The Scottish Borders Food Journey

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The Scottish Borders

Food Journey from Selkirk Bannocks to Eyemouth Crab

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A weekend, or a week, in the Borders just isn’t enough. 2011 is the year of Active Scotland and a heaven sent year of events and activity for enthusiastic visitors! Our diverse and beautiful landscape makes the Scottish Borders a fantastic destination to be active! This year Peebles is gearing up to host the Grand Depart of The Tour of Britain on 11th September and the Household Cavalry visit Floors Castle to take part in the massed pipe bands event for the ďŹ rst time!

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Introduction COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

The Scottish Borders Food Journey Part of The Larder series of food and drink publications.

Editor Donald Reid Editorial assistance Gemma Elwin Harris, Claire Ritchie, Jay Thundercliffe Writing and research Fiona Martynoga, Anna Millar, Sandy Neil, Donald Reid Listings Scottish Borders Food Network Design & Production Simon Armin Photography Our Scottish Borders, ourscottishborders.com Colin Tennant Photography, colintennantphotography.co.uk Jannica Honey, jannicahoney.com Cover Jedburgh, © VisitScotland/ Scottish Viewpoint Publisher Robin Hodge Larder director Peter Brown (SFQC) © 2011 The List Ltd. First published 2011.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of The List Ltd.

Published by The List Ltd 14 High Street Edinburgh EH1 1TE Tel: 0131 550 3050 www.list.co.uk Extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, however the publishers can accept no responsibility for any errors it may contain.

he heritage of farming, fishing and food production in the Scottish Borders is interwoven with landscape. It’s a land of rolling, sheep-covered hills, fertile fields in the lower valleys, historic market towns, enthusiastically fished rivers and sheltered harbours on the North Sea coast. As eating not just in Britain but around the world is distanced from the places and people intimately involved in the production of food, the efforts made by local food networks such as that at work in the Scottish Borders are key to ensuring that our food and drink holds onto its distinctive identity.

This food journey is a guide to the food and drink that belongs to the Scottish Borders. It tells of the area’s food culture as well as the many wonderful discoveries to be made. It identifies some of the people behind the developing contemporary food scene and offers inspiration as well as useful practical information on places you can find, buy, eat and enjoy Borders food. Like all the best journeys, it’s one to be savoured.

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Acknowledgments Support for the publication has come from Awards for All, Leader, the Scottish Borders Council and the Scottish Borders Food Network.

We would like to thank Scottish Borders Council, VisitScotland, Scottish Viewpoint and Colin Tennant Photography for their assistance in the project.

the

Larder THE GUIDE TO SCOTLAND’S FOOD AND DRINK

SECOND EDITION

FEEDBACK To correct or update any information contained in this publication, or to provide comments or feedback, contact eat@list.co.uk, or write to the Food & Drink Editor, The List, 14 High St, Edinburgh EH1 1TE The Scottish Borders Food Journey is a Scottish Borders Food Network initiative produced in collaboration with The List and SFQC. The Larder, a guide to Scotland’s food and drink, along with a number of regional food guides, are published by The List and SFQC (thelarder.net).

The Scottish Borders Food Journey 3

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Contents www.list.co.uk

On the Borders food journey There’s a lot packed into these 32 pages. Here are a few of the highlights COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

JANNICA HONEY

Markets

Upland Sheep

Find out about farmers’ markets in and around the Borders. See page 30.

Hill farms populated by sheep are one of the classic sights of the Border hill ranges. See pages 18–19.

JANNICA HONEY

Selkirk Bannocks

Stichill Jerseys

Discover the history of one of the best-known of tea-time treats from the Borders’ towns. See page 9.

Meet Brenda Leddy and her famous Jersey cows. See page 12.

4 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

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Contents

COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Where to Eat

A Journey of Discovery

Some of the cafés, pubs, bistros and restaurants serving local food across the Borders region. From page 26.

