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These are the best scones we have found so far.

Delivino

3 July 2025 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

Everybody knows the story of The Great Escape, and immediately associates it with the name Steve McQueen. But what about the name of Auchterarder man, Sandy Gunn? The difference between McQueen and Gunn is that one acted a part in a film of the escape, and the other faced a firing squad for actually taking part in the escape. We know this because there’s a memorial garden to Gunn across the road from Auchterarder’s Deli & Wine bar, Delivino, where we are today.

Stalag Luft III

As part of the RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, he was tasked with photographing the German battleship Tirpitz, sister ship of the Bismarck, as it lay off the Norwegian coast. He flew from Wick on the north coast of Scotland but was shot down. He ejected and was taken prisoner by the Germans, who transferred him as a POW to Stalag Luft III in Poland.

Photo of Sandy Gunn — Sandy helped dig the tunnel named “Harry ” that allowed 76 men to escape in the dead of night. Unfortunately, he was recaptured 36 hours later and executed under the direct orders of Hitler. Photo courtesy of www.spitfireaa810.co.uk

No such heroics for us, however. Auchterarder is the address of the world-famous Gleneagles Hotel. When the hotel guests get bored with their champagne lifestyle in luxury surroundings, they could come down here for a slight change. Many do, and they are not disappointed. Service is second to none, and the quality of the food is just as good as its big brother up the road.

It is very pleasantly decorated, and perhaps because it was relatively quiet, service was super fast and super friendly. We ordered a light lunch, which was excellent, followed by a fruit scone to share. When our scone arrived, it just came with jam and butter. When we asked about cream, however, they immediately went and whipped some up for us … excellent! We normally like our scones to have a slightly crunchy exterior, but this one didn’t. but was delicious nevertheless. All things considered, this was an easy topscone.

A few years back, the last time we wrote about this place, we promised to review its sister restaurant in nearby Crieff. It’s very remiss of us, but so far we haven’t done that. However, the promise is renewed.

Contagion

It is salutory to think that in WWII, men like Sandy Gunn had to fly sorties to take pictures. Now it’s all done by computers and satellite. Wars are conducted at a distance with little or no human interaction. Emotionless wars? The chaos emanating from the American government has been matched or perhaps surpassed by our own UK government. Keir Starmer’s chaotic attempts at governance have resulted in the extraordinary sight of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in tears. Rachel Reeves probably wanted to make her own great escape, but at the same time, her emotions on public display were kind of heartening. Emotion in politics does exist.

PH3 1DF tel: 01764 660033. Delivino

///gulped.zoos.masterpiece

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Mona’s

28 June 2025 billpaterson1@me.com 9 Comments

You are probably aware that on a nice day, and having nothing better to do, we tend to go wandering. Luckily Scotland is blessed with a myriad of tiny roads, many of them unsigned. Even in an area you know relatively well there are always roads you have never been on. A nightmare for some but we like to take them just to see where we end up. Sometimes the road peters out completely, and you have to simply turn round and come back, but at least we then know. Today, we have been wandering and ended up here at Mona’s in a pretty little village called Pool of Muckhart. Together with another adjacent village, the Yetts o’ Muckhart, they form an area unsurprisingly referred to as Muckhart.

The villages are quite well known simply because of their unusual names. As far as we can tell, the “Pool” refers to a long nonexistent pond and the “Yetts” probably referred to a toll house that charged drovers passing through on their way to market with their cattle.

Battle of Trafalgar and all that

Despite giving the air of sleepy little Clackmannanshire villages, Muckhart has quite a history. Close by, there’s the remains of a thirty-five-foot-high limekiln which was operated by the Carron Iron Works in Falkirk. We are very familiar with the Carron Foundry, where we are actively involved in trying to preserve its iconic clock tower. However, we had no idea it had a connection to this area. Back in the 18th century, everyone was fighting everyone else, just like today, so Carron was busy making cannons to scare Napoleon’s forces at Trafalgar. In more peaceful times, Carron turned to making telephone and post boxes. As if to emphasise the Muckhart connection, we had to pass one of these post boxes directly outside Mona’s door.

A Carron post box outside Mona's — A post box made by the Carron Foundry at Mona’s of Muckhart

It was surprising to find these connections to our home town of Falkirk in these little villages.

