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Scones, Uncategorized

Larnach Castle

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It’s not often we can report on Kiwi scones. However, thanks to our Brisbane correspondent we can send this post from Larnach Castle in Dunedin where he is visiting his daughter. External view of Larch Castle, Dunedin

The story of the castle which William Larnach built in 1871 is bitter sweet. Larnach means “man of Lorne” in Gaelic so his parents probably came from that part of Argyll on the Scottish west coast. He was a very successful business man, banker and politician who prospered through land speculation. His wealth allowed him to build New Zealand’s only castle here in Dunedin. But now the gossip.

Internal view of Larch Castle, Dunedin
European tradesmen were brought in to creat interiors from the highest quality materials

He had six children by his first wife however she died, aged 38 shortly after the birth of their youngest. He then married the children’s governess who also died aged 38. Next he married a much younger woman but she was rumoured to be having an affair with one of his sons. Eventually, having outlived all his wives, he faced financial and other seemingly unsurmountable hardships. In the Parliament building in 1898 he shot himself dead … tragic!

Internal view of Larch Castle, Dunedin
No expense spared on lavish Victorian interiors

Since 1967 it has been owned and cared for by the Barker family who open the castle and its beautiful gardens on a daily basis. Scones at Larch Castle

Our correspondent was there to sample their Devonshire Tea. In his own words: “The scones were of a decent size and had nice crunchy crust but the body was not of the highest standard. Too dry and crumbly for my liking and the jam and cream that came with it looked like World War 2 ration sizes. I took a detour from the tea and had a cappuccino instead. Yes I know a serious deduction in style points and probably makes me a traitor to the true scone blog cause. In the photo I’ll let you puzzle over who had the jam on top. Tiny by true Scottish castle standards but a lovely wee piece of Scotland here in NZ.”  

Don’t worry about jam on top. It was a “Devonshire” Tea after all so, although totally uncivilised, is probably more authentic! We are truly grateful to have our sconological knowledge expanded in this way. Compared to Scotland, however, it seems a pity that New Zealand has just one castle. Mind you, that’s probably what happens when you’re not trying to fend off English invaders all the time 🥴

Dunedin 9077          tel: +64 3 476 1616          Larnach Castle

///resells.pierces.thrived

 

Scones, Uncategorized

Coll Hotel

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This is a post about boats, planes, surfing and a couple of scones. How exciting is that?

Last year Pat and I intended to celebrate our Golden Wedding at Coll Hotel. Just the two of us and a nice quite few days on an island would just be perfect. However, we had not reckoned with our children who announced that they were coming up from the south of England to celebrate with us. We had to curtail our stay on Coll and return home … but that’s another story. This year, because I had decided to have yet another birthday, Pat thought we should complete our stay at Coll Hotel. Hopefully this post illustrates some of the delights of a tiny island like Coll.View of MV Clansman

Travelling

For us, travelling by ferry is always fun, an event in itself! Looking out for dolphins, whales, birds and landmarks, passes the time very quickly. You really feel as if you are going somewhere. It was the MV Clansman that was taking us on our three hour journey from Oban. After Coll it sails on to the Isle of Tiree, returns to Coll then back to Oban. In summer it makes the round trip twice a day laden with tourists but at this time of year it’s relatively quiet.

Segn for eggas for sale on Coll
We bought some eggs at an honesty box. The box was stuffed with money … no-one had bothered to empty it.

Normally in remote hotels like this the staff change with every season so it’s testament to Coll Hotel that they can retain their staff throughout the winter. It was great to see friendly familiar faces again. After our painful, never to be repeated,  experience last year on bikes, this time we had the car. The island is 13 miles long and 3 miles wide. However, the twisty single track roads with sheep lying on them, dictate that you don’t get anywhere very quickly. But who needs to get anywhere quickly on Coll? After checkin in we headed off to the east end of the island as far as the road would take us.

The beach at Sorisdale
Pat on the beach at Sorisdale. at the east of the island. Ardnamurchan on the horizon.

There are about twenty notable beaches and we didn’t meet anyone on any of the ones we visited. By the time we had explored this end of the island it was time to make our way back to the hotel for dinner.

A traditional house on Coll
One of the old traditional houses. Originally it probably had a turf roof
Twitching

Next day, the weather was lovely again and we were going  to explore the rest of the island to the west, The previous day, Pat had started a bird list and was keen to add to it. The Island Café was closed so we told the hotel we would be back around 3pm for scones … got to check that standards are maintained after all!

