Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scone Spy: Loch Lomond’s House of Darrach is worth the drive

Scone Spy visits House of Darrach, Gartocharn Village (Andrew Cawley)
Scone Spy visits House of Darrach, Gartocharn Village (Andrew Cawley)

It has all these mountain things round it that people seem to like, and water and islands and suchlike, and tumbling skies, purple heather and so on, and so on. You should take a drive up and have a look.

Motoring around gawking has an odd effect, though. It makes you want to stop for a cuppa and a scone. There’s no use fighting this urge, it is human nature that has evolved in us over the years. But where to stop? Scone Spy has the answer.

Go to the village of Gartocharn, on the Old Military Road that heads towards Stirling from the loch. There you will find The House of Darrach. I swear, by the honed blade of my scone-buttering knife, you will not be disappointed.

Being The Scone Spy has good bits. The good bit is that you have to eat a scone. The bad bit is that you have to eat a scone! With no real time for a long stay, ideally I’d have liked time to sample the three-roast carvery that the House of Darrach had on offer during my Sunday visit. The mix of bird, beef and gammon looked absolutely scrumdiddlyumptious. In fact, it was possibly even yumdiddlymunchus!

But scones were the order of the day. We ordered fruit scone with butter and jam, and fruit scone with cream and jam (to ensure we sampled all the main food groups).

The scone-maker, in the scone-making room (known as the sconnery to we experts) obviously recognised a connoisseur must be at one of his tables, so, unasked, sent out one scone with raspberry jam, the other with strawberry.

To the seasoned tastebud, it seemed to be home-made jam. This is worthy, in itself, of a Scone Medal for Valour.

The scone itself was heated, with a lightly-browned exterior and an almost-doughy-but-not-too-doughy middle. Just the way a scone should be.
However, there is another very good reason to visit the House of Darrach.

 

The attached shop is just marvellous. It is big, for a start, but what sets it apart is the stock. Many a scone shop also sells nick-nacks, you see. I have wasted many a banal hour browsing boring bric-a-brac. However, there were a great many things here I’d never encountered before. Clever gift-type things that surprised and delighted. Things you don’t see elsewhere. I actually enjoyed rooting through the brightly-lit shelves and found myself buying a few items.

This certainly isn’t my usual behaviour!

And I must share one further delicate, and although difficult-to-phrase point. It’s the men’s room. The trouble with most toilets is that, frankly, they smell like toilets.
Not so at The House of Darrach. The rest room was a fragrant delight, pristinely clean, well-lit and a joy to visit.

So for a super scone, and more, take a drive to Gartocharn.

Warm welcome 9/10   Location, Location 10/10    Scone score 10/10


 

READ MORE

Scone Spy: Glasgow’s Riverhill Coffee Bar is a little gem

Scone Spy: Dunfermline’s community cafe The Hub is friendly and welcoming