Why suffer at Harrods?

The trouble with Harrods is that it is crowded with tourists and other rif-raf and no cultured person darkens its doors preferring, instead, to seek out individual suppliers where local products are made with the highest quality ingredients.

If you are a chutney and jam gourmet then the place to head for is Galloway Lodge Preserves, at Gatehouse of Fleet. This is a truly local business owned by Fiona Hesketh who, with her team, lavishes love and care on their products at their kitchen in the royal burgh.

Sharon called in at the shop in the wonderfully-named Horatio Square, surely a memory of Nelson. She enjoyed chatting with Lynden and inspected all the shelves which carry not only Galloway Lodge Preserves but also a range of fine foods and items by other quality producers.

She selected a jar of the famous Galloway Lodge Poachers Pickle and a bar of ginger fudge for her mother. The pickle, a Gold Great Taste Award winner, has fans around the world and it is, in fact, sold at Harrods. But there are fewer crowds in Gatehouse of Fleet and only elegant and refined customers.

Sharon and Lynden chatted away and she was very enthusiastic about the food. Galloway Lodge preserves was founded by the late Nigel Hesketh as a small marmalade-making operation. Today Fiona runs things and she has introduced a select range of new products.

As well as the Poachers Pickle there are other chutneys, including beetroot chutney, Bramley apple chutney with cider, hot tomato pickle, mango and chilli chutney, mulled cranberry chutney and peach chutney.

There are also jams, marmalades, jellies, mustard, and a chilli range. Crunchy Original Galloway Mustard is described as being “made from scratch ourselves. The addition of honey and cinnamon makes this a very versatile condiment.” Chilli jam tempts with “a mix of chilli and spices from two continents,” or how about chilli and honey relish? Amongst the marmalades, there is Bladnoch whisky distillery marmalade, made with a dram from the nearby distillery, the most southerly in Scotland, and heather honey marmalade. Rich cranberry and port jelly tempts, as does bramble jelly, and there are many other tasty jars.

So, avoid the vulgar mob and head for Gatehouse of Fleet instead of a certain over-rated store crushed with crowds in South Kensington.

Galloway Lodge Preserves. Shop in Horatio Square, Gatehouse of Fleet, next to the clock tower. Shop telephone 01557 814 357. Kitchen 01557 814 007. www.gallowaylodge.co.uk fiona@gallowaylodge.co.uk.

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Gardeners are a Bolshie Bunch

Gardeners are awkward people. Who says so? Scotland's top gardener for one.

Professor Stephen Blackmore is Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and he says that gardeners are stubborn people who keep on trying, ignoring failures. They think in terms of decades or centuries, often planting things that will not fully flourish until long after the gardener is dead.

Sharon enjoyed talking with Stephen yesterday at the Logan Botanic Garden. This is one of the world's most remarkable gardens. Despite being located in Scotland, it features many plants that need warm or mild climates, such as palms and exotic flowers. The sight of clumps of daffodils growing beneath palm trees is a little unusual and exotic bright coloured flowers are in bursting good health even after the recent savage winter. The reason for this is that the Rhins Peninsula, at the far west of Galloway, where Logan is situated, benefits from the warming effects of the Gulf Stream.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh dates back to 1670 and today it also operates the Logan Botanic Garden, the Benmore Botanic Garden and the Dawyck Botanic Garden. It is a major force for research and conservation and works in more than 40 countries around the world. Recently, for instance, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Queen Sirkit Botanic Garden in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and the two organisations are to work closely together. A project relating to Thai ferns is under way. There are many plants from Asia at the Logan Botanic Garden, and the rhododendrons and camellias are particularly beautiful.

Sharon enjoyed talking to Stephen as he is an old Hong Kong hand, spending years of his childhood there and still visiting regularly. Sharing a common interest in the former British colony there was lots of talk of food and happy times.

Logan is well worth visiting. Although things are a little behind because of the long winter the plants are about to burst into bloom. In fact, some already have, including a dramatic purple magnolia from southwest China that produces giant flowers before bothering with leaves. “In the Walled and Woodland Gardens you'll encounter species fascinating and colourful, endangered and bizarre. Nearly half of these have been collected from the wild, and most are from the southern hemisphere. The majesty of antipodean tree ferns and gum trees, the vivid colours of Southern African flowers, the fragrance of tender rhododendrons and the stands of massive gunnera will delight and surprise you.”

