by ssc | Jul 22, 2015 | Blog
During the summer holidays it’s sometimes a challenge planning days out that will appeal to all (or at least most!) of your family members. Here are a few ideas for simple days out that will make each of your party smile for a day. They are all highly rated on Trip Advisor too.
Ron Gillies raises a glass of his acclaimed Scottish cider
Cairn O’Mohr Fruit Wines: Owned by Ron and Judith Gillies, (who met playing poker on a river boat in the mangroves of the Panamanian jungle – yes, it’s true), The Cairn O’Mohr Winery has been making wine since 1987. Set in the beautiful surroundings of Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire, the winery uses the very best local berries, wild flowers, fruits and leaves to make its wines, ciders and fruit punches. In their words you can visit the Cairn O’Mohr winery and cider house ‘just about any time you like apart from the middle of the night probably’. Tours regularly run Wednesday and Sunday at £6 a person, but rustle up a group and you can arrange a tour for any day. In early summer take a walk through their elderflower plantation bursting with insects, elderflowers, and buttercups, or make a date in your diary for their International Bottle Smashing Tournament. For full details see: http://www.cairnomohr.com/
Highland Safari: For an amazing day outdoors, try Highland Safaris, based in Aberfeldy. Their award-winning Land Rover safaris get your right up close to the landscape and wildlife of the Highlands, with an experienced guide who can help you spot even the most elusive animals. There are a range of safaris on offer: mountain or forest safaris, walking safaris, cycle safaris, and private charters too. If you want something a bit more sedate you’ll enjoy their Red Deer and Barn Owl centre for daily ‘encounter’ sessions where you can meet, touch, and photograph these beautiful creatures. For full details and prices, see: http://www.highlandsafaris.net/
Loch Dunmore, Faskally Wood, Perthshire
Faskally Wood: Faskally Wood in Perthshire is quickly earning the name of ‘The Enchanted Forest’. Every year from 1 October, the forest is lit up in the evening with hi-tech light displays to illuminate nature and to draw visitors to the outdoors in a new and engaging way. It’s an award-winning event that is gathering momentum every year, so book tickets early. You can do that here: http://www.enchantedforest.org.uk/ However, Faskally wood is a beautiful forest to enjoy at any time of year, and in daylight hours! One mile north of Pitlochry, it lies on the banks of Loch Dunmore and offers a network of well-tended and easy footpaths with spectacular views. More information on this brilliant website: http://www.perthshirebigtreecountry.co.uk/places/pitlochry-road-isles/faskally-wood
Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery: This one is for dads! Lying just three miles from the birthplace of its founder John Dewar, the Dewar Distillery in Aberfeldy has been distilling the single malt whisky that is the key component of Dewars Scotch. There’s a café and whisky lounge, and interactive tours offer an engaging insight into the age-old process of distillation. There are limited editions on sale and you can even ‘fill your own’ cask strength bottle to take home. The expert and critically acclaimed tours take place daily throughout the day at £9.50 for adults (with a dram!) and under 12s go free. Details here: http://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/dewars-aberfeldy-distillery-p421491
The majestic Queens View, Pitlochry
Queens View: Said to be one of the most photographed spots in Scotland, Queen’s View in Pitlochry is worth a visit in itself. Queen Victoria reportedly favoured the spot on her visit to the area in 1866, though it’s likely that it was actually named after Queen Isabella, the first wife of Robert the Bruce, some 500 years earlier. Queen’s View overlooks Loch Tummel and beyond to the striking peak of Schiehallion, and is part of the Tay Forest Park. It’s an ideal point from which to choose from one of a number of forest walks for all abilities. Hungry walkers can eat at the Visitor Centre cafe, where you will also find lots of information about the area. For full details, see: http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk/forest-parks/tay-forest-park/queens-view-visitor-centre
Photo Credits:
by ssc | Jul 9, 2015 | Blog
Highland Games hammer throwing
The summer holidays are upon us! School’s out and the kids are home. Whether you love summer with your family or agree with writer Caitlin Moran in declaring it ‘a state of emergency’, here are some ideas to keep both you and the little ones sane throughout the summer.
Highland Games: These traditional Scottish events offer something for everyone – from serious competition to dancing, audience participation tug o’war and kids’ activities. And there’s good food to be had too. For some Highland Games close to Stirling and Perth check out Alva Games on 11 July, http://www.alva.ukctest.co.uk/home/, Loch Lomond Highland Games on 18 July http://www.llhgb.com/ and the Kinlochard Family Highland Games on 19 July http://www.kinlochard.org/gala2015.html – there’s lots for the children to do at that one in particular.