Also nearby is “Joe Bell’s tree”. Joe has the dubious distinction of being the last man to be publicly hanged in Scotland. Back in 1866, he was destitute and just wanted some money for bread. As he waited for his victim, an unfortunate farmer, he carved his initials “JB” into the tree. He shot the farmer dead and robbed him of £5.10. A month after being found guilty, he was hanged outside Perth Prison on a gallows specially transported from Aberdeen.

Rhubarb and apple

All a bit morbid, but like some sort of antidote we have Mona’s, a wonderful, cheery place. You get a good feeling just entering the café. It’s been in the same family for three generations and is named after the current owner’s grandmother, Mona Cram. Plain, fruit and cheese scones were on offer, and they all looked delicious. As usual, we went for fruit, which came nicely presented with generous amounts of jam and clotted cream. We chose “rhubarb and apple” jam, but, in what must have been a technical glitch, we got ” forest berry”. No matter, the jam was excellent as was the scone. Coffee was great too. When you get cheerful service and everything else to go with it, it leaves us little choice but to award a topscone. Well done Mona’s, though as Pat ended up buying half the shop, our visit worked out quite expensive.

We posted from here back in 2017, and if anything, we think it’s got even better than it was back then.

Safer?

2017 was at the time of the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack, which, in many ways, replicated a similar horrendous attack in Nice the previous year. It would be good to think that things were safer now, but with many of our world leaders only evading prison through maintaining their respective positions of power, it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

FK14 7JN tel: 01259 781322 Monas of Muckart

///broken.sting.ourselves

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Pierhouse Hotel

24 March 2025 billpaterson1@me.com 7 Comments

The Pierhouse Hotel is in a lovely spot on the coast of Appin between Oban and Fort William. It’s at the end of a few miles of single-track road so the only way out is the way you went in. However, there is an alternative! It’s the little ferry to the Isle of Lismore but it doesn’t take cars!

Internal view of the Pierhouse Hotel, Appin — The dining room but everyone is sitting outside

On a day like today, however, it is difficult to imagine a more idyllic location to while away a few hours. Also, the Pierhouse has just been awarded Scotland’s Chef of the Year. Cloudless skies, not a breath of wind, and Chef of the Year—what’s not to like? Can you believe that we reviewed this place back in 2015? It seemed perfect then and today it’s as if nothing has changed.

Artist impression of the Pierhouse Hotel, Appin — An artist’s impression of the Pierhouse Hotel

In glorious Spring sunshine, we took our seats on the deck overlooking Loch Linnhe and waited for our coffee and scones to arrive. There were lots of other folk doing the same so we were fortunate to get a table. Some, like us, were just on a day out, others were hotel guests and yet others were killing time waiting for the ferry.

Accident?

Our scone soon arrived and to say that the presentation was a little surprising would be an understatement. The scone just sat on the plate but by its side, there was what looked like a very generous quenelle of clotted cream covered in a red preserve. Either that or our Chef of the Year had had a serious accident in the kitchen. Anyway, it was great! The scone was perfect. And the cream and jam presentation meant that you could scoop both up at the same time … brilliant—another easy topscone.

Halcyon days

Given that it’s been a decade since our last review of the Pierhouse it’s tempting to look back at what must have been halcyon times compared to now.

The Appin ferry — The Lismore ferry on a mirror-like Loch Linnhe, We once spent a lovely few days on the island staying with the Abbot of Lismore and his wife

In 2015 David Cameron swept to power in the UK. Obama was US President and for the first time, Trump announced he would run for the Republican nomination. Things weren’t perfect but no one had yet envisaged a global pandemic, that Russia would invade Ukraine or that Israel could so graphically demonstrate man’s inhumanity to man. In all of these ten years, this little ferry has quietly gone about its business several times a day every day. It’s always hard to leave this place.

PA38 4DE tel: 01631 730302 Pierhouse Hotel

///thumb.calms.fats

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Lion and Unicorn

13 February 2025 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

We are a little late with this post. You should have got it on Wednesday because that’s when we were last at the Lion and Unicorn Inn in the village of Thornhill near Stirling. But thereby hangs a tale … a sconological tale.