Any trip through the beguiling Borders scenery brings you closer to the food produced in it. Travel along one of Scotland’s great rivers, the Tweed, discovering good food at every turn. See page 6.

COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Where to Buy Listings of producers, delis, butchers, bakers, fishmongers, farm shops and food specialists. From page 22.

Ways to Eat Highways, byways, cycle routes and footpaths. Most point the way to some great local food. See page 13–14.

Introduction Features Map Where to Buy Where to Eat Farmers’ Markets etc Index

3 6 16 22 26 30 31

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Tweed Journey www.list.co.uk

A River Runs Through It Borders-based writer Sandy Neil takes a food-lovers journey along the River Tweed

or 100 miles from source to sea, the River Tweed drains the Borders’ 18,000 square miles of landmass, collecting waters from the upland valleys of the Ettrick, Yarrow and Teviot, meandering across the fertile fields of The Merse flood plain, and onwards to the North Sea coast at Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Following the river’s epic journey through landscapes of mountain and flood, as the river and its tributaries carve and drain the Borders’ landmass, is one way to discover the story of the Borderland and its people – no less by the food and drink you encounter en route.

Start at the source, with one thing the

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6 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

Borders does best: beef. Beyond the ridge by Tweed’s Well lies the Devil’s Beef Tub, a cleft in the hills where Border reivers hid their stolen cattle, at a time 500 years ago when the borderland was ‘Britain’s wild west’, and criminal families robbed, raided, kidnapped and murdered in the lawless wilds between two hostile kingdoms, bequeathing us the words ‘bereave’. Where once a Borderer was loyal to family surnames like Scott, Douglas, Elliot, Maxwell, Armstrong and a hundred others, ‘lealty’ now belongs to town, attested each year by the community pride at the common ridings and contest on the rugby pitch.

Today’s Borderers retain the reivers’

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Tweed Journey

taste for beef. Every town, and even the in 1965 by the Twentieth Laird of smallest village, sustains one or more of Traquair, he used the same coach house the Borders’ 30 independent butchers, all and kit as in the 1700s. Every one of competing for custom with pies, Traquair House’s annual 250,000 bottles sausages and haggis, and their beef and of Bear, House and Jacobite Ale is lamb is almost always sourced from local fermented in unlined oak vessels farmers at the weekly market at John between a hundred and two hundred Swan’s in St Boswells. Forsyth’s in years old, imbuing the beers with a Peebles exemplify the traditions of the tannic, woody depth, true to the taste of Border butcher, still beside its own original porters and stouts. Jacobite Ale, bakery, for customers to buy the day’s brewed to commemorate the anniversary fresh meat, and then baked morning rolls, of the 1745 rebellion, is spiced with tarts and cakes next door. coriander using an 18th-century recipe Clooties in Peebles is skilled in the unearthed in Traquair’s archives. ancient Scots art of the steamed clootie The fertile lowlands of Tweedside, dumpling: ‘skelped’ into shape, wrapped Clydesdale and Perthshire’s Carse of in muslin, and infused with spices, Gowrie were Scotland’s orchards, raisins, apples – and Traquair Ale, which growing native species of apple, pear and Peebles chocolatier Ruth Hinks of Cocoa plum. The Stobo Castle, a cooking and Black blends into an array of awardeating apple, originated around 1900 near winning chocolates, sold at their café its namesake on the Upper Tweed, up beside the town’s Cuddy Bridge. Beside river from an early Scots dessert pear, the jars of pear drops, rosy apples, sherbet Green Pear of Yair. Further downstream, lemons, rhubarb and custards, and other the monks of Melrose Abbey began traditional sweeties in The Sugar breeding the White Melrose apple in Mountain on Peebles High Street, the sixteenth century, but not a Ken Rodgie has created a patch on the scale of E H T ‘ striped mint-and-treacle Jedburgh’s twelfth century S I D TWEE SED confection of his own abbey, which cultivated 30 S E L B ILE varieties of Jeddart Pear, invention: the Peebles T R E F WITH UVIAL Peppery. famed in London’s markets ALL LS’ The novelist John Buchan beside the town’s plums, I O S spent happy childhood holidays apples and greengages. Alas in Broughton in Upper Tweeddale, almost all of Jedburgh’s orchards and so chose to become the first Baron have disappeared – even the 400-year-old Tweedsmuir when ennobled. His Queen Mary’s Pear Tree, planted by adventure story Greenmantle inspired the Mary Queen of Scots, blew down in a name of Broughton Brewery’s first beer gale. in 1980, which mixed water from the Apples and pears inspired Talla Reservoir and malt from Simpsons Crookedshaws Farmhouse to create in Berwick. Nine more bottles followed: chicken liver pates of pear and pistachio, The Black Douglas, The Ghillie, Old sage and apple brandy, and apricot and Jock, Exciseman’s 80/-, Merlin’s Ale, roasted pine kernel – winner of the 2009 Scottish Oatmeal Stout, Angel Organic Great Taste Awards. Laprig apple juice, Lager, Border Gold Organic Ale and available at Kelso farmers’ market, Champion Double Ale. Buchan’s hero of captures the tastes of the diverse varieties Sick Heart River, Sir Edward Leithen, is of apple in the Borders. Border Berries at named after a tributary of the Tweed, the Rutherford near Kelso is a third Leithen Water in the town of Innerleithen generation fruit farm owned by Harriet – where we find our next Border ales. and Alistair Busby, growing fields of A brewery has existed at Traquair strawberries, raspberries, red and since Mary Queen of Scot’s visit in 1566, blackcurrants, tayberries and and when the craft brewery was revived gooseberries in season, when families

