I‘m fairly certain it’s on most travellers bucket list, but a trip to the winter wonderland that is Lapland offers so much more than just the hope the Aurora Borealis makes an appearance.
We travelled with a specialist travel agent based in Newcastle who is renowned for Northern Lights trips – The Aurora Zone. There are a number of specialist providers in the market for trips like these, and although you can organise a holiday like this yourself, I’d highly recommend using an agency who have many years experience rather than having to try and put all the necessary components in place yourself.
For a start, Lapland is not an easy place to get to from Scotland, and like us, you’ll probably have to fly south to start your journey. We flew via EasyJet departing Gatwick on a direct non-stop flight to Rovaniemi.
Six million Jews were butchered during the Nazi regime
1.5 million of those were children
1.1 million were murdered in Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps
The camp watchtower. For how many would a sunset like this have been their last view?
He was a well-dressed officer with shining boots who uttered eight simple short words, articulated well although quietly, and without any emotion. Eight words which determined whether you lived or died — “Men to the left, women to the right.” It was as simple, and callous as that.
Those words exemplify the utter futility and absurdity of the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish race. It has been 74 years since the liberation of the death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 1945, where six million Jews were butchered mercilessly – including 1.5 million children.
The Alpen Hotel, Munich has been providing hospitality for more than 120 years, and rather remarkably, even before the trend for a green and healthy lifestyle, the hotel had Munich’s first vegetarian restaurant!
Now owned and operated by the fourth generation of the Bauer family, the hotel has been brought right up-to-date to cater to the needs of a modern guest.
The hotel still prides itself on its eco-friendly credentials, with the green range of bathroom toiletries, towel changes only on request, an extensive bio-food range on the breakfast buffet along with other touches such as low energy lighting and under-floor heating.
Imagine, what could be more festive than an illuminated forest walk, sipping on a traditional glass of gluhwein and listening to a children’s choir singing carols by a warming open fire.
So, sit back and enjoy for this is Beecraigs Festive Forest. It’s a new venture for 2019, organised by local company Rowen Events and assisted by the team behind, what has now become one of Scotland’s most successful music festivals, Party at the Palace.
This West Lothian sound and light spectacular encourages guests to take a stroll along a 1.5km path while marvelling at the special effects and lighting – and some surprises along the way – which brings the forest alive.
For those who like to inject a shot of festive spirit into December, there’s nothing like a trip to the Christmas markets in Germany, Austria or Switzerland to do just that!
This year it was Munich for us. Having previously been in Basel, Vienna, Berlin and Cologne. Read on for an honest account of how we found this European city’s festive offering.
We flew from Edinburgh to Munich via EasyJet after having originally booked flights with Lufthansa from Glasgow airport. Unfortunately, Lufthansa changed the route advising they were dropping the Glasgow to Munich direct service for the 2019/2020 winter season They then expected us to fly via Glasgow – Düsseldorf – Munich instead. Needless to say, when you’re only visiting for a long weekend you just don’t need the hassle of changing flights so we cancelled.
It’s fair to say, there’s one thing you can generally rely on from a chef – and it’s that they don’t oversell their products! And such is the case with the Stair Arms in Pathhead.
It promises good old-fashioned wholesome homemade pub grub with the odd nod here and there to a more modern style, just to shake things up a bit.
And one of the best things about it all is the fact it’s done seamlessly. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had problems with food service. Overcooked grub, cold food, delays, surly staff to name but a few but you won’t find any of these at this delightful country inn.
Located off the main A68 south-east of Dalkeith and within shouting distance of Scotland’s capital city, The Stair Arms in Pathhead sits high above the River Tyne in an enviable countryside location.
The country inn, a ‘B’ listed historic building – was built in the1830s as a coaching inn covering the route between the Scottish Borders and Edinburgh. Originally commissioned by the late Lord and Lady Stair of Oxenfoord in 1831. The venue has recently undergone a complete refurbishment of its main public areas and all 12 bedrooms.
Driving along the mist-shrouded A68, a traditional stone-built building emerged as I drove into the large car park. I had a pre-determined idea of what to expect inside with dark wood, brassware, tartan curtains and carpets bedecking the interior. What a mistake that was, but more later.
It wouldn’t be unfair to say, that from the outside, The Old Inn at Appin is not much to look at. In fact, if it were not for the name on the wall you’d probably drive straight past.
However, I’ll say it now, nice and early on in this review, don’t drive by otherwise you’re missing out on something very special indeed!
Located at the bottom of Appin Brae, I know the area well, having been brought up in Ballachulish for the first 23 years of my life. I’ve parked in what is now the restaurant car park more times than I can recollect while photographing Castle Stalker in Loch Laich.
Castle Stalker sitting in Loch Laich.
Located in an old renovated stone-built building which dates from the 1700s, the front door is actually around the back of the building, which is just as well because the building is located right on the roadside with no pavement. And remember that brae I mentioned, it’s a 13 per cent gradient drop, and the pub is slap bang front and centre at the foot of it.
