Take In The Flavours Of Scotland

Did you know there was a Bridge over the Atlantic?  Or the largest inter-tidal waterfall in Europe is in Scotland? Or that you can travel through thousands of years of our history in just a few hours?  And all this is within easy reach of Edinburgh?

I recently spent three days touring a corner of Argyll on the West Coast of Scotland and discovered a great deal about a country I thought I already knew.  What started as a tour taking us off the beaten track to discover the Flavours of Scotland, visiting small producers and suppliers in this corner of a country known worldwide for its natural larder, turned into an exploration of history, culture, landscape and some simply delicious food and drink.

As group excursions go, this tour offered a friendly, personal and informative service with a small group of relaxed, like-minded visitors to Scotland, and some natives exploring their own backyard.  A flexible itinerary allowed plenty of time to venture out on our own, walk off some of the gourmet meals and even take in some unscheduled stops.  A happy half hour was spent wandering round a fabulous gothic extravaganza of a church, hidden on the banks of Loch Fyne.  Built by a local landowner in the 19th century when his mother became too frail to visit the village church, the gargoyles and flying buttresses seemed from another world as we explored in deepening twilight.

As for the Bridge over the Atlantic – it really does exist.  Admittedly the Atlantic at this point is a probably less than 15 metres wide, but the 18th century bridge swoops over the tidal stream that flows between the mainland and the Isle of Seil and it is, technically, the ocean.  The little known Isle of Seil offered a stop to visit the charming Oyster Brewery, tucked away in the conservation village of Ellanbeich, where the whitewashed cottages huddle against the fierce Atlantic winds.  This micro brewery is owned and operated by Andy Gascoigne and attached to a wood paneled, cosy pub where Andy’s wife and daughter cook the food and pull the pints respectively.

Dramatic Scenery & Oyster Bars

This is a truly extraordinary part of the country, where some of the wildest and most dramatic scenery in the United Kingdom is remarkably accessible.  This magnificent landscape resonates through history, from the bleak emptiness of Rannoch Moor to the towering majesty of Glencoe.  The ruined battlements of Castles Stalker, Dunstaffnage and Carnasserie stand guard over the mirrored waters of the sea lochs and ghostly silver birches rise up through the bracken and yellow gorse.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch feasting on local seafood at the internationally renowned Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, perched on the shore of one of the most magnificent sea lochs in the area. 

This gastronomic delight was preceded by a visit to Fyne Ales - a microbrewery housed in a converted steading reached down a narrow, winding track at the head of Loch Fyne.  Master Brewer, Will Wood, obviously takes a great pride in the development and brewing of new beers and gave us an enthusiastic tour, followed by an equally enthusiastic tasting of some of their top selling products with wonderfully evocative names as Avalanche, Pipers Gold and Highlander. 

This tour specialises in visiting these small, local businesses and over the three days we certainly gained an understanding of these small, remote communities, and the work that local people are putting into bringing new life and prosperity in the glens. 

Johnny and Tuppy Delap are fine exponents of this – having created Fyne Ales from scratch five years ago, and now employ five people in the brewery – as well as supporting a fine herd of 30 Highland cattle from the spent draft – or leftovers from the brewing process.

Ancient History & Distillerys

The more recent history of the Scottish highlands is well documented and well known - the clan system, the Jacobite rebellions and the clearances.  However a trip to Kilmartin revealed an older, less familiar, past.  With over 350 historic monuments within a six mile radius of the village, of which 150 are prehistoric, Kilmartin reaches back to 7000BC and a time when the first human settlements had an impact on the land.  Nomadic tribes are believed to have settled in this area, leaving evidence behind of burial cairns, magnificent standing stones which align perfectly with a phase of the moon, extraordinary rock art, forts and duns.  Despite rather a grey and drizzly morning, there was an aura surrounding the standing stones, perfectly aligned with a phase of the moon, and the burial cairns – so much so that the more superstitious amongst us declined to enter the rings of stones.

A trip to this area of Scotland wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a distillery and having enjoyed the delights of the local beers, we called into the Oban Distillery.  A private tour of the distillery fascinated even the non-whisky drinkers amongst us, and those who enjoy their malts and blends were very appreciative of the tasting that followed.

Overnight In Oban

We spent both nights in Oban which offers a range of hotels and bed and breakfasts – the great thing about this tour is that you can choose your accommodation to suit your budget – and some excellent restaurants and bars.  We chose Ee-usk for our first evening – discovering the Gaelic word for fish as a bonus – and moved onto Coast for our second.  Both restaurants offered an excellent choice of local produce – Ee-usk focusing on fresh caught seafood and taking pride in their line-caught rather than net caught fish.  Coast offered a wider choice for those who required something other than fish, but both provided an excellent ambience and value for money.

One of the joys of this area, apart from the scenery, the food and the drink, is the welcome you receive in these remote communities.   The Inverawe Smokehouse is another example of a local family starting a business from scratch, using local produce and knowledge.  Their business now sells its smoked products worldwide and employs twenty people year round, plus an additional eighty to deal with their mail order business over Christmas. 

We were welcomed by Romano, who has worked for the Campbell Preston’s for over twenty years, and he imparted all sorts of nuggets of knowledge of the smokery and the family history as we toured around.  We settled down to a cup of coffee and tasting session where we all had our favourites – smoked trout, smoked salmon - both farmed and organic, smoked halibut – the choice seemed endless and to my palate all equally delicious.  To our delight, we were then let loose in the excellent shop, and all headed back to the bus laden with bags of goodies.

Our final stop was in Port Appin, a small village where we lunched at the excellent Port Appin Pierhouse, overlooking the Isle of Lismore and Loch Linhe.  With time to wander round the village after lunch before a dramatic drive through the pass of Glencoe on our way back to Edinburgh it really was the perfect end to a perfect weekend.

I found the great advantage of traveling in a small group, and Rabbie’s guarantee a group size of no more than 16 guests with an extremely well-informed and competent driver-guide - was that we could visit places that I would simply never find on my own.  I also loved the freedom of not having to drive myself.  Not only could we all enjoy guiltless tasting sessions at the distillery and microbreweries, we could also take advantage of the great selections of wines at the Loch Fyne Oyster bar.  The luxury of gazing out of the windows at the hills and glens as we wound our way down some of the narrowest and vertiginous roads in the area was wonderful, and again, something we couldn’t have done in larger transport.  

Our guide, Caroline, was caring, knowledgeable and great fun.  She imparted so much of her local knowledge from the history of the areas we passed through, shopping tips and even brought a few new books on the area to our attention – not all on the standard recommended reading lists! 

We explored areas off the beaten track and met so many fascinating and friendly people in such a short space of time.  We’d been promised a weekend of remote communities, beautiful scenery and delicious food - and it exceeded all our expectation.  It was the perfect way to spend a long weekend, and we all agreed that although we had only been away for three days driving back into the city was to awaken in another, modern world.

Web Links

Frances Sutton travelled with Rabbie’s Trail Burners on their Flavours of Scotland tour.  Departing from Edinburgh on regular departure dates, the tour costs from £150 per person, depending on the type of accommodation you choose in Oban.  All groups are accompanied by a knowledgeable and entertaining drivers and guides.  For further information and on-line booking visit www.rabbies.com.

For further information on the area http://www.visitscotland.com/

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