There are plenty of facilities for the visitor, including the licensed Potting Shed Bistro, where Sharon tucked into a delicious carrot cake – studded with walnuts and with a “yummy topping”. The shop is packed with interesting items and books. This is also the place to pick up the little machine that provides a self-guided audio tour for a pound. There is a basic language version for children, no doubt it leaves out all the long Latin names of plants. First stop on any visit should be the Discovery Centre, which explains the history and purpose of the garden and includes microscopes to give a really close up look at how plants work.

Most of the garden is accessible to the disabled, although a bit of hefty pushing can be required in places as the paths are gravel, which isn't friendly to people on wheels, but wheelchairs are allowed on the grass. There is a fully equipped disabled toilet and wheelchairs can be borrowed on request. Access to the Potting Shed Bistro shop and Discovery Centre is no problem. Guide dogs are welcome, although Sharon smiled at the notice at the entrance which says that only “accompanied guide dogs” are admitted. Is there a problem with packs of unaccompanied guide dogs trying to get in?
The Logan Botanic Garden is 14 miles south of Stranraer on the B7065. Don't confuse it with the Logan House garden close by, which is also worth visiting. Also visit the remarkable Logan Fish Pond, the world's only larder for sea fish built 200 years ago for a local dignitary.

The botanic garden is open from 15 March to 31 October and on Sundays in February. From April to September it is open from 10am to 6pm. In March and October it is open from 10am to 5pm. In February it is open only on Sundays, from 10am to 4pm. Admission is five pounds for adults, one pound for children, and four pounds for concessions. A family admission is available for 10 pounds and discounts are available for pre-booked groups of 11 or more. Members of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh are admitted free – so it's well worth joining as free admission to the other gardens is also included together with other benefits. From April to September, a guided walk is offered, starting at 10am on the second Tuesday of the month. Car and coach parking is free and there is even shaded parking for dogs.

Logan Botanic Garden, Port Logan, Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, DG9 9ND. Telephone 01776 860231. www.rbge.org.uk/logan.

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No potatoes and no bread in Galloway

It wasn't so long ago that people living in Galloway had to do without two staples of life – potatoes and bread.

The History of Galloway from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Volume II, page 404, published in 1816 in Kirkudbright by John Nicholson, gives some interesting information on food.

“In 1725, potatoes were first introduced to Galloway, or at least into the Stewartry of Kirkudbright, by William Hyland, from Ireland. This new species of food being accounted a luxury, few potatoes were used in the district for some time; for Hyland regularly carried his whole crop to Edinburgh, where he sold them in pounds and even ounces.

“At this period, there was perhaps not one baker in Galloway. Only one resided in the town of Dumfries and he baked half-penny baps, or rolls, of coarse flour, which he carried in baskets to the fairs of Urr, Kirkpatrick, &c., where they met with a ready sale. No wheat at this time grew in the district, and it was believed that the ground would not produce it. Even so late as the year 1735, no mill existed in the south of Scotland for grinding this sort of grain. The first flour mill was built at Cluden, in the parish of Holywood, some years after this date.”

No doubt everyone existed on good Scottish porridge which is made from oats. Dr Johnston defined oats in his great dictionary as “a grain which in England is fed to horses but which in Scotland sustains the population.”

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Life on the ocean waves

When Sharon was a young girl she used to travel back and forwards to Africa where her father worked as a railway engineer.

There were long periods in the bush, punctuated at intervals by trips home to England by ship. Sharon's mother and father enjoyed the long leisurely dinners taken properly dressed while Sharon ate in the nursery. She can't remember anything about the food but says she was never hungry.

Neither were her parents. Here is a menu from a voyage to Nigeria on the M.V. Aureol, dated June 5, 1963. The Captain was W.E. Humphreys, the Chief Steward, W.H Neild, M.C.F.A., and the Chef de Cuisine, P. Brindley, M.C.F.A.

Cold Buffet

Jellied beef consomme, Vichysoise, prawns in jelly, sole in aspic, gammon ham, veal and ham pie, lambs' tongues, roulade of veal, haunch of venison. Salads: lettuce, tomatoes, beetroot, yam yam. Dressings: mayonnaise, French, creme crue. Lemon and vanilla ice cream, iced coffee.