Statues at the Lion and Unicorn Inn, Thornhill — The lion is the national animal of England, and the unicorn is Scotland’s. It is a well known fact that a unicorn is a symbol of innocence and the only creature that can defeat a lion.

We had been here several weeks before and were delighted to note “scones” on the menu. When we asked for them, however, we were told they didn’t have any. Apparently, they were that rare breed, only available on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The next time we were here was when we posted from The Winnock when trying to find the MacGregor Monument. It was a Thursday, so thought we would try our luck. Still no scones but we did glean a little more information. They did a coffee morning “for the village” on Wednesday mornings. This was becoming a challenge!

So it was that on this Wednesday morning we thought we should phone ahead to check if the scones were only for “the village” or whether outsider riff riff such as ourselves could also partake. “Of course, no problem“, we were told.

Once there were eight pubs in the village but this is the only one left … a sign of the times. The Lion and Unicorn has been serving fine food, ales and presumably scones since 1635 … all we had to do was engage with one! We set off on the thirty minute drive to Thornhill with steely determination and a keen sense of anticipation. Would it be third time lucky?

Things I don’t know

A grandson of John Napier, inventor of logarithms, owned land here at one time. I mention this simply because I must have been off school the day they explained their importance. I never “got it”! In spite of years spent carrying a little book of sines, cosines and tangents around in my school bag, my entire career passed without the need for any of them. I’ve also discovered something else to further demonstrate the depth of my ignorance … Shetland cows. A farm at Thornhill breeds Shetland cows. Shetland ponies are famous but Shetland cows? Apparently, they are small, hardy and ideally suited to living in the special environment of Flanders Moss on the edge of the village. Anyway I could write a very hefty tome on things I don’t know so let’s return to more familiar territory … scones!

When we arrived we were shown to a table for two. We could easily see what they meant by a “coffee morning for the village“. From the babble of excited chatter emanating from a long table across from us it was pretty obvious what was going on. The large plate of scones was also a give away.Our host, the wonderful Fiona, remembered us. Presumably as the weird folk who were always asking about scones. We obviously made and impression! She asked if we would like to join the others at the long table. Initially we felt we would be intruding but suffice to say another couple of chairs were found and we were warmly welcomed. It was almost as if we were “villagers”! What a super friendly and interesting bunch of sconeys.

Coincidence

Unbelievably, one of the group, Janet, used to work alongside my late uncle in nearby Aberfoyle many years ago. She knew my cousins very well. Apart from ourselves, Janet was the only “outsider” there. To say that we thoroughly enjoyed meeting these people and joining their coffee morning would be a mighty understatement. They made our day! A hundred years ago a local newspaper wrote that Thornhill was “the pleasantest of pleasant villages“. We can vouch for that still being the case. The self-effacing Fiona had made the scones earlier that morning. When she discovered that her scones were to be “judged” she explained that the batteries on her scales had given up. She had had to guess at the quantities for the recipe.

She needn’t have worried, they were beautifully presented and easy topscones. Later, we discovered from our new found friends that her batteries had packed up months ago. Well done Fiona for making these delicious scones by pure force of habit and for being so welcoming. For us it was third time very lucky

Eraly photograph of the Lion and Unicorn — Victorian photo of the Lion and Unicorn. Folks arriving for a village coffee morning?

As complete strangers it was heartwarming to be welcomed into what seems like a village tradition. When we returned home and saw Musk prancing around the Oval Office with his son Lil X on his shoulders it truly looked like the inmates had taken over the asylum. Take us back to the sanity of the Lion and Unicorn where the cares of the world were being discussed in a much more civilised fashion.

FK8 3PJ tel: 01786 850204 Lion & Unicorn Inn

///toasters.gearbox.strain

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Dowans Hotel

4 January 2025 billpaterson1@me.com 16 Comments

A happy and healthy 2025 to one and all. We hope you will stay with us for another year of scone adventures.

2024 was notable for many things; Trump getting reelected, the passing of Jimmy Carter, Polestar producing the first car with no rear window. Fine, but all fairly inconsequential when you consider that we reviewed more than sixty scones. Disasterously, however, we also reported that our long standing benchmark scone at Fonab Castle had slipped off the top of the pile. Dilemma! Of course, like true sconeys, we gathered ourselves together, brushed ourselves down and set about the search for a replacement. At Dowans Hotel here in Aberlour we may have already found the answer … hallelujah!