Coll airport
Pat at the airport. No one there but you can just go in and use the facilities. Planes fly to and from the Isle of Tiree and Oban on the mainland

Approaching the west of the island you come on the extraordinary sight of the two  Breachacha Castles … one old and one new.

Breachacha Castle on Coll
Built in the 15th century Breachacha Castle was a stronghold of Clan MacLean
new Breachacha Castle on Coll
Built in 1750 this is the New Breachacha Castle currently for sale £450,000
While we were here, amongst other sightings we were able to add Snow Geese and a low flying Golden Eagle to Pat’s list … fantastic!  None of the beaches are particularly accessible on Coll, They all involve a bit of a hike usually over massive sand dunes. The highest point is Ben Hogh a dune reaching a lofty 341 feet. We drove round to Bally Haugh (pronounced Bally Ho) beach but even that involved a trek of about half a mile.
Bally Haugh beach on Coll
Bally Haugh beach, best for surfing but we didn’t have our boards
 
What are the chances?

Here, its very easy to lose track of time. It was well after 3pm when we got back and too late for a scone. Sadly, it looked like this visit was going to be sconeless. It was after 5pm so time for a drink. Amazingly, in the bar the first people we met were a couple we had befriended in a bar in Oban before we left. Turns out they live just behind the Coll hotel.

Birthday dinner at Coll Hotel
Surprise, surprise, the staff gave a rousing rendition of “happy birthday” and a cake and a candle for every year of my mental age! We also made some new friends from Switzerland.

Scones in a boxNext morning we, very reluctantly, had to take our leave. However, as we passed reception what should be on the desk but a little cardboard box. It contained two scones and some jam and cream to eat on the ferry. How nice was that? This is definitely one of our favourite hotels. We’ve run out of excuses to come back so we will just have to come back anyway.

Things must have happened out there in the big bad world but thankfully we are blissfully unaware.

The Clansman coming from Tiree
The Clansman coming from Tiree to take us back to Oban

PA78 6SZ              tel: 01879 230334           Coll Hotel

///leaves.inclined.rotations

For those interested, this is Pat’s bird list compiled over one and a half days on Coll. There were geese everywhere but, of course 01, 13, 14 and 21 were particular highlights for us.

01 Great Northern Diver 02 Ringed plover 03 Fieldfare 04 Blackbird 05 Rock Dove  06 Greylag Geese 07 Starling 08 Common Gulls 09 Canada Geese 10 Hooded Crows 11 Grey Heron 12 Twite  13 Snow Geese 14 Hen Harrier 15 Oyster Catcher 16 House sparrow 17 Wren  18 Robin 19 Barnacle geese  20 Stonechat  21 Golden Eagle  22 Lapwing  23 Skylark 24 Raven 25 Curlew 26 Whopper swan 27 Mallard  28 Moorhen 29 Shag 30 Greenfinch 31 Collared dove.

Scones, Uncategorized

Woodlea Cafe

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This post is about the folly of not preparing sufficiently. We came here to the Woodlea Cafe because of a recommendation from Tracy at The Bruce Arms in Limekilns. She had also recommended Ale and Pate in Dalgety Bay and that had proved very successful. Obviously Tracy had good taste in scones so we had high hopes for this place.Fruit and veg at Woodlea Cafe

Sun-dried tomato scones?

The cafe is part of a farm shop on the outskirts of the small mining village of Crossgates in Fife. The local football team is  Crossgates Primrose, which plays at Humbug Park. First thing in the farm shop is a butcher’s shop specialising in game. It’s run by a very friendly chap who used to be a gamekeeper in his native Hungary. Then you pass through between large wooden benches laid out with fruit and veg before coming to the bakery. Unbelievably it had sun-dried tomato, cheese and garlic, cherry and almond, blueberry, fruit and plain scones on display. Variety of scones at Woodlea CafeThey all looked great and the lady assured us that she had been up since 4am baking them specially for us. She was laughing as she told us but we absolutely believed her. I really fancied trying the sun-dried tomato scones but she said that she supplied the cafe next door so we decided to go there. As we were leaving, with a slightly perplexed look on her face, she calleded “It’s under new management“. Didn’t make much sense at the time but later on it absolutely did! Internal view of Woodlea Cafe

Disappointment

There were none of the sun-dried tomato scones that we had seen earlier but they did have fruit, cheese/garlic and cherry/almond. Pat went for cheese and I for cherry. We also asked for a bowl of soup and coffees to go with the scones. The girl at the counter wrote down the order meticulously then we went to find a seat.Logo of Woodlea Cafe

Very soon we realised that all was not well. People were leaving and calling to the staff “Just cancel our order“.  After half an hour we were preparing to do the same when a lady appeared and asked us what we would like …. argh!