Dinner

Appetisers: Juices: Prune, pineapple, tomato, grapefruit maraschino.
Soups: Consomme Dumont, cream Marie Stuart.
Fish: Fillets of Plaice, Meuniere.
Farinaceous: Risotto Milanaise.
To Order, 10 minutes: Eggs Princess.
Vegetarian: Dutch potato mould.
Entree: Sweetbreads, Guizot.
Chef's Special: Guinea Fowl Orleans Style, sauted, deglaced with red wine and veal stock garnished with button onions, mushrooms and diced ham.
Roast: Quarters of Canterbury lamb and mint sauce.
Vegetables: Garden peas, creamed parsnips, parsley, browned, creamed and Pont Neuf potatoes.
Sweets: Golden pudding, coupe Singapore, bombe chocolat, lemon and vanilla ice cream.
Savoury: Croutes au baron, fruit bowl, assorted nuts, coffee.

“Coffee and liqueurs will be served as Passengers desire, either in the First Class Lounge or in the Smoke Room.”

On the front of the menu above the words Elder Dempster Lines, is a colourful picture of a bird. The caption on the back tells us: “West African Bird Series, No 18. The Orange Weaver (Euplectes franciscana). These are the loveliest of the species and are often wrongly described locally as the Firefinch. They are polygamous and have a characteristic bobbing flight.”

Of course the menu was printed in England by Forman of Nottingham.

Sharon says: “I always used to sit on the rocking horse in the nursery because the motion of the boat going up and down over the waves used to make it go by itself. So, I didn't have to make it go, I just used to sit on it and I would be rocked. When we used to pass through the Bay of Biscay and it was a bit rough, I used to pretend I was a rodeo rider because the rocking horse would rock more vigorously.”

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A quiet Sunday drive

“Yesterday we went for a quiet Sunday drive in the sunshine. I used to make scathing remarks about cars tootling along with Sunday drivers but I am so glad to be alive that I loved the drive. There were lambs in the field, buds on the trees and clumps of daffodils everywhere. It's a lot better than being dead,” Sharon.

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What more could a girl want?

Sharon's nephews, Cameron and Connor, called round to see her and brought her some lovely gifts.

Cameron presented her with a giant bottle of Irn Bru, the Scots' favourite soft drink, and Connor gave her a jelly rat and a jelly centipede.

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Tea and cakes fuel recovery

Sharon writes about her weekly visits to the rehabilitation group at the local hospital which includes physiotherapy and social activities. She been to four sessions, with two more left.

“We always start with a morning cup of tea and toast and a good old chinwag,” says Sharon. “There can be up to nine of us in the group and we all get on very well. After the chatting, we go one-by-one for physiotherapy.

“I find the workouts very intensive. There is lots of walking up and down while hanging on to the parallel bars with my good hand. I have to walk backwards as well as forwards, and sideways. Then I have to stop and do bending the knees, which I am actually getting the hang of now even with my bad left leg. I have to wiggle my hips.

“Then I have to walk all around the room with my new quad pod, which is a walking stick with four little feet which makes it very stable on the floor. It doesn't wobble like my crutch does. I do lots of arm exercises as my left arm and hand are of no use after my stroke two years ago. So I have to hold my left hand with my right hand and wiggle it around and lift it up and down above my head. I am not very keen on this because at night I get a terrible ache in my neck and shoulder. It is obviously doing my muscles good but I need plenty of Deep Heat rubbed in before bed time.

“Then I go back to join my group and we play bingo, curling, scrabble, dominoes, word search. Then we have voice therapy with singing. There is nothing wrong with our minds and we can nearly all speak fairly well, it's just our bodies don't always do as they are told. Because I am also blind the therapists photocopy my bingo card to the most ginormous size so I can make out the numbers. I have won once.

“Lunch comes at 12.30 which is always a lovely cooked meal with enormous helpings. There are three courses, soup, main course and pudding. Last week I had shepherd's pie with green beans and fruit yoghurt. I couldn't manage the pea and ham soup. Followed with cup of tea. About an hour later there is a tray of cakes and another cup of tea. Last week I had a treacle scone. Of course, I can't manage to eat anything when I get home so just have something very light at night.

“I must give a ginormous pat on the back to all the lovely staff who are so considerate, helpful, thoughtful and kind, to put up with all of us and our limitations. This needs the patience of saints and they always have a smile and an encouraging cheerful word as we struggle along.

“At the end, when we are having our afternoon tea we play the Oldies CDs that I bring in. We all sing along and have a good laugh at ourselves. Visitors always sing along as well.

“All this might seem very simplistic activity to many people but to those of us who are fighting to get back to normality it is essential to our well-being and recovery. I am so grateful and I always look forward to my Wednesday sessions.”

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