The Crannog Centre, at beautiful Loch Tay
Foodie Festivals: 2015 is Scotland’s Year of Food and drink and there’s never been a better time to sample some of our nation’s greatest flavours. For a fun and educational family day out, why not try some Iron Age fare at the Crannog Centre on Loch Tay, Aberfeldy on 16 July, learning about ancient cooking methods and tasting the finished results. For details and tickets, see http://www.crannog.co.uk/. Or, if you’re in Stirling, celebrate the Old Town Jail’s summertime reopening with its fabulous family day out, The Great Escape. This event on 18 July will include an outdoor market, magicians, story-telling, live music, and brand-new Crime and Punishment exhibition featuring costumed actors. And it’s free. Click here for details.
Watch the sport of Kings at Perth Races
Something Different: For an exciting day out with a difference, why not head to Perth Races on 12 July for its Family Fun Race Day? There’s racing for the grown-ups, a One Direction Tribute band for the teenagers, and the ‘Action Glen Extravaganza’ for the kids, including giant inflatables, archery, pony rides, segways and much more. All these activities are included in the ticket price, with junior race cards throw in too. Full details here: https://www.perth-races.co.uk/. Love to dance? There’s Scottish dancing for all, throughout the summer, In Linlithgow Palace Courtyard. This brilliant, inclusive event is becoming incredibly popular with both tourists and locals alike. Wear comfy shoes and enjoy your tea and shortbread too! Under 12s go free, tickets on the door: http://www.scotchhop.org.uk/. Fans of Alice in Wonderland, young and old, will love The White Rabbit Treasure Hunt in Pitlochry, presented by the Walking Theatre Company. The White Rabbit is looking for the Red Queen, and the Red Queen is looking for her flowers – don’t lose your heads! For ticket prices and booking, see https://pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/
by ssc | Jun 24, 2015 | Blog
Jennifer’s sparkling new kitchen
In a brand new kitchen in Stirling Enterprise Park, Jennifer McEwan of the Wee Kitchen Company is busy creating some unique recipes for her range of savoury jams, preserves, and accompaniments. It’s been an incredible journey for Jennifer, from the day she made her first chilli jam to opening up sparkling new premises this month, and she is this week’s Local Hero.
The Wee Kitchen Company opened just a year and a half ago, with Jennifer initially cooking from her home, then moving to Stirling Enterprise Park in June. It’s a big change: what drove the decision to move out of home? ‘It had got to the point where I was receiving a lot of orders and it was proving difficult to separate work from family life – and to get the kitchen to myself! I felt I couldn’t take the business any further from my home kitchen. It wouldn’t have been fair on my family.’
Crusty bread, mature cheddar with red pepper and chilli jam
Where did the inspiration for the Company come from? ‘I was a stay at home mum for years – we have five kids. Then everything just fell into place – there wasn’t really a plan as such. I made my first batch of jam around 18 months ago, my friends and family tried it, wanted more, and that was it!’
What’s the best thing about running the Wee Kitchen Company? ‘I love doing events when people are tasting all my flavours and they tell me that they can actually taste the different fresh ingredients.’ (Jennifer will be at Alva Games and the Doune and Dunblane Show very soon.) I also love reading reviews on my Facebook page page. These keep me going when I have had a tough working week working till early hours.’
So things get challenging then? ‘The biggest challenge is trying to run the business alongside family life. I do plan to get help on board soon: at present I’m running everything alone. I’d like to get to a point where I can progress some new ideas I have, like my range of wedding favours. Right now, I work at nights a lot of the time and it can be exhausting. I even have my older children helping me at times – I have to thank them for that. Then you have the guilt of being a working mum – I don’t think that ever goes!’
Fathers Day Hampers, complete with chilli popcorn by Popor
Where is her produce stocked? ‘Quite a few places around Stirlingshire – Hogan’s Fine Foods, Aberfoyle Butchers and Deli, Falleninch Farm, Doune the Deli , Michael More Butchers, The Woodhouse Kippen, The Cardboard Box, Rhubarb Lime, and Torwood Garden Centre, for example. All my stockists have been brilliant, though I have to admit it was a proud moment when the buyer for Historic Scotland phoned and asked if they could stock my jams in Stirling Castle. I really like working with local businesses. I’m working with Stirling Whisky Shop at the moment, on a very special new product that will be launched soon. Wrapistry by Cherene help source the wrap, fillings, bows and accessories for my hampers, and I stock some local handmade food products – including even chilli popcorn from a local supplier Poporopo – that go fantastically well in my hampers.’