Above: Traquair House and its traditionally brewed house ale.

Opposite: The Tweed is one of Scotland’s finest fly-fishing rivers.

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Tweed Journey www.list.co.uk

COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Above: Paxton House, one of many grand houses found along the banks of the Tweed.

Below: The Tweed at Mertoun.

can pick their own, and enjoy fresh baking at the Tutti Frutti Café.

Near Abbotsford House on the banks of the Tweed, where Scotland’s great teller of stories Sir Walter Scott lived and wrote his best-selling novels, Overlangshaw Farm in Galashiels churns its own creamy milk and free range farm eggs into luxury ice-cream in seasonal flavours such as baked apple, plum, blackcurrant and cranachan in autumn, and bramble, gooseberry and rhubarb sorbet. This local ice-cream’s perfect partner is surely the Border Meringue from Kelso, of which a million are handmade every year, using organic eggs and sugar.

The Tweed flood plain, known as The Merse, is blessed with fertile alluvial soils for growing wheat, oats and barley, which have sustained Hogarth’s Mill in Kelso for 100 years. In the Cheviot Hills flanking the Tweed to the south, Playfair Farms rear native Cheviot lamb and pedigree Aberdeen Angus and Shorthorn beef, while the Lammermuir Hills to the north are home to Reiver Country Farm Foods’ Blackface ewes and Simmenthal cows. Kezie in Duns is a taste of the Borders at its wildest, selling pheasant, partridge, mallard, woodpigeon, woodcock, venison, rabbit and hare – and indeed of the world at its wildest too, with ostrich, kangaroo, camel and frogs’

8 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

legs on sale from their website.

Fishermen pay thousands to cast a line into Kelso’s Junction Pool, where the Tweed meets the Teviot beside the ruins of Scotland’s old capital, Roxburgh Castle. Nearby, Teviot Smokery smokes salmon, trout, eel, duck and cheese over smouldering oak chips. George Purves and Ian Bruce are the last two salmon net fishermen, or ‘sweep fishers’, left on the Tweed near Berwick, in an industry that employed 700 men in 1953 when George started, and gave the ancient Berwickshire village of ‘Fishwick’ its name meaning ‘fish trading place’.