Coincidental

We had decided to stay at Dowans for a few days. The fact that the Aberlour distillery was just over the garden wall or that you could see the Macallan distillery from the front door, or that the GlenAllachie distillery was just a short walk away was purely coincidental.

Whisky snug at Dowans Hotel — Over 500 on offer in the Whisky Snug at Dowans

Dowans has had a varied life since 1888 when it was built as the family home for the owner of nearby Cardhu distillery. During WWII it was used by the military before becoming an orphanage in the 1950s. It first became a hotel in the 1960s before being taken over by the current owners, the Murray family, in 2012. The family are heavily involved in the day to day running and have, over the years, turned it into the elegant place it is today.

Just because we are in Strathspey with its 53 distilleries, don’t run away with the idea that they only produce whisky in these parts, As Dowans was being built in the village, the global phenomenon of Walker’s Shortbread was also just starting out in Aberlour. Okay, coincidentally it just so happens that shortbread is the perfect accompaniment to whisky. For many, a glass of whisky and a piece of shortbread is what makes life worth living. Shortbread and whisky is all very well but what about the scones we hear you cry?

M Bar at Dowans Hotel — At a time when many pubs are experiencing a Guiness shortage there was no problem in MBar at Dowans

Dancing

Okay, hostess with the mostest, Lauren, had assured us we could have scones any time we liked. It wouldn’t be any trouble. Before that, however, we took a short drive through the Macallan Estate towards Keith and came on the hamlet of Maggieknockater. Apparently many locals say they come from other nearby villages rather than face the laughter that revealing their true origins engenders. There was once a famous beekeeper here that gave rise to a Scottish Country dance, the Bees of Maggieknockater. Only on allaboutthescones.com can readers obtain such enlightenment.

A cottage in Aberlour — The local cottages all have beautiful stonework

Anyway, today was a day when the temperatures were going to struggle to rise above freezing. The idea of scones in front of the fire was particularly appealing. True to her word, Lauren soon had us enjoying some freshly made scones. They were beautifully presented with lovely dishes of jam and cream and crisp white linen napkins. Being freshly baked they were wonderfully warm and had the exact crunchy exterior and soft centre that we enjoy so much. This was one of the easiest topscones we have ever reviewed. A worthy contender for that coveted “best scone in the world” title.

How’s that for a start to the New Year?

AB38 9LS tel: 01340 871488 The Dowans Hotel

///realm.available.mouths

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Inchyra Grange

31 December 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 10 Comments

Last time we were here at the Inchyra Grange was August 2015. Scarcely seems possible that almost a decade has passed since then. Besides being a lot younger much else has changed as well!

Most places require 24 hours notice for afternoon tea, however, not here. Back then we booked afternoon tea for eight adults and two grandchildren and were impressed by the way the staff were unfazed by us turning up with more than we had booked for. Ten years on and Pat and I now have six granddaughters. Four of them were with us today and after an hour or so in the swimming pool they were ready for refreshments.

Confusion

In our experience an afternoon tea is normally for two people so we ordered two because we felt that would be enough. Too many sweet things and we would have to scrape the kids off the ceiling. When the afternoon tea arrived, however, it was placed on the kids table. When we asked where ours was they explained that we had only ordered two. What was on the kid’s table was indeed two afternoon teas. Turned out that they do afternoon tea for one. Never heard of that … who on earth goes for afternoon tea alone??

Anyway , while the kids tucked into theirs we had to wait for them to bring another one. As they sensed our frustration, we were treated to a chorus of “the scones are sooooo delicious“. Turned out they were absolutely right. They were delicious as was everything else. Washed down with a glass of bubbly it was an easy topscone.

Separate

We don’t want readers to run away with the idea that we put our grandchildren at a separate table because we didn’t want them at ours. Perish the thought! No,no no, it was the hotel that suggested it. It was a great suggestion!