We reordered and after another wait the scones arrived. Just scones on a plate, no jam, no butter, no napkins and obviously no cream. When one of the servers asked if everything was okay we said that we would rather have the soup before the scones. She said “of course” and after yet another wait the soup arrived but without spoons. We said we needed spoons for the soup and were told “of course” and they duly arrived … along with some forks?? The soup was quite good but it needed seasoning. However, the thought of asking for salt and pepper or even butter for the bread was too much for us to handle.

More disappointment

Scone at Woodlea CafeBy this time we were settling in for what was obviously a farcical pantomime happening before our very eyes. People were still leaving. Some having not received any food and others because they had received some but had given up waiting for the rest. Having to ask for butter and jam for the scones topped it all off. Eventually we received two lots of butter from two different servers but in spite of asking three times for jam we never ever got any.  The scones turned out to  have been kept in the freezer overnight and were pretty much inedible. All in all this was a complete disaster. If we didn’t know differently we would have sworn that the UK government was running this place. 

Systemless

Frangipane at Woodlea CafeActually, it was a shame. The manageress kept going around telling people that this was only their second day as if to excuse the utter shambles. However, the staff were trying really hard and some may have even been close to tears. They wanted to do well but simply hadn’t a clue how to do it. The problem was that there was no system and obviously no meaningful training. The stuff that actually emerged from the kitchen looked fine so it all seemed just a dreadful waste.

The manageress, who, along with her husband, turned to be the ‘new management’ was desperately trying to placate everyone. However, we know all too well just how difficult hospitality can be so we try not to criticise negatively. We had a chat with the manageress who was like a rabbit caught in the headlights. We advised her that the best thing she could do was close and open up again once they had themselves sorted out. Hopefully she does because it could be a great place. She didn’t charge for the scones.

Rise and Fall

If you thought our comment earlier regarding the UK government was harsh, it really wasn’t. Can’t remember the last time they got anything right. Unfortunately, although there is to be a General Election this year, none of the alternatives inspire any confidence either. Britain’s problems are deep seated … we seem to be witnessing the Fall bit of the Rise and Fall of the British Empire.

KY11 7ER                        Woodlea Cafe

///grin.buggy.disengage

Scones, Uncategorized

Day Dream Mine

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Advert for Day Dream Mine toursWhen we started this blog all these years ago we never dreamt that we would be reporting on scones from a defunct silver mine called the Day Dream Mine. Obviously we’re not dreaming. Yes, of course, our itinerant Toowoomba correspondents are on the road again just wandering from scone to scone across the Australian outback. Here the scones can be quite far apart so are all the more welcome when they appear.

Australian outback
On this road from Broken Hill to Silverton they came across a rare cap tree

At Day Dream they seem to have decided that some people may not want to venture down a mineshaft but they sure as hell won’t miss a scone.

In their own words:

“We have driven 4000kms for these scones! We have had a couple of nights in Broken Hill, Western NSW. Broken Hill is an inland mining city, mainly of silver ore. It was always referred to as “The Silver City”. It is pretty much surrounded by desert. Sign for the Daydream MineThe colours of the area are very muted, red soil and grey foliage.
We drove about 20 kms north of BH towards Silverton to a derelict mine called “Day Dream Mine “ – where that name comes from I would not hazard a guess! However, the sign in the gate tempted us to go through. To be honest the experience was pretty underwhelming! The fact that we paid over $70 to walk around rocks and dust looking down a few holes was not terribly exciting. I did venture down the mine shaft, narrow, dark, steep and at last, cool!