Seventy-three-year-old George is the third generation of Purves to fish at the Paxton station, from a family that’s been fishing since the 1700s. Either side of the nine weeks from the 1st July they’re permitted to net salmon by law, George and Ian catch sea trout and sell it to fishmongers DR Collin in Eyemouth.

Both the salmon and sea trout caught by George and Ian’s traditional boats and nets – and muscle power – is also smoked and sold at Paxton House, one of Britain’s finest Palladian mansions on the banks of the Tweed, designed by architect John Adam and recently restored as a heritage trust and museum to its full Georgian splendour. And at Berwick, the Tweed meets the sea, which is an entirely different kettle of fish.

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Border Bannocks

Border Bannocks

The bannock wasn’t always just a tea-time treat, as Fiona J. Houston explains From a flatbread that was an everyday staple, the traditional Border bannock changed its character over the years. The rich cakes that bear the name ‘bannock’ owe little to their ancestry but their round shape.

When Burns talked of southern Scotland as ‘land o’ cakes’ he wasn’t referring to anything sweet. The ‘cakes’ of our ancestors were oatcakes, still very familiar, and barley bannocks, which are not. Wheat bread, although aspired to, was very uncommon.

Ordinary households did not have ovens and baked on an iron girdle hung over the fire right into the 19th century. This replaced a bakestone placed on the embers, which had been the method of making bread since prehistoric times. Wheat was seldom grown in the Borders until late in the 18th century, as oats and barley were more reliable crops.

It’s a shame barley bannocks have disappeared, as they are delicious. Try the ‘old method’ for cooking them, given by F. Marian McNeill in The Scot’s Kitchen. It relies on heating up milk with a knob of butter and some salt, and adding the barley meal (flour) when it is hot. This swells the meal and makes a pliable dough. If you don’t have a girdle, the bannock can be cooked on a heavy frying pan (without oil). It should be crisp on the outside and

just slightly moist within. Eat it hot. William and Dorothy Wordsworth, travelling through the Borders in 1803, disliked thick barley bannocks. But when they tried them hot, thin and crispy, they pronounced them excellent. Think of bannocks as a Scottish version of a chapatti, but made entirely with local ingredients and much more tasty.

As for the descendants of the bannock, the Selkirk bannock is rightly acclaimed. It was first baked around 1859 in Hawick, by Robbie Douglas, who then sold them in Selkirk. Selkirk bakers soon latched on to the recipe, which followed in the tradition of embellishing the plain bannock with sugar, spices, dried fruit and yeast for festive occasions. The ‘cryin’ bannock, for instance, was mixed with cream and dried fruit to celebrate the birth of a baby. After Queen Victoria ate Selkirk bannock at Abbotsford in 1867, demand for these succulent, sultana-stuffed fruit breads soared.

That’s why we still have them today, whether made

by Alex Dalgetty & Sons of Gala, who claim a link with the original baker, or by many other craft bakers in the Borders. The Yetholm bannock is a recipe to try at home. You can find it on the internet and will be surprised at how much butter and syrup, eggs, almonds and ginger it demands.

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Cradle of Scots Cooking www.list.co.uk

A Cradle of Scots Cooking The Borders’ culinary heritage is well documented thanks to the writings of early Scottish cookbook authors, says food historian Fiona J. Houston he Scottish Borders may not have In this last reference to everyday food, been the only cradle of the Scot’s Scott captures the essence of Borders fare cuisine but they did play a role in at his time. He may be disparaging about establishing the canon of Scots cookery. it, but it was a wholesome diet. Lang-kail Elizabeth Cleland’s New and Easy is the barley-based soup flavoured with Method of Cookery of 1755 was one of kail. Brose in this context means the the first cookery books published in quick form of porridge, made by pouring Scotland. She was an Edinburgh lady hot water on to oatmeal and adding a who set up a cookery school for the knob of butter, and mashlum bannocks daughters of the gentry. Her recipes and are girdle-cooked flatbreads, made with a techniques reflect the middle class mixture of meals. Barley, oats, and interests of the time. There is a Borders peasemeal were the most commonly connection. Reproduced by Paxton used.

