Tag Archives: Dornoch Castle

Scones, Top

The Carnegie Courthouse

Dornoch is a beautiful little town and, over the past few years, we have already reported on two other scones here, Gordon House and Dornoch Castle. So it was a something of a surprise when our Trossachs correspondents gave us a heads up on yet another, the Carnegie Courthouse. Many people come here for the town’s history, or the beach or just to wander among the cafés and antique shops. It’s quite busy even at this time of year. This scone like the other two are in a cluster around the Cathedral. Although the courthouse was built in 1849 it only began life as a tearoom/shop in 2013. It was named after Andrew Carnegie who was not only the richest man in the world at one time but lived locally in Skibo Castle. He was a great benefactor for the town. Name plaque at the Carnegie Courthouse, Dornoch

Madonna and the milkman

The tearoom features a mural depicting the courtroom as it would have been when in use. Portraying some of the local faces. It’s great that as well as the likes of Carnegie, the Duke of Sutherland, Madonna (she got married in the Cathedral) and Tom Watson the golfer, there is also Janet Horn (the last witch burned in Dornoch), Bill Wright the local milkman and, most importantly, Carol MacKay the proprietor of the tearoom

A mural at the Carnegie Courthouse, Dornoch

So what was our third Dornoch scone like? Very good actually so there was not too much difficulty making a topscone award. Pat had cheese and I had fruit but they were both deliciously crunchy on the outside and wonderfully soft and light inside. A scone at the Carnegie Courthouse, DornochThe whole place has a good atmosphere and we were very well looked after by the staff. As you can probably gather we are fond of this town so who knows when we might find ourselves returning. Yet another Dornoch gem not to be missed.

Wonder of wonders

But what would these good folks in the above courtroom have made of the current state of the UK government? Just after the last General Election we asked you to guess how many scone blogs there would be before Theresa May had to resign. There have been quite a lot more than we had imagined. And, wonder of wonders, she is still hanging on, albeit by the skin of her teeth. It begs the question though. Just how bad does her administration have to get before she is sufficiently ashamed and does the decent thing? There are two problems a) she has no shame and b) who would replace her? Chances are, unimaginable as it is, it could be worse. In the courtroom, you can almost see the perplexed faces

IV25 3SD    tel: 01862 811632     The Carnegie Courthouse

Ordinary, Scones

Dornoch Castle Hotel

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Where would you go when there is barely a cloud in the sky and you fancy a walk on a beach? Dornoch, obviously. There is also a link between this post and the previous post for the Cafe at the Carnegie Hall in Portmahomack because just up the road from Dornoch is Skibo Castle. It was once the home of philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie. Dornoch itself is famous for many things. The last witch in Scotland was burned here in 1727. The golf course is judged to be the 5th best outside the US. The thirteenth-century Cathedral and Pat’s first holiday destination when she was at school. Most famously of all, of course, Madonna had her son, Rocco, christened in the Cathedral before her marriage at Skibo!!

Buckets and spades
the beach at Dornoch
the beach at Dornoch

Having little  requirement for burning, golfing or christening, we headed for the beach .. and what a beach! Miles of beautiful sand stretching as far as you could see. Needless to say, in early April, it’s not quite warm enough for lazing around on. We had also forgotten our buckets and spades. It wasn’t too long before we thought that a scone wouldn’t go amiss. We knew that there were good scones at Gordon House because we reviewed them last year. In the interests of continuing research however, we thought we should try somewhere different. So here we are at Dornoch Castle Hotel, just across the road from the Cathedral. Dornoch 03

Originally built as the Bishop’s Palace, it has been here quite a while and certainly retains some of its old-world charm. Eight foot thick stone walls and a big welcoming log fire. The hotel is a slightly odd mixture of old and new. The bar area, where we were, being quite characterful but the dining room at the rear of the hotel is very modern and seems strangely out of keeping. Dornoch 05Never mind that though what about the scone testing. Well, once again the scones were okay, but nothing to write home about. So what exactly are we doing writing about them .. answers on a postcard? They were nicely presented with jam and a pot of whipped cream but the scones themselves were definitely not topscone material, though enjoyable enough.

End of an era

We had an Englishman with us so we had to post a photo of his effort at preparing a scone. These days we are nervous about not giving glowing reviews because, in the past week, we were given the devastating news that McEwens of Perth had suddenly closed down. Some disingenuous folk have suggesting that it was because we did not rate their scones highly enough. Joking aside this really is bad news because McEwens w

Oh dear, cream first??
Oh dear, cream first??

as one of our favourite shops. Family run, a bit quirky, a bit old fashioned, a bit of an institution. It’s passing is very sad, it will be sorely missed, especially by the 130 people who worked there. For Perthshire, it is the equivalent of Tata Steel closing down in Port Talbot but we don’t think there will be any similar governmental attempts at a rescue package. End of an era.

So, although Dornoch Castle Hotel did not get a topscone award either we really hope, in spite of that, it continues to prosper for many years to come.

excellent whisky display
excellent whisky display

IV25 3SD         tel: 01862 810216        Dornoch Castle Hotel