A miner at Day Dream Mine
Miners worked by candlelight

It did make me think of the years gone by when men were men and very tough at that. Their lives must have been hell. Scones at the Daydream MineThe bonus after all that was when you reached the top – waiting was a mug of tea and freshly baked scone and “real” cream. Not sure that we would hurry back for that experience again, but you always meet interesting people in these places. On to Silverton from there – the frontier setting for such movies as Mad Max, Priscilla – Queen of the Desert, Razorback and the list goes on!”

External view of Silverton Hotel

The list may well go on but none of these movies can be described as “homely” or even “normal”. Just as well our correspondents have scones to keep them on the straight and narrow!

It would appear that it’s called the Day Dream Mine because the miners used to grow poppies … nuff said! Anything to make the working conditions slightly more bearable. 

NSW 2880         tel: +61 427 885 682               Day Dream Mine

///connected.coats.mayhem

Scones, Uncategorized

Appleseed Cafe

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Although Strathalbyn where the Appleseed Cafe is situated sounds very Scottish, it’s not. It’s about 50 miles east of Adelaide in South Australia. It was only last December that our Toowoomba correspondents reported from Bakearoma in the Australian outback. They were making light of the fact that they had made a one day round trip of over 600 miles for a scone. Something they thought us lily livered northern hemisphere folks wouldn’t do. Of course, they were absolutely right. Now they’ve gone even further to the Appleseed Cafe in Strathalbyn.

Australian cattle transporter trucks
Our correspondents are always bragging about something. They sent this photo of Australian double decker cattle trucks going to market. Luckily Scotland is smaller and we can just walk our cattle over the lovely heather clad hills singing as we go!
Vagabonds

They seem to have taken up a sort of Aussie vagabond existence, just wandering around from billabong to billabong or, in their case, vineyard to vineyard in Southern Australia. We last heard from them in Melbourne when they were ate the tennis Open. We suggested that they should visit the  cast iron Corio Villa in Geelong just down the coast from Melbourne. And they did!

Corio Villa, cast iron house in Geelong
Manufactured in Scotland in 1851 and shipped as a flat pack to Geelong for William Nairn Grey who died before it arrived. It was erected in 1855 and is still a private residence.

Cakes at Appleseed Cafe Strathalbyn

Don’t really know why our correspondents are now in Strathalbyn except it is the unofficial antique centre of South Australia. It all seems very Scottish. Obviously, during the Highland Clearances lots of Scots were displaced off their land  in favour of more profitable sheep … and they had to go somewhere. Around the same time Australia was a penal colony and many British criminals were sent there as punishment although we can’t imagine that any of them were Scots!

In our correspondents own words:
St Andrews church Strathalbyn
St Andrew’s church

“You may have considered our recent 350 kms to Roma for tea and scones rather excessive   –  we have gone one better this time. 1500 kms to Strathalbyn in South Australia seemed a good idea at the time. Long straight roads, a reliable car and me being co-driver had to be an asset!  Strathalbyn where we found the Appleseed cafe, was founded in 1839; the first landholders being Dr Rankine, followed my Don McLean (unsure if it is the “American Pie” Don McLean….).   The community was the centre for farming and pastoral families, many of Scottish origin.  We were told that the church, St Andrew’s Uniting Church, was completed in 1844 by Scottish Presbyterians and that it is a focal point of the town.

A sign at Appleseed Cafe StrathalbynScottish is best

We were happy for a stopover here – a scone seemed a good accompaniment to the much needed coffee.  I must say I can’t wait to have  another scone in Scotland. No one seems to be able to cook them quite like Mum or the Scottish!  It was a nice change to have real cream rather than that A scone at Appleseed Cafe Strathalbynaerated fluff that comes from a spray can!  The strawberry jam was up to scratch though.


I would not dare to comment on anything political in this country at present – would be no stopping me once I got started. Must say though, there is something to be said about the crowds reaction to our PM at the Australian Open tennis recently.  Did it give him some indication as to where he is going (or not going) ???

Boo

For those who were unaware … when the Aussie PM attended the Open tennis he was loudly booed by the crowd. We actually thought booing politicians was just one of the national sports down under. Imagine if we were all to do that? We would be truly spoiled for choice. In fact it’s quite difficult to think of any we wouldn’t boo!

With their wandering habits and sense of fun we have no difficulty identifying with our Toowoomba correspondents. We are indebted, as always, to them for keeping us informed of events at the Earth’s bottom.