Fresh produce is the core of The Wee Kitchen Company’s flavours
I comment that she’s pretty big-hearted to stock the produce of competitors, but it seems that’s just her way – there’s love, laughter and generosity in how she works and cooks. ‘My jams and preserves are fresh, handmade with love, and they are never the same twice. I’m beginning to realise the importance of the seasons in my cooking too. My top sellers change as consumers’ tastes move with the weather. Also, cooking fresh is the centre of everything for me: I buy in season to get the best tastes and to keep costs manageable. Fresh ingredients are naturally variable, so it means that the consistencies and flavours of my products change, no matter how exact my cooking. It’s authentic and, I think, part of the attraction.’
Jennifer’s cooking sounds like alchemy: all bubbling pots, passion, and creativity. Her understanding of her ingredients – chillies especially – is almost scientific. When I ask what product she is most proud of, she simply can’t answer. ‘I like them all!’ she explains. ‘But I am proud of where I’ve got in such a short time – I never thought I could have achieved this.’
Follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theweekitchencompany
by ssc | Jun 10, 2015 | Blog
Perth and Kinross Adventure Festival helps people of ages try something new
June is festival time! Mild weather and longer nights mean it’s time to get outdoors and celebrate the things that make us happy. Scotland’s festival calendar has never been busier, and here is a whistle-stop tour of the best festivals right here in Stirling and Perthshire.
Nothing says summer better quite like music in the streets, and Stirling hosts the nation’s first ever busking festival on June 12-13. The city will be alive with buskers who have come from all over the country to perform and to compete for the National Busking Awards, presented on the Saturday night. Come, listen and enjoy! Full details at their website here www.nationalbuskingfestival.com
For those who love new adventures, Perth and Kinross is the place to be this weekend. For the fourth year running, Perth and Kinross’s Outdoor Adventure Team are offering everyone an array of adventure, cultural, and environmental activities. No equipment needed, no experience needed. Just turn up, smile and get involved! Suitable for ages 8 and up. Details here: http://www.visitscotland.com/info/events/perth-and-kinross-adventure-festival-p1192431
Celebrate National Picnic Week this June
Tibbermore in Perth is the home to this year’s Solas Festival, 19-21 June. This weekend-long festival of the arts has a busy schedule of live music and dance, talks from well-known authors and commentators, and much more besides. Bring your kids and hire a yurt! For information and tickets, see: http://www.solasfestival.co.uk/
The Tummel and Tay Festival takes place on the same weekend of 19-21 June and celebrates the whisky, food and culture of Highland Perthshire. There’s something for all ages and tastes: live music, film noir, theatre, an arts food fayre, and a highland Perthshire Produce Trail to name just a few. Puppets and children’s theatre too. Details here: www.tummelandtayfestival.co.uk
The art-lovers among us will enjoy Pitlochry’s Art Walk Festival 20-28 June. Local businesses in this lovely Perthshire town have donated space for Scottish artists to display and sell their arts and crafts. The Walk Includes the Pitlochry Festival Theatre loop and all the venues are within walking distance of town. For more details, and how to get your map, see: http://meltgallery.com/
The Crieff Mountain Biking Festival runs from 21-28 June
Fancy spending the summer’s longest night by the fire in an iron-age loch dwelling, listening to Scottish music? If this is your idea of heaven then you need tickets for the Midsummer Music Festival, Aberfeldy. And it’s Father’s Day too! Details here – booking essential: http://www.crannog.co.uk/
Celebrate the sport of mountain biking in Crieff with a week-long festival of all things muddy from 21-28 June. There’s a cycling declathon, stunts, children’s bike races, jumble sales, bushcraft activities and a giant waterslide too. For tickets and much more info: http://www.visitscotland.com/info/events/cream-o-the-croft-scotlands-mountain-biking-festival-p1167821
Happy Festival Season!
Picture credits:
- Canoeist: Andy Waddington [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
- Picnic: Copyright Clare Dignall www.clearriverpartnership.co.uk
- Mountain Bikers: By Shane T. McCoy (http://www.navy.mil/view_ahhphotos.asp?page=30) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
by ssc | May 28, 2015 | Blog
The Stirling Smith Girl by Marie Louise Wrightson, 2014. Commissioned to celebrate the richness of the Smith collections.
Built in the reign of Queen Victoria, the Stirling Smith Museum and Art Gallery first opened to the public in August 1874. Originally ‘the Smith Institute’, it was founded as a gallery of contemporary art, with a museum and library reading room ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants of Stirling, Dunblane and Kinbuck’. The Smith, with resident cat, Oswald, remains Stirling’s artistic and cultural heart in 2015, and is this week’s Local Hero too. We spoke to director Elspeth King, to find out what makes the Stirling Smith so special.
