteen warships were promised to be built on the Clyde if we voted ‘no’. They have disappeared as well. No doubt they will  reappear just before Indyref2. Then disappear again along with all the other promises.

Because they are trying to fill the bottomless Trident pit and keep the US in the manner to which it has become accustomed, perhaps the government cannot afford anything other than weapons of mass destruction? Apparently, HSBC, Barclays and RBS (the bank that we own) all help fund both the British and Russian nuclear deterrents. What’s that all about? With only one Scottish MP voting to renew Trident … Scotland really really really wishes it is one thing that would disappear.Shieldbank 02Anyway, we wish Vic and his venture every good fortune and now that we have found it we might even go back. Hopefully when it is not flooded.
KY12 9LN       tel: 01383 852621        Shieldbank Coffee Shop

Ordinary

Acoustic Café

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“Sounds like great coffee” … that’s the strap line for this latest addition to the Falkirk café scene, the Acoustic Café. Not sure what great coffee sounds like? Maybe it’s the deafening sound of their own coffee machine, it really is the loudest. However, we feel it probably indicates a bit of confused thinking around the concept of selling coffee and guitars together in the one place. Acoustic 07

So, is the Acoustic Cafe a coffee shop that sells guitars or a guitar shop that sells coffee, we’re not sure. It does not seem to do either particularly well … kind of falls between two stools, so to speak. As a guitar shop it has a good range of very nice guitars. All well and good you might think. We suspect, however, that more attention has been paid to this aspect of the business than the cafe side … and if anything it should be the other way round.

New startup

Some fundamentals are just not there; the coffee may sound great but what about the taste? It is not up to the standard of it’s near competitors. The staff are not trained to the same standard as it’s near competitors. The sole member of staff on two of our visits was unsure of just about everything. Worst of all, of course, the scones are decidedly average.Acoustic 06 Not home baked, a bit dry and powdery … nowhere near a topscone. On the up-side it has a nice funky interior which differentiates it from the rest and offers loads of potential. Also, it has only been in existence for a couple of months so maybe we should cut it some slack. If it can concentrate more on the cafe side of things we hope it goes on to make sweet music and  much better coffee and scones for many years to come.

More broken promises

Music to the ears! That’s what we call the Scottish Government’s stance in the negotiations with the U.K. government over settlement of the new fiscal framework for Scotland. Instead of giving the ‘sweeping new powers’ promised after the referendum, new powers will now have to be paid for through reduced funding. Not even vaguely in the spirit of the Smith Commission. Thank goodness for the SNP. If it had been up to a Labour led administration they would have undoubtedly rolled over to their London masters long ago. Scotland would be much worse off as a result.

Luthiers

To end on a high note, the Acoustic Café did manage to introduce a new word to our lexicon .. luthier; someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments, a service available through the cafe.Acoustic 04

FK2 7AS            tel: 01324 638297      Acoustic Cafe FB

Ordinary, Scones

Arrochar Tearoom

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Unless you are a climber or hill walker, Arrochar is not a destination, it is somewhere you pass through on your way to other places. For hill walkers the view from the village across the end of the loch towards the Cobbler is exciting. You come on it suddenly. Round the corner and there it is, your target for the day. Over the years the Arrochar has changed little. Still busy with traffic thundering through on its way towards the Rest And Be Thankful and beyond to places like Inverary, Lochgilphead and Campbeltown. Internal view of Arrochar Tearoom

The young couple who run the tearoom are a delight, helpful and friendly and keen to chat. Somewhat oddly though, the scones on display are all individually wrapped in cling film, presumably to keep them as fresh as possible. Does anyone else do this .. does it work, let us know?  We think it detracts from the look of the scones. They should be out breathing the fresh Loch Long air. There were some slightly perplexed looks when we askedA scone at Arrochar Tearoom if we could have our scones with separate jam and cream. Their cream scones were already made up and you all know what we think about that!

 

Its all to do with the car park

Never mind, the scones were homebaked and very good with generous proportions .. not quite topscones but not too far off either. I had the cream one and Pat had a plain one.

Pat's plain scone at Arrochar Tearoom
Pat’s plain scone

 The tearoom is hard against the road, and if it wasn’t for a small parking area opposite, it would be very difficult to stop. It has had six successful years with the current owners however all is threatened by a proposal to build on the car park on which the tearoom largely depends. It only takes eight cars and has been used by the community for as long as anyone can remember. However, Luss Estates have discovered that they own it .. and now they have plans which, if successful, could completely scupper the tearoom. We don’t know the rights and wrongs of this particular situation but it does highlight a much larger problem.

Land Ownership

Scotland has the most concentrated land ownership in the developed world. Just 432 people own half of the private land. Land prices are far too high, rents are extortionate, and hence young people are leaving when they can’t even get a scrap of land for housing. The tearoom may have some sort of chance because at least they know who owns the car park .. sometimes it can be the devil’s own job finding out who actually owns

Arrochar Tearoom from the car park
tearoom from the car park

land. Much of it is held in tax havens like the British Virgin Islands.  The Scottish government is trying to do something about it with the Scottish Land Reform Bill.  It, amongst other things, is intended to increase transparency via a land registry and help facilitate community buy outs. Needless to say they are meeting vociferous opposition. It is actually starting to look as if they have already caved in to pressure from powerful lobbyists. Land held in tax havens will not now be affected in any way by the Bill. In fact, the Bill may end up so watered down as to be next to useless.

More backbone please

C’mon Holyrood, a bit more backbone please! Find out more at SLAM. Anyway, next year if you are driving through Arrochar keep an eye out for this tearoom. If it’s still open, use the car park, go in and have a bite to eat .. you’ll get a lovely welcome.

Saltire decoration at Arrochar TearoomG83 7AA           tel: 07585 709772           Arrochar Tearoom

Ordinary, Scones, self-service

IKEA Edinburgh

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No it wasn’t flat packed and no we did not even need an allan key. The scones at IKEA Edinburgh come in much the same way as any other.A scone at IKEA Edinburgh We had arrived here with an IKEA virgin. Honestly we thought that everyone in the world had been here at some point in their lives .. if not every weekend. It was great to see it through fresh eyes so to speak. You have got to hand it to them, they think of just about everything.

After  the IKEA journey (follow the arrows) it is perhaps just as well that they have a watering hole at the end of the trail because. By that time, it is very welcome if not absolutely necessary. Internal view of IKEA EdinburghIn true IKEA style there are no frills. Self service, follow the arrows, pour your own coffee/tea (as much as you like). Because of all that .. very reasonable prices. Our scone had surprisingly light texture and, all things considered, was rather good.

Solitary Tory

A) the Queen’s speech managed, better than any other single event, to demonstrate how out of touch and incongruous the Westminster establishment has become. As someone said “a woman in a £1m hat delivers speech on austerity“. B) the draft Scotland Bill has seen the light of day and surprise surprise it outlines some totally inadequate powers for Scotland. They can only be used if the Scottish Government seeks permission from the single Tory MP in Scotland. C) the LibDems sought to defend the dishonesty of their single Scottish Rt Honourable member by saying that all MP’s lie. You could not make it up. Something has got to change!

EH20 9PW          tel: 020 3645 0000           IKEA Edinburgh