Travel – Enchanted Forest, Pitlochry: A breathtaking sound and light show to rival the best in the world.

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There are certain events in life that should feature on a bucket list – and for me, visiting an attraction that I’ve been trying to get tickets to for more than three years – The Enchanted Forest in Perthshire,  was just one such event.

And the reason it’s taken me three years to obtain tickets to this sound and light open-air spectacular is only down to the fact it sells out the moment tickets go on sale every year – and I’ve always been too slow!

However, this time around I was lucky enough to ensure that the moment they opened up the sales desk I was there faster than many sprinters, no easy task for someone like me, and got hold of four tickets for the family.

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Food – Glasgow: Stack and Still. My recommendation, starve yourself before attempting the ‘short stack’.

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102 West George St, Glasgow, the first of its kind in the city.

The Merchant City area of Glasgow is now a rather upmarket and trendy location which is why it was no great surprise to find this is where the hipster pancake restaurant Stack and Still can be found.

Located on West George Street you’ll find there is very little parking available locally and I would recommend you use public transport.

I visited with daughter number one on a Saturday mid-morning in advance of a gin tasting afternoon and thought that some pre-loaded carbohydrate would be a good idea. Talk about busy, the place was almost full, it was heaving. I’ll tell you now there’re many restaurants out there who would sell their grannies to be this busy at 11am on a Saturday morning.

And, it’s not exactly a small restaurant either.  I estimated they can easily cover 200 diners in what is basically an open-plan setting with Glasgow’s first self dispense bar.

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Food – Edinburgh: Surf and Turf. Keep an eye on this new place – it’s going places!

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Surf and Turf, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh

As a food reviewer, I’ve been exceptionally lucky to have eaten in some of the best restaurants and tasted some of the finest dishes, but sometimes, just sometimes, you leave somewhere in the sure and certain knowledge that a relatively unknown eatery is set for stardom!

And that couldn’t be truer for Edinburgh’s Surf and Turf restaurant on Holyrood Road.

This is the kind of place when word gets out as to how good it actually is, you’ll soon have to make a booking. Walk-ins will become a thing of the distant past. I’m just surprised it’s not been ‘found’ yet.

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Food – Carlops: The Allan Ramsay Hotel. Good honest home-cooked food in comfortable surroundings.

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Having stayed overnight at the Allan Ramsay Hotel in Carlops, we decided not to eat out and to try their own restaurant. And what a fortuitous decision that was. In fact, it was that good I’ve decided it merits a review all of its own.

So, having booked a table for 8pm we duly arrived at 7.45pm to be shown to a nice corner table where we wouldn’t be overlooked by others, but, we needn’t have worried on that front, as you’ll find out later!

The restaurant forms part of the hotels ground floor see Accomm – Carlops: The Allan Ramsay Hotel. It’s rare to find somewhere like this, but a joy when you do! and is an open plan design with seven tables which can seat 28 covers.

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Accomm – Carlops: The Allan Ramsay Hotel. It’s rare to find somewhere like this, but a joy when you do!

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The Allan Ramsay Hotel

If you, like me, dislike modern or boutique style hotels, preferring something with a bit of character, perhaps an older coaching inn, with wooden beams and open fires, then you’re going to love the Allan Ramsay Hotel in the village of Carlops near Midlothian.

I say village, but it could equally well be described as a hamlet. A couple of dozen houses, the hotel, a church, a pair of bus stops, telephone and a postbox and that’s basically your lot. Blink and you could easily miss it.

It would not be unfair to say that the Allan Ramsay Hotel is truly at the heart of the community being slap bang in the centre of the village. Interestingly it has a plaque in the bar to prove exactly that point. Places like this are the literal lifeblood of small communities across the country, serving a purpose far beyond that of food and drink. They are a meeting point, an entertainment venue, a ‘local’, a place to eat, and so much more.

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Food – Elsrickle: The Big Red Barn. Caution, don’t dare visit if the local farmers are hungry!