SA 5255        tel: +61 8 8536 8195        Appleseed Cafe

///dawn.decks.faithless

Scones, Uncategorized

Bakearoma

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Sometimes people say things like “you fairly get around, don’t you” and we’re never quite sure whether it’s congratulatory or accusatory. We kind of know what they mean but it just doesn’t seem that way to us. As if to amplify the point, however, our previous post from Dnisi in Kirkintilloch is now followed by this one from Bakearoma – Bakery & Coffee Lounge in the Australian outback. Yes, today we are posting from the town of Roma in Western Queensland. Of course, Pat and I are not actually there but  luckily our Toowoomba correspondents are. Map of Toowoomba to Roma route

Driving

Aussies can be pretty disparaging about us northerners – we’re talking hemispheres! They reckon we are too wimpish to bother driving almost three hundred miles for a scone. Apparently it’s no trouble to Aussies! They are forgetting, of course, that we just have more sense! For us to drive three hundred miles we would end up on the outskirts of London having negotiated intense traffic round major cities like Manchester and Birmingham. And it would take around seven or eight rainy hours.

They, on the other hand, can probably drive in a straight sunny line from Toowoomba to Roma with barely any traffic and just the odd kangaroo hopping alongside past the occasional billabong.  And, with cruise control the whole way, they would be there before they could finish singing Waltzing Matilda! Okay, okay, we’ve never been to Australia and for all we know there could be a bend somewhere in the road.internal view of the Bakery & Coffee Lounge in Roma, Queensland

What’s in a name?

We thought Roma, population 7,000 and established in 1867 (‘yesterday’ to us northerners) would have been named by a homesick Italian immigrant. Seems obvious but it’s actually commemorating the Greek wife of an Irishman. Her name was Lady Diamantina Roma Bowen, wife of Sir George Bowen.External view of the Bakery & Coffee Lounge in Roma, Queensland

Seriously though, we are deeply indebted to our correspondents for their sconological endeavours down under. And we don’t mean to scoff at their sense of history … not really! In their own words:

“Well, there is a lot of history out there, again, not by northern hemisphere standards, however, Roma has the distinction of being the first town gazetted in the new colony of Queensland. By 1864 it had its own court of petty sessions, a police station, doctor, chemist, and postmaster. The town was connected by telegraph to Dalby and Brisbane in 1866. So, there is history there!  Nowadays Roma is known for its strong agricultural sector, including beef and crop production. It is home to the country’s largest cattle sale yards.  A scone at the Bakery & Coffee Lounge in Roma, Queensland

Roma is also known as the birthplace of Australia’s Oil and Gas industry. All this and more!  The meat pies at the local bakery can’t be bettered, however….the scones..  afraid they would not pass the Pat and Bill Paterson’s high standards, despite the fact they come accompanied by a generous slice of carrot cake!
Had our scones and drove the four hours home.
Will do it again without hesitation!!

Maintaining sylph-like figures

Thank goodness  every scone doesn’t come with a slice of carrot cake. Our waistlines would be even more under threat! We should finish off with some comment on Australian politics. However, apart from knowing that it has to be better than here in the UK, where we are currently being lectured on illegality and human rights by Rwanda,, we don’t know enough about it. Mind you that’s never stopped us commenting on things before!

Our only wish is that the next time our correspondents set off looking for a scone they don’t stop at Roma and just carry on to Falkirk! Can’t promise carrot cake though.

QLD 4455.            tel: +61 7 4622 4399       Bakearoma FB

///cave.crusted.mocking

Scones, Uncategorized

Major A A Gordon Gordon Society

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This post is a little bit different. It’s not so much about a scone but  a scone recipe.  The Major A A Gordon Society may sound like somewhere you might go for an upmarket afternoon tea but it’s not. Or if it was it would be in Antwerp and we are definitely not there. Let us explain!

Major Gordon in 1901Obviously attentive readers will remember mention of the Major A A Gordon Society in the Wee Timorous Beastie post back in June. Initially the Society got in touch because they had read one of our posts from 2015 about the Scotch Tea House in Nice on the Côte d’Azure. They wanted to know if it was the same “Scottish Teahouse” Major Gordon had visited back in 1939. So far we have been unable to provide a definitive answer but are pretty sure that it is.

So in a way, our’s and Major Gordon’ s paths have crossed.  When we were there the tearoom looked very Victorian and we speculated that it was there because Queen Victoria spent a few months every year in Nice and loved everything “Scottish’`. And it looked as if it had not changed in the last one hundred years. Who knows, we may have even sat at the same table as Queen Victoria or Major Gordon?