House to celebrate the refurbishment of Because of Scott’s popularity, the Meg their 18th-century kitchen, the book is Dod’s Manual rollicked through editions there for us all. It would otherwise have during the 19th century. She included a remained obscure, since only a very few section of sixty Scots National Dishes, copies had survived. from haggis to a creation by the French A second book with a Borders link is chefs of the Duke of Buccleuch in honour the Cook and Housewife’s Manual of of another Scott character, this time from 1826 by Mistress Margaret Dods. She Guy Mannering. It was a rich game stew was a fiction, the landlady of the Cleikum containing ‘fowls, hare, partridge, and Inn in Sir Walter Scott’s St Ronan’s Well. moorgame, boiled in a large mess with The actual author was Mrs Christine potatoes, onions and leeks’. Its name was Johnstone, the wife of Scott’s publisher.

‘Potage à la Meg Merrilies’.

Scott himself had a hand in it, as Later writers have commented that can be seen in the opening many of the dishes in the Meg conversation. At the inn, the Dods Manual, and a very large T T O ‘SC ES ‘Cleikum Nabob’ discourses number of those in Elizabeth R U T P CA SENCE Cleland’s book, have French over dinner about cooking S E through three ages. He starts THE DERS origins. This was attributed to OF BORRE’ with the rude methods of the Scotland’s connections with FA hunter, continues with the France through the Auld Alliance. pastoral phase with its ‘simple, Now we see it differently. They come mild broths, seasoned perhaps wit the from France via Hannah Glasse (a lady herbs of the field, decoctions of pulse, from Northumberland as it happens). Her barley cake, and the kid seethed in milk’, book preceded Elizabeth Cleland’s by and ends with the ‘Age of Gastronomy’. some eight years and clearly had an This, the Nabob declares, was interrupted influence on her. As the Paxton House by the Reformation, which set culinary edition’s editor, Peter Brears, points out, matters back ‘three centuries’. He fifty of her recipes are taken directly from concludes, ‘Episcopy: roast beef and Hannah Glasse and so reflect what the plum pudding – and what is left to the English middle classes were eating at the Presbytery but its lang-kail, its brose and time. He then rather dismisses the mashlum bannocks’.

Scottishness of the rest of her work,

COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

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Above: The facsimile edition of Elizabeth Cleland’s 18th-century cook book, an original copy of which is kept at Paxton House near Berwick.

Opposite: salmon net fishing at Paxton station, one of the few remaining examples of this practice in Scotland.

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Cradle of Scots Cooking

saying, in effect, that most of the basic rustic dishes were common to both England and Scotland.

This is unfair. Peasant dishes that draw on similar raw materials may have similar methods of dealing with them.

Elizabeth Cleland’s recipes for broth, fish, and her large number for venison, have the ring of authenticity. They reflect the availability of foodstuffs in Scotland.

So do many of the Meg Dod recipes. She speaks of ‘The land of kail’ because kail was indeed the most commonly grown vegetable. Through the voice of the Nabob again, the Borders are honoured for their fare. Of Melrose he says, ‘You English Gentlemen never saw the Greygudewife pear…The Abbot’s haugh yonder – the richest carse land and fattest beeves in the country. Their very names

are genial and smack of milk and honey!’ We may have lost the Greygudewife but the Jeddart pear survives, the White Melrose apple, and our local tatties, the Yetholm gypsy, all of them good fare.

Perhaps the most significant debt that we owe ‘Meg Dod’ is that she inspired F. Marian McNeil in 1929 to write her evergreen book The Scot’s Kitchen. The nucleus of Marian’s book she declares to be from her predecessor. But hers is no simple compilation. She visited all parts of Scotland, from the Outer Isles to the Borders, watching and taking recipes from traditional folk. Through her we can still find out how to cook authentic Borders recipes from Scott’s despised mashlum bannocks to the wonderfully named Rumbledethumps.