There’s a large off-road car park area with space for 12 to 15 cars from which a solid path underfoot leads to that rear (front) door. Because there are no steps I regard the restaurant as being disabled-friendly in terms of access.
Once inside, like the exterior, look past the interior design elements. It’s fair to say it’s functional and not going to be winning any London Design Week Awards anytime soon. I immediately thought of a converted cow byre for some reason but could be completely off in that regard.
It’s one large room with a vaulted wooden ceiling adorned with Christmas fairy lights. Formed by an open plan design with approximately 12 tables. The walls are original stone upon which hangs an eclectic mix of swords, antlers, oil paintings, and other assorted paraphernalia. The tables and chairs are of a similar odd mismatch assortment, including four wooden church pews and two slabs of cut oak which have warped with use/age so are no longer flat! It’s a rather unique take on restaurant dining. But this critic rolls with the punches and goes with the flow – and absolutely loved its quirkiness.
The interior of the restaurant.
Despite the many eccentricities, and I haven’t gotten onto the female I very nearly became ‘good friends’ with yet – it’s a fun place, with no need for jackets and ties, stuffy pomposity or fussiness. It’s one of those places – a bit like Marmite I expect – you either walk in and sit down or simply turn around and walk straight back out. I was in for the long haul.
But more are sitting down than turning around, and you’ll have to book a table as it is now very popular indeed. Open on a Tuesday to Saturday only between 4 and 10pm it serves as both the locals watering hole and providing food for those travelling from further afield.
We visited on a Tuesday night and in the good old Scots vernacular – “It was going like a fair.” On arrival, the bar was busy with several locals enjoying an after-work drink, some in boiler suits, while around 12 covers were seated and/or being served. Soon that number was up to around 20. They were literally piling through the door.
This was about the only time the bar was free for a shot!
I’ll give you a wee tip – take a duvet with you, at a push a good down jacket would suffice. There’s a wood burner in one corner and if you’re sitting near it then I’m sure it’d be fairly comfortable. Because we hadn’t booked, it was a case of ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ and we were in the church pews near the bar which was much colder. Probably because it’s next to the door, which could easily have just been a revolving one!
Notwithstanding, I was happy to forego that extra level of comfort to try one of their steaks – you only need to look at Tripadvisor to see they are doing something exceptionally well indeed. The restaurant is currently sitting at number one in Appin, but when you consider another local hotel restaurant is listed as having: Cesar Award Best Luxury Hotel in Scotland – Good Hotel Guide 2020; Best Scottish Luxury Hotel of the year – Hotel Awards Scotland 2019; Best Fine Dining Restaurant 2019 Luxury Life Awards and listed with Relais and Chateaux, this wee nondescript place is doing remarkable things locally.
I was even prepared to ignore that local lady I mentioned earlier, who, I suspect having enjoyed more than a few sherries almost landed in my lap as she bounced around like a pinball!
We foodies will put up with a lot to eat at the next “in place”.
The blackboard menu with its limited choice offering.
Don’t expect a menu of four pages with 60 choices. You’ll be very disappointed. The choice of food is marked on a blackboard and on entering you are told to consider taking a photograph of it before sitting down. I told you it was a quirky wee place! There are extremely limited options. Primarily offering steak, two fish and two veggie options. There is also a choice of three starters and two puddings on offer. The one bonus with this system is that you’re not still trying to choose 45 minutes after arriving at The Old Inn.
Drinks orders were delivered by the very cheery and helpful waitress/barmaid who was also taking orders from customers.
It was a pate starter for me which I have to say was very definitely home-made and delicious. There was a hint of alcohol along with a fruitiness normally associated with a quality chicken liver pate, but which was also creamy and with a nice earthy aftertaste. Much rougher in texture than a parfait, it was a perfect slab of pate served with a side salad, a chutney and home-made oatcakes. We were off to a fine start for the evening.
Highland T-bone steak (22oz), served with fries, salad and a peppercorn sauce – £32
I then opted for the Highland T-bone steak weighing in at an advertised 22 ounces. You may recollect me mentioning it was a limited menu, so when I asked what the steak was served with – I got the answer chips, salad and sauce!
So, bold as you like, risking life and limb perhaps, I requested no salad, fries, mushrooms and a blue cheese sauce along with some onion rings. I was given a withering stare as if I had had the temerity of asking for a half Loch Laich lobster topped with caviar to be served sitting proudly on top of my steak. I was advised, in the nicest possible way, that The Old Inn doesn’t do options. You can have a salad, fries and a peppercorn sauce, or indeed any combination from those three items, but that’s it! No discussion needed. fair enough folks, your place, your rules, I can easily live with that.
So there you have it then, it’s a take it or leave it scenario and I for one, having viewed some of the acerbic responses left on Tripadvisor to negative reviews was not going to chance my arm and appear as some smart arse city boy let loose for a day trip on the expenses charge card. No sir, there was no way I was going to lose out on what everyone else was telling me was a damn fine steak, cooked to perfection.