Ben Loyal in Bridge of Allan
Major Gordon’s family home in Bridge of Allan

Major Gordon was from Bridge of Allan here in Scotland but is largely unknown here. In Belgium, however, it is a different story. He is a celebrated war hero because of his courageous actions during the Siege of Antwerp in 1914, Suffice to say, serendipity and scones seem to have coalesced in a way that means that Pat and I now do research on the Society’s behalf here in Scotland.

Recipes

As part of the exchange of correspondence they sent us pictures of the cookbook Major Gordon wrote around 120 years ago. They thought we would be interested in the scone recipe.Major A A Gordon cookbook

Turns out Major Gordon was a bit of a sconey … there were several recipes

Major A A Gordon cookbook

Innovating

Anyway, one day Pat decided to try and bring one of the recipes to life. Scones prepared to Major Gordon's recipeThere were problems however, we didn’t have any “buttermilk”. We didn’t even know what it was! When we looked it up it seemed to come in powdered form. Pat improvised with some self-raising flour and a pinch of sugar. Suffice to say the results, with homemade jam and whipped cream, were rather good. We have now discovered that buttermilk can be made simply by adding vinegar to milk to make it curdle.  Think we’ll leave that for the time being!

You just never knowHonorary Membership certificate for Major A A Gordon Society

We sent the pictures off to Belgium and within days they appeared in the November Issue of the Society’s newsletter. They have also made Pat and I and my sister, who has been researching the Scotch Tearoom in Nice, honorary members. You see you just never know where the simple act of eating a scone will lead. We are, of course delighted and delighted to continue helping the Society in any way we can.

Best laid plans

Back in June in the post from the Timorous Beastie Cafe we referred to the poem “To A Mouse” by Robert Burns. The timorous beastie was a mouse and Burns had just destroyed its nest with his plough. It made him reflect  on life and its unpredictability. “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley.” He apologises to the mouse and for the general tyranny of man. With everything going on in the world and now the imbecilic riots in Dublin  last night you might think that man should have progressed a wee bit since Burns’s day. It would appear not! Thank goodness for scones!

The Major A A Gordon Society

Scones, Uncategorized

Roses n Things

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Readers know by now that we are indebted to our foreign correspondents for much of our global sconology. This post is typical. Our Bathurst correspondents from New South Wales are regular contributors and thave sent us an account of their road trip  to Alice Springs to visit their son’s family. The last time we saw them was back in April when they visited their daughter in St Andrews and we were on our way to Kingsbarns distillery.

Pat with our correspondents at Rufflets, St Andrews
Rendezvous with our Bathurst correspondents at Rufflets, St Andrews

After leaving Alice Springs our intrepid correspondents opted for the long way round through Queensland and by the time they reached Roses n Things they had covered 8000km. Everything is relative! We think Inverness is quite far away but if we covered that sort of distance it would take us to somewhere near the coast of China looking out towards Japan. Aussies, however seem to take this sort of stuff in their stride.  

In their own words

“One of the highlights of the return trip was a visit to the town of Barcaldine, so named after your Barcaldine in Scotland. Apparently, one of the first settlers was Donald Charles Cameron, a direct descendent of the Campbells of Barcaldine Castle. Why a Cameron was a descendant of the Campbells. I know not.

Tree of knowledge at Roses 'n' Things, Barcaldine
The Barcaldine Tree of Knowledge. We think this may be the one the Tory government in the UK is consulting  at the moment

Our Barcaldine is famous as the birthplace of the Australian Labour Party, formed during the 1891 sheep shearers strike. The shearers met under a large ghost gum tree, now known as The Tree of Knowledge. Unfortunately, the tree was poisoned in 2006 by persons unknown, suspected to be Conservative sympathizers. The dead tree is now the focal point of a large wooden monument.”