Kids at the Inchyra Grange Hotel — So hyped after their swim and playing with their “slime” they sat at a separate table

Back in the 2015 General Election, David Cameron had just seen off a challenge from Ed Miliband’s Labour Party . Since then we’ve had six different PMs. In the whole of the last century we only had 19 Prime Ministers. The new ones obviously don’t have the staying power of the old ones. Anyway we are only hours away from 2025 so we hope it’s a good one for everybody.

FK2 0YB tel: 0344 879 9044 Inchyra Grange

///scenes.upper.vase

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Victoria’s

30 November 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

In our previous post from Fonab Castle we were bemoaning the fact that it was no longer family run. It’s difficult to put your finger on exactly what happens when an establishment goes from “family run” to a more corporate style … it’s just different, less personal. Today, however, we are still in beautiful Pitlochry but at Victoria’s restaurant. It proudly proclaims, loud and clear that it has been “family run” since 1996. Would we notice a difference?

Established on the town’s Main Street and named after the family’s new born daughter you can work out how old she is now. In the low winter sun it’s not too impressive from the outside but in the summer its large al fresco dining area will be buzzing. Inside it has a warm homely feel with lots of Christmas decorations.

According to Victoria’s website Luciano Pavarotti, once said “One of the very nice things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating“. How true! We had just walked from Fonab Castle into town and now we felt the need to do exactly that.

Christmas recipes

We were looked after by a young girl who was full of the joys. Turned out she was from South Africa. She and her husband had come to work here in Scotland for the next few years. They wanted some adventure before settling down to start a family. She informed us that her husband was responsible for making the scones. When they arrived they were accompanied by the usual little pots of jam and the biggest bowl of cream we have ever seen. Not clotted cream but pretty spectacular. Everything was delicious. She asked us if we noticed anything different about the scones? We had but couldn’t quite identify what it was. Apparently her husband had added star anise to the recipe to make them taste more Christmasy. It worked, “Christmasy” was exactly how they tasted.

Although busy attending to other customers our girl always came back to us for more chat. She even produced a map of Pitlochry and, with a felt tipped pen, marked places we should visit as well as the most picturesque route for us to take back to Fonab. This was service above and beyond which eventually persuaded us to award a topscone. Well done Victoria’s, “family run” is definitely better!

View over Loch Faskally — View across Loch Faskally

A flicker of light

At Fonab, we talked with a young Ukrainian girl who was working there. She didn’t think her family were in immediate danger but the concern in her eyes was plain to see. With President Zelenskyy hinting at talks with Russia there appears to be a glimmer of hope for an end to the fighting. However, if Zelenskyy requires a cast iron guarantee that Putin can never return it is extremely difficult to see how that can be achieved. But for the sake of our girl and her family, at least there may be a tiny flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. Fingers crossed!

Today there is also a memorial service in Edinburgh for Alex Salmond. Ten years ago he led Scotland to within a whisker of independence. Needless to say, none of the promises made to the people of Scotland at that time by the UK government have been delivered … not a single one! At least Salmond knew that independence had only been delayed.

Whisky messsges in Pitlochry — In a grocery store across from Victoria’s

PH16 5BX tel: 01796 472 670 Victoria’s

///divides.disbelief.thanks

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Fonab Castle

28 November 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 9 Comments

Most of our readers are aware that we regard the scones at Fonab Castle as the best in the world and the benchmark against which we judge all others. Our first visit was back in 2015 and we have been back several times since to check that standards were being maintained. That said, we haven’t been for a couple of years and in that time the hotel has come under new management. It used to be family owned but now it has been bought by an investment company that owns a chain of high end hotels. The transition from “family run” to a chain hotel can sometimes be problematic.

Internal view of Fonab Castle — Part of the “1892 on the Loch” restaurant looking across Loch Fascally towards Ben Vrackie. 1892 is when the castle was built.

Just checking

We decided to book in for a few nights. Of course, we wouldn’t be here unless we felt duty bound to ensure standards for our readers … honest! No really … honest!

The Lounge at Fonab Castle — The Lounge/Bar

If you are looking to get back to basics, however, this is probably not the place for you. Pampering, on the other hand is no problem and at this stage of our lives we seem to be able to tolerate pampering very well. We had a lovely swim and then par-boiled ourselves in one of their hot tubs. There were all sorts of other spa treatments available if you were in desperate need of further relaxation. We opted to skip these and indulge in the ultimate relaxation … tea and scones.

