Allanwater Cafe

26th September 2023 billpaterson1@me.com 7 Comments

You might think that Bridge of Allan is a slightly odd name for a town but it is pretty obvious really. It’s built around the bridge over the river known as the Allan Water. And the Allanwater Cafe is almost built on top of the bridge. Before railways and cars, bridges were super-important. They provided the means of avoiding long and difficult circuitous routes to cross rivers. Nowadays people driving in and out of the town wouldn’t even be aware that they were crossing a bridge and wouldn’t give it a moment’s thought.

Man and horse

Bridge of Allan is a very pleasant place sporting many large mansion houses much favoured by today’s overpaid professional footballers. Its origins, however, were much more humble … mining copper. The mines closed in 1807 but a few years later the local laird discovered that mineral springs were leaking into the mines and decided to make Bridge of Allan a spa town. No flies on these laird types! In 1830 Bridge of Allan was described as “everything a village ought to be: straw roofed cottages, a mill, old inns with entertainment for man and horse, and a row of neat little villas for the fashionable who flock to it in summer.” If it’s good enough for man and horse it should be good enough for us lowly sconeys. There are many cafes and restaurants in the town and we thought we had visited them all … except this one!

Amazingly, it has been run by the Bechelli family dynasty for more than one hundred and twenty years. There are plenty other cafes around. The multinational Costa is directly across the road but has closed permanently. Also across the road is Nairn’s a brand new up market restaurant venture and but it was almost empty. The Allanwater Cafe, on the other hand, was buzzing. The Bechelli dynasty must be doing something right.

It would have been good to sample some of their lunch offerings but we just wanted some coffee and maybe a scone to share.

When we said we wanted to share a scone our waitress said “Yes they are big“!The service was very friendly and helpful … perhaps they were part of the family dynasty. Anyway we soon had everything we needed. The staff seemed to know almost everyone in the place which gave it a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. Our scone was enjoyable as well but fell short of a topscone.

Dynasties

If the Bechelli family dynasty is getting things right the same does not apply to all such dynasties.

The Paterson Memorial (nothing to do with us) to a local doctor

Surely the best news of the week is media-mogul Rupert Murdoch’s announcement that he is retiring. He has been a malevolent force around the world for far too long and if he and his sordid News Corp organisation were to disappear off the scene tomorrow it would not be a moment too soon. Without his interference Trump would probably never have made it out of the starting blocks and Brexit would never have happened. As with all things Murdoch, however, it is not straight forward. He is handing over the reins to his even more right wing son, Lachlan. It’s just a pity his name so ably demonstrates his Scottish ancestry. Perhaps Lachlan should come to the Allanwater Cafe to see how a dynasty should be run?

FK9 4HN tel: 01786 833060 Allanwater Cafe

///smashes.crowd.formation

Ordinary, Scones

Nosh

21st September 2023 billpaterson1@me.com 3 Comments

It’s a sure sign that summer is coming to an end. Could it be the lower temperatures, the leaves turning, or the days shortening? Well yes, but it’s more that we have started going to the movies after breakfast. We enjoy it. It supports our local picture palace and it feels slightly sinful when you come out and it’s only lunchtime. It also allows us to explore the town of Bo’ness and find places like Nosh, the scene for today’s scone.

Internal view of the Hiipodrome cinema — Inside the Hippodrome

We haven’t been here at the Hippodrome, Scotland’s oldest cinema ,since February when we saw ‘Till’, an excellent movie. This time it was ‘The Innocent‘ a French romcom heist caper about stealing a truck load of caviar. Enjoyable enough although subtitles can be hard work when they go rapidly … why do the French speak so quickly?

In some ways watching a French film in Bo’ness is kind of appropriate. Bo’ness was once one of Scotland’s largest ports and would have traded the black stuff (coal not caviar) with France for many centuries. Scotland was France’s oldest ally since the two countries formed the Auld Alliance in 1295 in an attempt to control England’s many invasions. Trade between the two circumvented England and ports like Bo’ness and Leith thrived. It may also explain why Scotland has always thought of itself as much more European than England.

After the film we ended up here in Nosh, one of the few cafés we haven’t visited in the town. It’s located in a building built in 1750 as a tollbooth.