But what of scones I hear you ask ? Well, the Barcaldine caravan park, at which we stayed, had attached to it a cafe called Roses ‘n’ Things Tea Garden. A bit of a mouth full, as were the scones we had for breakfast. Possibly not a top scone, but not far from it.”A scone at Roses 'n' Things, Barcaldine

Ghosts

The Australian and Scottish Barcaldines have much in common when it comes to ghosts. The Aussie town is famous for it’s haunted Shakespeare Hotel. It’s ghosts, however, don’t sound like a match for the Scottish versions. The angry ghost of Donald Campbell roams Barcaldine Castle endlessly searching for his murderer. And Duncan Campbell, or Black Duncan of Barcaldine Castle, wasn’t exactly the perfect mine host. In case anyone should imagine he was going a bit soft in his old age he installed a bottle dungeon, a hanging tree and a beheading pit. He also had a large WELCOME mat at the door! No he didn’t, we made that up!

Forbidden

The original Tree of Knowledge, of course, was in the Garden of Eden where our ancestors Adam and Eve lived beautiful innocent lives. On the tree was the Forbidden Fruit which they were not even allowed to touch because it contained the knowledge of good and evil. Typically perhaps Eve couldn’t resist and even managed to persuade Adam to take a bite as well. Goodness, just think what the world would be like today if Eve hadn’t been so tempted?

Many thanks A&J, hopefully we can meet up again on your next visit to Scotland.

QLD 4725.      tel: +61 417 759 855.   Roses ‘n’ Things

///pathway.defectors.trouble

 

Scones, Uncategorized

Mulberries Coffee Shop

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Our previous post from the Wee Bear Café was a bit unusual because it took me back to my roots in Glenisla. This post from Mulberries Coffee Shop in Kirkcudbright (pronounced kir-coo-bree) is unusual as well but for a different reason … I don’t have my trusty sconey partner with me. Instead of Pat I have my brother and two old friends. I use ‘old’ in every sense of the word. If this post seems like an episode of Last of the Summer Wine it wouldn’t be too far off the mark.

One is the Laird a valued correspondent for many years who has a slightly different slant on sconology. The other is a mere sapling, Young enough to still dabble in stuff called work and still able to walk unaided. The rest of us were relying on him to dig us out of any holes we might very easily fall into. Between the four of us we had the makings of at least one good physical specimen. I’m in good hands although, come to think of it, I never asked about their hands!

From Mulberries Coffee Shop looking towards MacLellan's Castle
View along the street from Mulberries towards MacLellan’s Castle in the distance
Jobs?

The town’s name derives from “Chapel of St Cuthbert” that was demolished in the the early 1500s. Sir Thomas MacLellan subsequently used the stones to build MacLellan’s Castle, How did he get away with that you might ask? Well, we don’t know but in 1580  he was appointed as “gentleman in the bedchamber” to King James VI. Didn’t even know that was a job so we’ll say no more!

Internal view of Mulberries Coffee Shop
The bar at the Wee Bear

It’s a town full of creatives and is commonly known as the “The Artist’s Town”. We were on a mission to examine future potentials of a narrow strip of woodland my brother has. It runs along the west coast of Kirkcudbright Bay for about three miles. Before we got to the wood, however, we stopped in the town to get some supplies and, lo and behold, we were outside Mulberries Coffee Shop. It was beckoning!

A scone at Mulberries Coffee ShopJust as well they allow non-creatives into town because within two shakes of a lamb’s tail we were in Mulberries destroying their scones. And very nice they were too. Quite big but with a goodly amount of fruit and lots of jam and cream. The cream was presented Mr Wippy style.

Uncategorised

The Laird, who I mentioned earlier had a different slant on sconology and everything else come to that, proceeded to put jam on his cheese scone. Mon dieu! Pat and I normally regard cheese scones as ‘butter only’ affairs so I was thankful that Pat wasn’t present to witness this abomination. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy it though so maybe Pat and I should just chillax? However, having thought about it for a nanosecond … it’s an abomination! So, enjoyable as they were, considering the poor judgment of my companions and Pat’s absence these scones, for the moment, would have to remain ‘uncategorised’.