However, it was with a degree of trepidation that we ordered a cream tea. Obviously, it would be disastrous if it failed the “best scone in the world” test. Our tried and tested benchmark that had lasted almost ten years would have gone. It didn’t bear thinking about! The expectation was that we would each get two ideally sized scones presented in a lovely linen napkin to keep them warm. They would be “melt in the mouth” and be accompanied with delicious jam and cream. Sadly, it was not to be. Presentation was okay but not what it used to be. The scones were perfectly acceptable, in fact they were topscones but definitely not the best scones in the world. Attentive readers will remember that we once asked the Fonab chef for the secret ingredient in his scones. He simply replied “happiness in the kitchen.” Presumably the kitchen these days isn’t as happy as it used to be?

Alternatives

Disappointed and slightly traumatised, we had to wrack our collective brains to think of an alternative. Not easy! We had become so used to thinking of Fonab as the be all and end all of scones that it was difficult to think outside of that particular box. Had we just become complacent over the years? However, a few worthy contenders immediately came to mind … Schloss Roxburgh and Mingary Castle as well as Lamlash House to name but three. We are spoiled for choice.

Later, we had a delicious dinner followed by drinks in the bar chatting to some lovely people including a lovely family from North Carolina. They were keen to learn about Scottish history and whisky. Obviously, from an educational point of view, several whiskies had to be sniffed, looked at and quaffed, followed by knowledgeable nods and hushed mmmms. They were on holiday so we didn’t burden them with our scone traumas.

PH16 5ND tel: 01796 470140 Fonab Castle

///soup.material.newsreel

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Frieda’s Tearoom

28 September 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

With all the roadworks going on outside Frieda’s tearoom it can’t be easy to keep the business going. Frieda, however, is not going to let something like that hold her back. She’s an enterprising lady and quick as a flash, she had us set up with a homemade parking permit that enabled us to leave the car at a special area alongside the tearoom.In the past we have skirted round Bournemouth but this is the first time we have been “downtown” so to speak. Frieda’s is tucked away on a side street away from the bustle of the seafront.

As we said in our previous post from Dumpton, we are currently living in Poole looking after a couple of our granddaughters while their parents are away on business. It’s an exciting area. Apparently, a few years back a strange cat-like creature was spotted by a lady in Western Avenue. That’s virtually the next street to where we are living. It was identified as a kangaroo eating Tasmanian wolf which was officially declared extinct in 1986. Obviously a lack of kangaroos must have contributed to its demise. However, we’d like some of whatever that lady was on!

It’s only a half hour walk along the beach to Bournemouth but, since we didn’t have a specific destination in mind, we decided to drive. That’s why we needed Frieda’s parking permit. The tearoom is pleasantly old fashioned with lots of knickknacks accompanied by a background of 50s and 60s music by the likes of Pat Boone and Patsy Cline

Tea bags

There was a fabulous array of large gateaus all made by Frieda herself. She explained that a “cream tea” came with two scones and either tea or coffee. Ideal, so that was our order plus one extra tea. As you might expect the china ware was “chintsy” and, of course, the tea came with a tea strainer. No fandangled teabags here! In contrast, however, the scones, were nicely presented on a modern square plate with matching dishes for the jam and cream. The scones, dusted with icing sugar, had plenty of fruit and were delicious. An easy topscone!

Double decker afternoon teas

Several certificates on the wall were awards from Bournemouth Council for Frieda’s Tea Bus. She told us she used to have a double decker bus which she drove around the town serving afternoon teas. Told you she was enterprising. However, although very succesful, COVID killed the whole thing off. After a couple of years sitting doing nothing the bus refused to start and that was the end of it.

A teapot planter at Frieda's Tearoom — Teapot planter

Shining example

Anyway after we had finished our scone we were tempted by the gateaus and got a slice of Victoria sponge which was fabulous. Turns out that Frieda and her family moved here from Iran more than twenty years ago. The Iranians are famous for having a sweet tooth so maybe that’s why she decided to set up a tearoom. We can only speculate on the reasons for the move but modern day Iran must be a difficult place to live if you were used to the freedoms of the previous regime. The UK government currently sees immigration as a massive problem but thankfully the new government has abandoned the ridiculous and costly Rwanda scheme. We suspect immigration is more of a convenient distraction from other problems they’d rather not talk about. In our opinion, Frieda is a shining example of the benefits of immmigration, more power to her elbow.

