Day 8 - The Highlands & High Tea

We were going to take this day as a restful one, do some laundry and recoup, but John had suggested we drive to see the queen's summer retreat. He told us it was a very scenic and beautiful drive, but did caution that the roads were narrow and the trip an uphill one. Grandma decided we should take this drive and so we ignored the laundry piling up and jumped into our van.

John was not exaggerating. The drive through Aberdeenshire was beautiful and it was a rough one as we drove up, up, up into the mountains, twisting and turning around on the roads. We had some issues once again in the direction department with the GPS whom I named Maude. Maude enjoyed making sure we experienced the Scottish life. She took us in roundabout directions. She circled us around roads eventually meeting us up with the main road which would turn out to be a nice straight road, unlike the one she had just had us on. There was some grousing among the troops at one point. Tom was sure we were going the wrong way. Madison was sure we were not. She kept telling him to trust Maude, but he insisted we were heading way out of our way. So he turned around and drove at race car speed back the way we had just traveled so that we could avoid heading into a city we would head into later in our trip.

The drive that should have taken only an hour or so instead took four. If the scenery had not been so magnificent we might have overthrown the driver. As we got closer to our destination we realized our time was dwindling. The castle closed at 5:00 pm with the last tour going at 4:30 pm. This made Tom increase his speed which increased our hearts as he sped around corners high in the mountain.

Suddenly in the middle of our tree lined road we saw signs and a car park. We saw them and then we didn't see them as Tom sped past. I saw that they had said Balmoral Castle. He saw the sign that said Braemar Castle nine miles ahead. So nine miles ahead we went. More bickering ensued with Grandma and myself arguing that we thought we had bypassed the castle we wanted and Tom insisting we had not. Eventually we arrived.

At Braemar Castle. We drove up the hill toward it realizing we had the wrong castle. We all took photos and then Tom turned around and drove like a bat out of hell back nine miles to the castle we had originally come to see. We parked in the car park and hiked across the bridge above River Dees to the gate to the entrance of the castle. A tram was just returning with the last tour of the day and so we got information and thought maybe, just maybe, we would try again in the morning. We took photos of a red squirrel and the river and then we got back into the car to start the long drive back to Aberdeen.

Moods were a little dark. Tom decided what he needed was a pint we needed was dinner. It was now after five thirty and the towns we were driving through were small. He toured the first town and we found everything closed. We went on. We toured the next town and found nothing. We went on. We got to the third town and he saw a sign. By this point I had stopped caring looking out the window and was jotting down things for my blog. He drove up and he drove down and he drove all around until he found this little cottage in the middle of nowhere along the river.

It said it was a breakfast and lunch place, but that it had high tea. We had learned from Dorothy the night before the difference between afternoon tea and high tea. Afternoon tea is a daily occurrence that the Scots have about 4:00 pm as a little pick me up between lunch and dinner . Dinner is then served some time later in the evening. High tea is a meal, much like what we consider supper (in parts of our country), that is served after five and can include meats and alcohol and always includes a plate of tasty pastries. If having high tea then there is no meal after that.

Tom and Darcy went into the place and returned saying we could have high tea. There was much discussion on this and whether we should or shouldn't. At one point Tom was backing the car to leave when we all said no, no let's do it. It was getting late. We were all hungry. And no one wanted to sit in a car on those roads again at this time. We got out and went inside.

It was like stepping into a fairyland. Built along the falls in the town of Banchory, the restaurant, The Falls of Feugh Tearoom, was exquisite. It was exactly the kind of place little girls thought of when having tea parties with their stuffed animals. Simply beautiful. We were not exactly dressed as I would have imagined this place was use to and the waiter (or owner) kind of crinkled his nose as we walked in. He was standing straight with a napkin on his arm and he showed us reluctantly to a table. 

The high tea was a set menu with several meat choices of chicken, lamb and fish. They were out of the beef the waiter informed us before asking for our drink order. Grandma, instead of asking if there was wine, made it a statement as in "You don't have wine here" sort of to herself as if saying, what shall I order, and I was afraid the poor guy would pop a vein in his disgust. He assured us, "We certainly do have wine. We have a full bar" which was behind Grandma's head where she couldn't see. She got a tad stuffy with him while I silently cheered because I felt he was judging us and none too kindly. By the time we left, however, he LOVED us and we had him laughing. 

Tom and Grandma had lamb. The girls had chicken. I had rainbow trout. I have never had that before, but Grandma told me it was delicious, and I was embracing and thus ordered it. We had beer and wine and still water, two bottles of that, and a loaf of freshly baked bread. We were the only patrons in our area. Outside was a table of four and in the room next to us was a family of four with two small children. 

The food was something from a magazine. The presentation was lovely. The taste was we-simply-can-not-talk-this-is-so-good scrumptious. It was the best meal of the trip thus far. We all agreed. Grandma said it was the best lamb she has ever had (and she "makes the best lamb) and told this to our waiter who of course knew this. He then told us that he uses a butcher locally and that all of the vegetables and meat are locally grown and raised in Aberdeenshire. We praised the chef and then we chatted up the waiter and suddenly he relaxed and turned into a very nice gentleman. 

He was happy to serve us our tea. He knew that I was excited about it all, and he presented the tier of cakes with great flourish. Our eyes were like a child's; very saucer-like. He pointed out each pastry and told us their names. He served us tea and coffee and left us to indulge. We made our way through the pastries voting on our favorites, but we could not finish the tier. And we tried. But the dinner itself had been so delicious and we had consumed every bite so our stomachs could only handle so much. We did well though and then we and walked around the property and talked more with our waiter who waved to us as we left. 

The whole experience improved our moods, and we joyfully climbed back into the van and talked about our experience all the way back to our hotel. We also decided that we would try the queen's castle again tomorrow on our way to Inverness, our next destination, and we made plans to wake early.

Just like that we were back in the groove.