Fiona J. Houston recently lived as an eighteenth century woman in the Borders for a year, an extraordinary experience recorded in The Garden Cottage Diaries (Saraband, 2010, saraband.net, £16.95)

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Stichill Jerseys www.list.co.uk

Cream of the crop Brenda Leddy is a tour de force in the Scottish Borders food scene. Anna Millar spoke to her about cows, cheese and clotted cream

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12 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

can’t imagine doing anything else.’

Although she’s considered opening a farm shop and is developing online business, you get the feeling both are a long way from fruition: ‘We’re too busy as we are and people find us anyway.’

Today she can stand alongside fellow dairy producers, such as Standhill Farmhouse Cheeses and the Orchard Farm Dairy, as culinary forces.

She’s clearly very proud. ‘I can’t bear supermarkets and no wonder. I get my pork from Purely Pork in Berwick, I love Puddledub Buffalo and get my lamb from a place outside Gourock, which rears them on heather. I can get everything from the markets, and I think more people are following suit. People want good quality produce and they want to know where it came from – we can give them that.’

■ Find Brenda Leddy’s produce in Dobbies outlets in Braehead, Livingston, Aberdeen, Dunfermline, Milngavie, Stirling and Edinburgh. Also look for stalls at farmers’ markets including Kelso and Edinburgh.

JANNICA HONEY

t takes quite a woman to take one Jersey cow and make it into an awardwinning transatlantic enterprise, but then Kelso’s Brenda Leddy, of Stichill Jerseys, is not just any woman. A recent runner-up in BBC Radio 4’s Food and Farming Awards, those familiar with the Borders food scene will be little surprised by her success.

Since she stepped onto the scene almost four decades ago, Leddy’s cheese, lemon curd, panacotta and cheesecakes have become staples in Dobbies across Scotland, as well as various farmers’ markets. Let’s not forget her clotted cream, of which she is the only maker in Scotland.

Having started her business with just one Jersey cow, she now has over 100, with just a small team of herself, her daughter and two part-timers keeping things ticking over. ‘I know what we produce and I know that it’s good. We only produce things with no additives, only a little sugar or salt, and that’s what it’s all about. But it’s still nice when others take notice.’ A stalwart of the Borders scene, the Yorkshire-born Leddy believes that people are more ready than ever for fresh, local produce.

‘If we had a motto, it would be: one quality cow, great quality produce.’ A regular competitor at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, she likes to keep her hand in every stage of the process. ‘I have a degree in agricultural and dairying, and I’ve always enjoyed every part of it,’ a fact that explains how far her enterprise has come. Her cheesecakes fly off the shelves and her cheese has made it as far as America, since a Boston importer visiting Scotland was wooed by her wares. ‘It was a crazy time at first,’ laughs Leddy. ‘I was making cream at night and cheese in the morning. But I

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Ways to Eat

Ways to eat Discover the Borders landscape and the food it offers on two feet, two wheels and four hooves, with Sandy Neil as your guide COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

eology is the key to undercommunity-owned Fisherman’s Arms standing the diverse terrain and pub in Birgham, or at The Wheatsheaf the food it produces, so let’s restaurant in Swinton. begin our adventure with the Borders’ The rugged Southern Upland Way story in stone. The Borders rose from the binds 212 miles of fell, law, loch, knowe Iapetus Ocean floor 4.5 million years ago and moor between Scotland’s east and as the American and European tectonic west coasts from Portpatrick to plates carrying Scotland and Cockburnspath. Half-way, on a England pushed together, forging strip of land separating St the now extinct volcanoes of Mary’s Loch and the Loch o’ E S ‘PAU R the triple-peaked Eildons, the Lowes in the Yarrow U O Y N I E Minto Hill and Rubers Law, Valley, sits Tibbie Shiels Inn G A M I R PILG A PUB and folding layers of mud where you can rest with a FOR CH’ into the sedimentary rocks of pint of Broughton Brewery’s LUN the Southern Uplands. seasonal Tibbie Shiels cask The varied topography makes ale. Broughton also brews the Borders ideal for walking and Pennine Way Bitter to fortify walkers watching wildlife, from nesting osprey to at the start – or reward them at the end – leaping salmon. Walkers can hike the of the Pennine Way at the Border Hotel in Eildon, Cheviot and Lammermuir Hills, Kirk Yetholm at the foot of the Cheviot yet also roam beaches and coves on the Hills.