Overdo plaque at Nosh in Bo'ness — Built in 1750 but who were ‘RB’ and ‘EB’?

It’s more of a takeaway place for sandwiches and the like but it does have a few tables.

On the counter, under a glass dome, were two scones individually wrapped in cling film.

We never think this is a good idea. Scones need to breathe after all and sometimes it means that they might not be entirely fresh. Anyway, we ordered one to share as well as a some coffees. Our scone turned out to be not at all bad but a long way off a topscone.

Obedience

The Prime Minister has single handedly managed to upset almost everyone by announcing that he is rolling back on his commitment to green policies. The date for net zero will now be 2035 instead of 2030. Goodness knows what it will be by the time we reach 2030? Right or wrong it does demonstrate this Tory government’s unswerving dedication to screwing things up. It wouldn’t be so serious if there was a better option waiting in the wings, but there isn’t! The only thing the Labour Party, “the opposition” seems to do is support the Tories. Voters are caught between a rock and a hard place. In Scotland, after one invasion too many by England, we have no say and just do what we are told!

A watercolour of Nosh in Bo'ness — A watercolour of Nosh’s building

Meanwhile King Charles and Queen Camilla are in France trying to thaw out relationships after the disaster of Brexit. Good luck with that!

EH51 0EA tel: 01506 828151 Nosh FB

///taps.dude.something

Ordinary, Scones

Dunimarle Orangery

11th September 2023 billpaterson1@me.com 5 Comments

The last time we were at the Dunimarle Orangery was back in 2021 … and at that time it wasn’t here. The building was here but it wasn’t a tearoom. In the 1830s it was Magdalene Erskine who added the Orangery to the castle presumably so she could grow her own oranges … as you do! We think that Magdalene may have been a force to be reckoned with. In 1853 she married an Admiral Sharpe who she discarded permanently after three days. Goodness, he may have been lacking in certain departments but you would have thought she could have given him a week?

External view of Dunimarle Castle — Dunimarle Castle from the west

Obviously a woman with ambition and a plan as she incorporated his name and became Mrs Sharpe Erskine thereafter. Life is so much easier if you are double-barrelled! Eventually she turned the castle into a museum to house hundreds of objects d’art and fine paintings her brother had ‘acquired’ during the Napoleonic wars. Now, all these artefacts have been transferred to Duff House in Aberdeenshire. Perhaps typically, before she died in 1872, she built an ornate chapel in the grounds for her own funeral. Why not? Oranges would never keep her going for ever!

Good sense

After many years languishing with an uncertain future Dunimarle was recently bought by businessman Salim Mohamed who wants to turn it into his home. At least Salim has had the good sense to open the Orangery as a tearoom. Well done Salim!

Wellintonia avenue at Dunimarle Castle — Avenue of Wellingtonias used to form the main entrance to the castle

When we were last here we bemoaned the fact that there wasn’t a tearoom. To us it seemed like an ideal spot. It’s only a twenty minute drive from home, we had to investigate.

The Orangery itself is nicely set up and very necessary in the event of inclement weather. Today, however, was lovely and warm so we opted to sit out and enjoy the panoramic views over the Firth of Forth.

Complications

Unfortunately, placing a simple order for tea and a single scone to share became strangely complicated. Everyone was very nice but the right hand didn’t quite seem to know what the left hand was doing. Perhaps they just need to settle down with a system. Finally we had everything we needed (except cream) and spent a very pleasant hour just sitting in this wonderful setting with a very pleasant scone. Not quite a topscone but pretty close.

One of the walks at Dunimmarle Castle — A castellated doorway leading to Italianate yew-lined terrace.

Privileged

We have no doubt that when Mrs Sharpe Erskine was around riffraff like us would have been unceremoniously seen off the premises so we felt very privileged to be sitting here in these surroundings. Especially when news from the Moroccan earthquake is of complete villages being reduced to rubble in seconds with thousands of deaths. In Scotland, the village of Comrie, known as “the Shaky Toon” is the epicentre for such events. However, if a plate fell off a shelf in Comrie during a quake it would definitely make headline news. We are privileged indeed.