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I‘d love to have brought you my fun-filled review of Elsrickle’s Big Red Barn,  Lanarkshire’s answer to Fawlty Towers – with its very own Sybil –  unfortunately, the whole visit turned into a big embarrassing farce.

The good lady and I had dolled ourselves up and set off as we made our way into deepest South Lanarkshire and to a place where apparently pies reign supreme.

Now, I’ll readily admit to being a bit of a pie aficionado – steak and kidney, chicken and mushroom, macaroni, haggis – yes, I’ve tried them all, written about the good ones, slated the bad imitations and absolutely slammed the nonsense that in the past masqueraded as a pie.

So, off we trundled in the old charabanc down the M74 and along the A702 towards Edinburgh. We duly chugged on past many a good-looking café, pub and restaurant in search of the Big Red Barn near a village called Dolphinton. Weird name eh? How did an inland village in central Scotland get the name of a water-dwelling mammal? Anyway, I digress, back to the pie saga, or should that be piegate.

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Food – Loch Lomond: Luss Seafood Bar. Who’d have thought such quality was right on the doorstep?

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Sometimes we food writers are lucky enough to find a hidden gem that’s not on the food luvvies circuit.
So imagine my delight while on a day trip to the conservation village of Luss, located some 12 miles outside of Glasgow, on the shores of Loch Lomond, in finding Luss Seafood Bar.

And, while I’m at it, the wee village, which doubled up as Glendarroch in the STV soap drama ‘Take the High Road’,  – as Scottish as kilts and shortbread – is well worth a visit and might just feature in a future travel review.

But, back to the purpose of my mad scribblings. Wondering around the village primarily for the purpose of testing a new digital camera, we came across a small bistro tucked down a side street.

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Food – Glasgow: Ingram Wynd. Sadly, their afternoon tea offering just isn’t my cup of tea.

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Ingram Wynd is renowned for the quality of its food, service and professional staff. I’ve sung its praises in the past on more than one occasion. However, if they think their afternoon tea offering is going to set the heather on fire, then it’s time for a healthy serving of reality check!

You see, in Glasgow, there are a huge number of places offering afternoon teas, some good, others bad and a few that are excellent at what they do. But if Ingram Wynd wants to compete with the likes of Cup, Butterfly and Pig and the Grand Central Hotel, then they’ll have to up their game substantially.

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Food – East Kilbride: The Richmond Oriental. I was expecting more, a bit hit and miss.

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The Richmond Oriental is located in an out-of-town setting

The Richmond Oriental Chinese restaurant was established in 1993 in East Kilbride, one of the new towns designed to take the overspill from the city of Glasgow. It had come recommended some months ago, but this was the first opportunity I had to visit. This restaurant is located in a non-residential area of the town and has its own private car park providing ample spaces for diners.

The restaurant advertises that it offers a mix of both Chinese and Thai food specialities as well as most of the Scottish staples, such as sweet-and-sour chicken, beef curry and char-siu.

There is excellent disabled access from the car park which is on a level and flat surfaced area with no steps.

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You’ll have no problems trying to get parked at this location
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Travel – Loch Lomond Seaplanes: An amazing experience nobody should miss out on.

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Everyone should have a bucket list of things they want to do before shuffling off in later life muttering “I wish I’d done that. ” So, with that in mind, one of the must-do items on that list should be a seaplane trip over the Western Highlands of Scotland.

And, for me, that lucky opportunity arose in July 2019 courtesy of Loch Lomond Seaplanes, located at Balloch on the outskirts of Glasgow.

So, with Mrs Grub and Travel Guides firmly ensconced beside me,  off we tootled to the company’s current base at Cameron House Hotel. Note: Check access arrangements as building work on the fire-destroyed hotel means there is no current access from the main A82 Glasgow to Fort William route.

Europe’s only scheduled seaplane airline – celebrating 15 years of operation providing the travelling public with scheduled sightseeing tours with over 110,000 passengers flown – they provide passengers with the ability to visit the remoter areas of Scotland and the Loch Lomond National Park that cannot be accessed by road.

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The dock where the service takes off and lands at.
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