BH1 1JH tel: 01202 291981 Frieda’s

///oath.cares.pulse

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Kirkhouse Inn

26 August 2024 billpaterson1@me.com 7 Comments

After our previous post from Coffista in Leven we’ve gone west to Strathblane in the foothills of the Campsie Fells. However, if we had wanted to be here when the Kirkhouse Inn first opened its doors to guests we’d have been over four hundred years too late. Yes, this place opened in 1601 as a “tavern with stables” and has been welcoming people like us ever since. Back then, Elizabeth I was on the English throne and James VI was King of Scotland. As far as we know neither ever stayed here, however, this Inn was the scene of secret correspondence between the two monarchs which eventually led to the Union of the Crowns in 1603. So it’s all their fault.

View from the Campsie Fells — From high on the Campsie Fells, Strahblane’s Kirkhouse Inn is down there somewhere.

Just north of Glasgow, as a “tavern with stables” the Kirkhouse Inn was presumably a place for travellers to stop overnight and rest their horses. We were doing the same though for us it would be more of a “tavern with car park”. Nowadays it’s a hub for walkers doing the West Highland Way and the John Muir Way. They both pass nearby. The Campsie Fells form an impressive background to the hotel and on a gorgeous day, we had a beautiful drive through them to get here. An overnight stay and an afternoon tea was what we were looking for!

It was good to see that the service seemed to be provided by mostly young local lads. In our experience, usually due to poor training, this can sometimes be problematic. But not here, it was excellent. First they brought a plate of delicious savoury sandwiches. When they were finished three tiers of sweet things appeared and everything explained in detail. Lemon possets and macaroons on top. Meringues and chocolate dipped strawberries in the middle with scones and French fancies on the bottom. Unusually there was only one scone each. A good thing in our opinion. Normally you get two but inevitably, because you’ve just had a feast of sandwiches, you end up leaving one of them. The scones came with perfect little dishes of jam and cream and were just the way we like them. The right size, crunchy exterior with a soft fluffy centre … topscone.

Monarch of the glen at the Kirkhouse Inn — Another monarch, this one of the Glen

In 1601 the British East India Company was just starting its plunder of India leading to almost a century of disastrous British rule. Regrettable perhaps but where would we be without curry? It doesn’t bear thinking about! Ironically perhaps, the young Sagar Massey, raised in Delhi, has launched his fine dining restaurant “Sanja” at the Kirkhouse Inn.

Picture in our room at the Kirkhouse Inn — The Chief Returning From Deer Stalking … another picture at the Kirkhouse Inn

It would be nice to think that we have progressed a wee bit since 1601, however, we have our doubts. As usual, land seems be the problem. Ukraine’s incursion into Russia is welcome but guaranteed to get right up mad Vlad’s nose. Israel’s murder of 40,000 people because a couple of thousand years ago some guy in the sky said the land belonged to them is beyond reason. In 1601 the area around the Kirkhouse Inn had to deal with MacGregor bandits running off with their cattle under cover of darkness, In comparison with today’s problems it sounds positively romantic!

G63 9AA tel: 01360 771711 Kirkhouse Inn

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Scones, history and a dollop of politics

Category Archives: Top

Delivino

Stalag Luft III

Contagion

Mona’s

Battle of Trafalgar and all that

Rhubarb and apple

Safer?

Pierhouse Hotel

Accident?

Halcyon days

Lion and Unicorn

Things I don’t know

Coincidence

Dowans Hotel

Coincidental

Dancing

How’s that for a start to the New Year?

Inchyra Grange

Confusion

Separate

Victoria’s

Christmas recipes

A flicker of light

Fonab Castle

Just checking

Alternatives

Frieda’s Tearoom

Tea bags

Double decker afternoon teas

Shining example

Kirkhouse Inn

by Bill and Pat Paterson and is about finding good scones throughout the world, with a little bit of politics