KY12 8JN tel: 07713 629040. Dunimarle Orangery

///villager.share.reclusive

Scones, Uncategorized

Roses n Things

8th September 2023 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

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.”

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, Top

Greywalls

4th September 2023 billpaterson1@me.com 8 Comments

Isn’t it really silly that a country like Scotland has to resort to protest marches just to get a say in our own future. Well here we are in Edinburgh, along with thousands of others, being really silly. If this is what it takes, so be it. It was a very happy day with all age ranges well represented. Being part of a sea of Saltires, however, made us wonder how it came to be the national flag … the oldest flag in the world. We probably understand the American and Australian flags better than we understand our own, Because our readers are spread all over the world we feel a duty to enlighten, not only about scones but about Scotland as well. So here goes! Hang in there, we do eventually end up with scones at Greywalls.

WARNING:

Like a lot of Scottish stuff … haggis, unicorns, kelpies, Nessie etc. one has to keep an open mind. To get Saltire answers we travelled about 20 miles east of Edinburgh to the tiny village of Athalstaneford and the Flag Heritage Centre. It’s housed in a doocot (dovecot) built in 1583 when people were presumably a lot smaller than they are today.

Saint in a quandary

In 832 the Battle of Athalstaneford took place here. The Northumbrian’s were totally brassed off with the Picts coming south and stealing their cattle. They formed an army led by Athalstane and headed north bent on revenge. Angus, King of Picts, feared what was coming and prayed for help from St Andrew. Lo and behold, in the sky there appeared a cloud formation in the form of a diagonal cross the same as the one on which St Andrew had been crucified. Inspired, Angus won the day and promised to make Andrew the patron saint of Scotland for helping him win. Mind you Andrew is also patron saint to both Russia and Ukraine … bit of a quandary there? Readers should also bear in mind that in the 9th century they hadn’t realised that these patterns were invariably caused by vapour trails from high flying jets.

Anyway, Greywalls is just a hop skip and a jump from Athalstaneford. You can probably tell from the title picture that it’s our kind of place. Lovely country house surrounded by beautiful gardens. Expectations were high!

Mashie niblicks

The house was built in 1901 as a holiday home for the Hon Alfred Lyttelton. He insisted that it be built ‘within a mashie niblick shot of the eighteenth green at Muirfield’. That’s a lofted club so not very far. You will remember that, in 2017, this was the golf club at the centre of a sexism scandal for refusing to allow women members. Obviously they lost that battle! As a hotel, however, Greywall’s remains a favourite haunt of golfers from all over the world. The interior is as you would expect of such a grand country house, though somewhat oddly, we were shown into a rather modern conservatory area which contrasted strangely with the rest of the house.

We ordered tea and scones. And they were duly delivered in what we would describe as an efficient rather than a friendly manner. Again, as with our previous post from Craobh, they arrived on a slate. The scones were excellent. Slightly warmed and crisp on the outside with a fabulous soft interior. Lots of jam and cream. We felt they might even challenge our benchmark scones from Fonab Castle and Schlosse Roxburghe. They definitely would have if the service had not been quite so rigid. Still a good topscone though.

A life and a half

In the hall there was a portrait of Flora MacDonald Horlick. She was a direct descendant of Flora MacDonald who bravely disguised Bonnie Prince Charlie as Betty Burke, her Irish spinning maid to help him escape the redcoats. He fled to France but she was caught and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Years later she arrived in South Carolina at the beginning of the American Revolution.

But having backed the losing side she ended up forced into hiding herself. She lost everything and opted to return to her beloved Skye. During her return this defiant woman, refused to opt for safety below deck and was shot in the arm by pirates. We think she would have been a member at Muirfield whether they liked it or not. She died in 1790, survived by seven of her children and is buried on Skye wrapped in a sheet in which the Bonnie Prince had slept. That’s a life and a half. But her descendent in the picture, by comparison, seems to have had a much more privileged life.

Marches, flags, battles, scones and heroines … quite enough for one day!

EH31 2EG. tel: 01620 842144 Greywalls

///shaped,sweetened.undivided

ps This Falkirk made K6 telephone box is outside the Flag Heritage Centre in downtown Athalstaneford. It still has a working telephone and also functions as a library.

Scones, history and a dollop of politics

Monthly Archives: September 2023