Daughter number one had the rump steak.
Okay, a wooden platter borne on high containing a lump of meat that first looked like it might actually have been a small cow arrived at the table! Served with enough chips that would have fed a small community for a week during a failed harvest, accompanied by a decent-sized pot of peppercorn sauce, this meaty vision of delight (which could possibly involve some sweating) was laid in front of me. I had requested that the steak be cooked rare. Always in my view, the test of a good chef.
Anyone can cook a well-done steak, even my good old mum, God bless her, only had two steak cooking settings: Cremated or slightly less, the three-year-old shoe leather option, but the proof of a chefs ability lies in their competence at cooking meat to other standards. To be fair, my steak was cooked absolutely perfectly. Slightly charred and sealed on the outside while it was rare and pink on the inside. Although the menu states this is a 20-ounce piece of meat, I strongly suspected this was closer to a good 30 ounces it was that large. But not wishing to enrage the owner/proprietor/chef or whoever leaves the withering comments on Tripadvisor, I wasn’t going to ask them to weigh it for me.
Now I hear you asking “but what kind of beef”. That’s easy – check this picture out. Forget your Aberdeen Angus or even the ridiculously overpriced Wagyu beef, if you like a good quality Scottish steak reared outside in all weathers, then Highland beef is an absolute must. Seek it out – I implore you, it’s not widely used by restaurants, and more’s the pity.
Highland Beef, one of the very best available.
It’s an earthy flavour with a rich, almost iron taste but with an overall sweetness in the chewing and aftertaste. It’s remarkable meat and my cut – the T-bone had just enough fat that had partly rendered down. I say partly because, to get the very best flavour out of a cut like this “on the bone” it needs a longer time on the grill to fully cook out its fat content, and I’d recommend a medium-rare for this type of steak. For me, this has always had to be a trade-off between how I like my meat cooked and being true to the beef itself. I flagellate regularly on a Friday evening around 6pm to try and teach myself the error of my ways!
Did I mention the peppercorn sauce or the fries? No, then I’m sorry. The wee pot of creamy goodness absolutely filled with cracker peppercorns, and nothing else, was a right mouthful of heat, and when added to a chunk of meat, provided that essential extra to the overall balance of the dish. The fries – well they are those wee finger-like potato bites the French call frites. You might have seen something similar in a certain fast-food restaurant with ‘golden arches’ as a logo – still at a loss, aaw OK, Micky D’s then. But you know what, we critics can get right cheesed off with duck fat basted, triple-cooked, skin-on chips. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a wee simple fry.
To have found such a quality cut of beef in such an unassuming little restaurant on the West Coast of Scotland, essentially in a village where, if you blink while driving past you’ll miss it. This was a recommendation by more than one Facebook friend and what a lucky find. One of those moments when nothing else matters other than the piece of beef on your plate, or in this case on a wooden board.
Sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream – £6
Dessert, in this case, was a sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream. Oh my. A delicate and light sponge base sitting in a butterscotch toffee sauce, topped with a good-sized blob of vanilla ice cream. This is sticky toffee pudding at its absolute best. The number of times I have reviewed this dish and written how it’s been too heavy or claggy and nothing like it should be – a light and delicate finish to a meal – and which should never be swimming in a pool of sickly sweet sauce. It’s a 10/10 for the dessert as well. Or here in the highlands is it just a pudding?
The Old Inn doesn’t have a website but you can find them on Facebook at: The Old Inn or call them directly on 07725 409003.
As I mentioned earlier we foodies love finding the next best place and, I urge you to get yourself to the Highlands and to visit The Old Inn at Portnacroish in Appin. But don’t leave it too long as I forecast you’ll soon have to ‘take a ticket’ and wait your turn for a table.
Sometimes in life you just have to take a chance – go with your instincts and move forward. Such was the case with my very first Airbnb booking.
And that’s what led me to Sula, a holiday cottage on a secluded beach in rural Argyll in the Scottish Highlands.
The new-build two-storey home is located at Cuil Bay in the small hamlet of Duror which is equidistant between the seaside town of Oban on the West Coast of Scotland and the outdoor capital of the Highlands at Fort William and has some absolutely spectacular views across the beach on which there is easy access for both walking and fishing.
Sula – if you’re lucky, you might catch a sunset like this off the beach.
I once wrote about a seafood restaurant telling readers I didn’t think it could be bettered – well read on, because Loch Fyne Seafood and Grill in Edinburgh has just stolen the crown!
The restaurant, located in the old fish market at Newhaven Harbour in Leith has just undergone a complete refurbishment from the flooring to the ceiling. And, boy does it look good now.
I’ve no idea who the designer is but, like me, he or she has obviously done some travelling down the coast of Maine in the USA. The pastoral greens and blues, the light wood accents on the floors and in the tables/chairs, the large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbour – are all very reminiscent of the many lobster and crab shacks all along the eastern seaboard.