The beating heart of the Smith is its 14-strong team and many volunteers: ‘Most staff work part time to provide coverage, some for just a few hours a week, like organic gardener Martin Macrae – his volunteer team keep the two-acre grounds looking fresh, neat and welcoming. Three of us work full time to deliver the museums and gallery service for the Stirling Council (our main funding body) area. We rely greatly on volunteers such as Alan Wilson, who has volunteered for three years and delivered a powerful amount of computer cataloguing. Two undergraduates recently researched the bank note collection, writing a mini world-history through these notable notes. Intern James Wedlake, in just six months, researched the work of artist Hugh Green (1892-1972) and produced a major loans exhibition and catalogue.’
Nursery class visitors
Unusually for a Scottish Museum, all of the current employees are Scottish and live in the area: ‘Many have provided long service too,’ notes Elspeth, ‘which is so important for the development of the collections. The Smith has had only eight professional curators in 140 years. Collections Curator Michael McGinnes has brought the records from hand-written cards and pencil drawings to complete digitisation over his 35 years here. I’ve worked here for 21 years, building the social history collections and highlighting aspects of Stirling’s story through the temporary exhibitions programme. Museum Assistant Evelyn Cameron, with nearly ten years’ service, brings local knowledge to the job of welcoming visitors, and her catering talents to our special events.’
There have been many popular events: ‘The centenary exhibition for the artist Joseph Denovan Adam (1841-1896) in 1996 was a show-stopper, for example, as, like the artist, we had a collection of animals (two highland bullocks, seven sheep and three goats) for visitors to paint. Housed in pens in the grounds, they attracted attention for almost a year, not least due to the BSE crisis. Lead Highlander Hamish – the Smith’s ‘publicity coo’ – served out his time at Kilmahog Woollen Mill, and died last year at the ripe old age of 21.’
But it’s often difficult to predict what will be popular: ‘During the 500th anniversary exhibition for Renaissance scholar George Buchanan (1506 – 1582) in 2006, we ran a series of Saturday Latin classes which were packed to capacity with people wanting to re-engage with classical studies. While for the nursery schools coming here, the most popular exhibits remain the musical instruments in Ailie’s Garden.’
The Smith has many treasures and has agreed to loans world-wide. This autumn, three paintings by the Glasgow Boys will be loaned to Drents Museum in the Netherlands. But often, the most valueless item can be the most interesting: ‘For me it is the mutton bone removed from baby James Drummond’s throat in 1853, in Stirling’s first recorded tracheotomy,’ says Elspeth. ‘The collections are a joy to work with, and the reason for the Smith’s existence. Rich and varied, the artist, Marie Louise Wrightson has summarised them in her 2014 painting ‘The Stirling Smith Girl’.
The best thing about the Smith? ‘When people identify with the exhibits and relate their own experiences to them. At the moment, our exhibition, “The Battle for Polmaise” commemorates the local coal mine, thirty years after the end of the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike. Many visitors from former mining areas have been so delighted to see their history in the Smith they have donated to the collections or shared reminiscences – the exhibition has even helped several people with dementia or memory problems to remember. People always have pleasure in identifying objects from their shared past, and it can be something as ordinary as the once-universal pit towel and laundry bag, or a poker and toasting fork.’
The Smith and Hamish the Highlander, by Stirling-based artist Greer Ralston, 1996.
When asked how important the Stirling Smith is to Stirling and its people, Elspeth speaks with passion: ‘The Smith contains the material culture which makes Stirling, Stirling – the Stirling Jug (granted by Act of Parliament, 1453), the Cowane’s Chest of 1636, the figure of Justice (pre-1560) from the Tolbooth, the cloak and axe used by the executioner in 1820. These, and hundreds of other things, distinguish Stirling from other towns: the identity of Stirling is invested in them. Stirling has had many past identities – royal court, carriage-building town, market town, tryst, publishing town – all of which are represented in the Smith’s collections. We think of the Smith as the Aricept which will guard against community forgetfulness and loss of identity.’
And is it relevant to overseas visitors? ‘If overseas visitors go to the Castle, the Wallace Monument and Bannockburn, they will pick up a lot of information on Scottish history, but learn little about Stirling as a town. The Stirling Smith looks at the broader picture of Stirling’s history, providing a clearer picture of Stirling’s significant place in Scotland’s history. In a nutshell, we like to say “Think you know Stirling? You haven’t seen Stirling until you’ve seen the Smith.”