A beach in Senwick Woods
One of the beaches in Senwick Woods looking over Kirkcudbright Bay
Good news

Lawrence of Arabia spent some of his formative years in Kirkcudbright. He may even have sparked his sense of adventure in Senwick Woods. A bit of a leap perhaps but we had a definite sense  of adventure heading into the woods and stumbling on ancient dry-stone moss covered walls and little deserted beaches. Meadow Brown butterflyThere are ravens, red kites and red squirrels here as well as badgers and lots of roe deer. The highpoint, however, was when we came across this little Meadow Brown butterfly. Seeing a brown butterfly represents new beginnings and a sign that you are about to get good news.  It could be anything! At this moment, as far as the four of us are concerned, a cure for decrepitude would be joyous news indeed.Worst coffee ever

Not sure if anything was decided on future plans for the wood but I am sure we had a fab day. The four of us sat on a log looking over to the Lake District talking about family and the ways of the world. Amongst our wide ranging discussions one thing surprised me greatly. One of my companion’s friends, an atheist, was about to graduate with a Degree in Theology. I was astounded! It had never before occurred to me that that could … or would happen. Thinking about it now, of course, it’s perfectly logical … unlike jam on a cheese scone!

DG6 4DJ       tel: 01557 330961.       Mulberries FB

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Scones, Uncategorized

Helensbank

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This post from Helensbank is a little bit different from our usual. It doesn’t involve us travelling very far, it doesn’t involve a cafe or a restaurant. It doesn’t even involve a scone. Okay, you can stop reading here if you like but we think you should bear with us. Perhaps we should explain.

Chance?
A plant at Helensbank
Giant Himalayan lily over 2.5m tall

Attentive readers will remember that last month were were on the Isle of Coll nursing sore bums from bikes that didn’t fit us. That was our excuse anyway, nothing to do with our general state of decrepitude.  We had a wonderful time on Coll and one of the highlights was meeting a couple at the Island Café who were taking delivery of some langoustines  We got chatting. Turned out they were keen gardeners and lived in Kincardine which is just a ten minute drive from our home. To cut a long story short they invited us to see their garden at Helensbank House. And here we are, along with one of our neighbours. She is also a very keen gardener so we felt sure she would enjoy Helensbank.

Another world

Helensbank is sometimes described as a ‘secret garden’ and we totally understand why. Kincardine is not a big place so we assumed there wouldn’t be a problem finding a large garden. Wrong! It is tucked away down a very narrow street and when you arrive at the door there is not even a hint of a garden … just a pavement and a door! When our hosts opened the door, however, everything changed. You pass through to another world. A magical almost Mediterranean looking proliferation of plants … everywhere you look. Turns out that the door on the street is actually the back door. Now we understand … do we?

Old Cedar of Lebanon at Helensbank
Centrepiece is this cedar brought back from Lebanon and planted by a sea captain in 1750

Our hosts open the garden occasionally to the public by arrangement or for charitable events. They have owned Helensbank for twenty years so their knowledge of each and ever plant was astounding.

Helensbank garden
A wedding cake tree on the left with an acer on the right beautifully underplanted with hosts
Portland roses

The garden is surrounded by a high wall and consists of lots of separate secluded little compartments or ‘rooms’. External view of HelensbankEach has its own character. Some shady with lots of foliage plants … few of which we recognised. Others sunny with tables and chairs where you could simply sit and enjoy the peace and quiet of the garden. Portland roses are a favourite and there were lots of beautifully scented examples everywhere. Little paths join everything up. There is so much to see the garden could never be done quickly. Particularly if our neighbour needs to discuss each and every plant at  length!Victor the tortoise at Helensbank

In one of the ‘rooms’ we came across some bantam hens with tiny chicks. Then we were introduced to Victor their tortoise. He is about 12 years old and had been inherited from people who could no longer look after him. For a tortoise he was incredibly agile and seemed to have an insatiable appetite for dandelion leaves.

Hostas at HelensbankConsidering our host’s encyclopaedic knowledge it’s hardly surprising that they organise horticultural courses at Helensbank and elsewhere. Helensbank garden

Cookies

The intention had been that we would have tea and scones at the end of our visit however, circumstances dictated otherwise. Helensbank gardenInstead we had tea from a lovely tea set and chocolate chip cookies. All while sitting beside a huge example of the fantastically fragrant Ispahan rose. Tea nd biscuits at HelensbankWhat a fantastic way to spend an afternoon. We had only met our hosts fleetingly on Coll yet the kindness and hospitality they showed us was absolutely wonderfull. 

Everything crossed

As we often say we are very lucky to be able to spend time like this with such incredible people. Especially when we think of the five folk lost in the Titan submersible. They are two and a half miles down in the Atlantic near the wreck of the Titanic … truly desperate situation. Fingers and everything else crossed for their safe return.

FK10 4QZ       tel: 07739 312912        Helensbank Garden

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