East Berwickshire Coastal Path, halting Passing by Yetholm’s thatched mid-way by Eyemouth harbour to enjoy cottages, the 60-mile St Cuthbert’s Way homemade ice-cream and fresh fish and tracks the patron saint of Northumbria’s chips from Mackay’s or Giacopazzi’s life and progress from Holy Island to below Oblo seafood restaurant. Venture Melrose Abbey, where the circular 68inland a bit for local surf and turf at the mile walking and cycling route the

G

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Ways to Eat www.list.co.uk

Above: the Borders’ varied topography offers ideal territory for walking, hiking, riding and exploring.

Below: on the Tweed Cycleway in Peebles.

Borders Abbey Way links the Borders’ four historic abbeys in Kelso, Jedburgh, Dryburgh and Melrose. Pause in your pilgrimage for a pub lunch at Burt’s Hotel in Melrose, or at the Cobbles Inn in Kelso, where you can sample crafts beers such as porter, spiced with chipotle and cocoa beans, from the town’s Tempest Brewery. By Dryburgh, travellers can contemplate books over soup, sandwiches and cakes at Main Street Trading Co. Bookshop & Café in St Boswells, and at the Old Melrose Tearoom & Bookshop lying in a loop of the Tweed below Scott’s View.

Road cyclists can discover the Borders’ ranging countryside at their own pace on the quiet lanes of the Tweed Cycleway beginning 650 ft above sea level at Biggar and finishing on the coast at Berwick 90 miles later, while mountain bikers tear up the tracks of 7stanes Glentress Forest near Peebles, and swap tales of the trails over ‘hub grub’ at The Hub In The Forest Café.

The Southern Borders Loop offers recreational cyclists two 50 and 75 mile routes travelling through the quintessential Reiver country from Newcastleton to Hawick, where they tie into the 250-mile Borderloop, linking Tweedsmuir in the west to Eyemouth in the east via most Border towns and villages. In Hawick, the convivial café and bookshop Damascus Drum on Silver Street serves Turkish coffee and mezze.

Horse-riders can canter through the woodland trails of Scotland’s Horse Country, and join the marches of history

behind a charging standard bearer in 11 towns’ ‘common ridings’. These traditions trace back hundred of years to when the Borders was the frontier between two warring kingdoms, subject only to the lawless terror of the Border reivers.

Townspeople rode the boundaries, or ‘marches’, of their common lands to protect them, and the ridings continue today long after they ceased to be essential.

Reivers sustained their cattle-thieving raids on oats and ewe’s milk cheese called ‘whitemeat’ tenderised under their saddles, but those riding the Border countryside on horseback today can devour classic scotch, steak, macaroni and lasagne pies from any local butcher, and try the creative pie fillings from Millers of Melrose.

Picnickers can pick their own strawberries, raspberries, red and blackcurrants, tayberries and gooseberries at Border Berries at Rutherford Farm near Kelso, and pick up home-grown provisions at Reiver Farm Shop near Eyemouth, Thisselcockrigg Farm Shop near Duns, and Whitmuir Organic Farm Shop near Peebles. Stock your hampers too from the Borders’ many delis: Fish n’ Fine Foods in Duns, The Selkirk Deli, Pharlanne in Kelso, The Country Kitchen in Melrose, Deli Beans in Peebles, Turnbulls in Hawick and The Spotty Dog in Lauder.

