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 Read our articles and reviews about the many visitor attractions in the north of Scotland, and get an insider’s view of towns, villages, shopping, wildlife and local activities – the sort of thing you don’t get in the brochures.   

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 Enjoy your visit and haste ye back!  

Image courtesy of  Versevend

Living Food at Cawdor Castle

Photo by Mr Warwick Hunt

Yesterday saw Cawdor Estate’s third annual food festival. I missed last year’s and was glad to find it even better than I remembered, with more organic, free-range, hand-crafted, wood-smoked, freshly-dug local food than you’d believe possible, all in the leafy grounds of Cawdor Castle. (If there was an award for the most beautiful car park in Britain, CC would win hands down.)

My old favourites the Ullapool Bakery and Benromach distillery were there, as was ‘the garlic lady’ AKA the Really Garlicky Company with their addictive garlic ciabattas filling the marquee with aromas that made us want to eat dinner at ten in the morning.

I was particularly impressed with the Isle of Skye Baking Company which is new to me. I’ve been dunking their Heather Honey Biscotti while I write this and there are not many left in the pretty wee bag. Lee loved their Ale Oatcake Wedges and he’ll be able to scoff the whole packet as they are traditionally made with lard which sadly doesn’t agree with my long-time vegetarian digestion. (They do make veggie oatcakes but not yet with ale – I’ll be keeping an eye out.) But it was their chocolate whisky sauce with Talisker that really had us throwing calorific caution to the winds. Thankfully more is available without a trip over the seas, from the Skye Food Company Partnership. Go get it.

Abriachan Lochside Garden

I came away from Abriachan Nursery last week wishing my own garden was on a steep rocky slope covered in native trees. Yes, I know the owners (Donald and Margaret Davidson) must have put in back-breaking years of work to create it, but the result is so inspiring it makes you feel this is the only kind of garden worth having.

Paths lead you on a twisting journey of discovery from the nursery down by the shores of Loch Ness, up through terraces of beds that allow you to see the plants close up. It’s a testament to the planting and design of the garden that your eye is kept within it while one of the most photographed lochs in the world glints in the sun just below you. The views are fully exploited too, of course, but in all the right places. The bird house at the top of the hill makes a perfect end point to stop and enjoy it out of the wind.

Even in early spring this garden has plenty of delights. The hellebores especially benefit from the terracing bringing them up nearer eye level so you don’t just see the backs of their heads. These and the azalea were the brightest stars in the show last week but there were plenty of new shoots getting ready to compete for the limelight.

But the thing that really shines through at Abriachan is the personality of the gardeners who work it. A strong feeling of welcome draws you further up and further in, with a gentle humour evident in the quirky sculptures and information notes that let you in on local legends and folklore.

This was my first visit to Abriachan but I’ll be back soon, maybe when the mecanopsis are in flower. I just need a few weeks to clear a space in my garden first.

Abriachan’s website is worth a look: http://www.lochnessgarden.com/