■ Maps showing many paths and routes

mentioned are freely downloadable at visitscottishborders.com COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

14 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

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Eyemouth

An eye to the sea Beyond a horizon of Borders’ fields and farms lies the North Sea, with Eyemouth on the Berwickshire coast still clinging to centuries of fishing heritage. Sandy Neil paid a visit COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

here’s a part of the Borders that’s seafaring, with a direct link to the fish of the North Sea. Catches from Eyemouth’s last dozen boats are packed in ice or landed live on the harbour by 6am, and on the fishmonger’s counter by opening time at 9am in Kelso, Duns, Melrose, Gala and Hawick.

Unless farmed, sea fish are a wild food: you must enjoy what the boats catch, when tempests allow. When choosing fish, the trick is an open mind, and knowing how to use what’s best on the day. Scotland has more wonders in its waters than haddock – such as lemon sole, hake, plaice, gurnard, mackerel, herring, sea bass, monkfish, whiting, turbot and cod – and more in its kitchens than batter and breadcrumbs. If there’s little variety on display, the problem isn’t lack of supply but lack of demand. So ask the fishmonger, and Eyemouth’s boats will bring it in if they can.

Shellfish such as lobster, crab and langoustine are landed live, with 90 per cent exported within hours across the world. Some head for the kitchens of Michelin-starred restaurants in London, Paris, New York and Japan. ‘Everyone should be eating lobster,’ argues Stewart Aitchison of Eyemouth fishmonger DR Collin about the sweetest meat you’ll ever eat. ‘When there’s an abundance in August and September they’re at their cheapest: £6 per lobster.’

T

DR Collin and Waddells smoke salmon, herring, sea trout, haddock and mackerel in their own blackened backyard smokehouses. Smouldering on the cobbled floors lie piles of dense oak chips mixed with light, aerating pine sweepings from a local wood turner.

Eyemouth, like most of Scotland’s ports, was built on herring, and on smuggling too: overlooking the old harbour sits Gunsgreen, an elegant Georgian house designed to cheat the authorities, with cellars leading direct to the sea. But ruthless over-fishing in the 1950s and 1960s reduced the North Sea’s ‘inexhaustable’ stocks by half. Seventy per cent of Scotland’s fleet was laid off or gave up. It warned of a now familiar story: dwindling stocks chased by fewer and fewer boats with increasingly sophisticated equipment.

For all but a dozen of Eyemouth’s once 80-strong fishing fleet, government quotas and the renewed awareness of sustainability have come too late. ‘We’ve been Eyemouth fishermen all our lives,’ says Bonaventure captain Bryan Blackie. ‘We’ve all been through the good times and bad, but this is the perfect storm.’

Eyemouth’s future is uncertain but the 13th-century port’s fishermen are not gone – yet. There’s still hope that we can help save them, and their dependent fishmongers, by enjoying their fish for tea.

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0 Contains Ordnance Survey data. Š Cr

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The Scottish Borders 0

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Š Crown copyright and database right 2011.

20 Miles

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Borders Lamb www.list.co.uk

Uplanders Sheep were the making of the Borders economy, and today sheep outnumber Borderers eleven to one. Sandy Neil investigates the life of the ‘Lammermuir lion’ from heft to ashet heep have been grazing on Border hills since at least the 12th century, yielding wool, milk and meat – mostly eaten as braxy when the animal died by disease, old age or accident. While in the Highlands sheep were farmed for subsistence, in the Lowlands sheep were an industry.

Founded by David I, the abbeys of Melrose, Kelso, Dryburgh and Jedburgh built up some of the biggest sheep farms in Europe, exporting via the river Tweed and Berwick port to Flanders, France and Italy. The demand for wool and skins set the agricultural pattern in the Borders: arable in the valleys, sheep on the hills.

Powered by the soft, fast-flowing

S Above: the Lammermuir Hills, one of a number of ranges of upland sheep country in the Scottish Borders region.

Below: hill-grazing sheep and a Border collie – a classic combination born of the Southern Uplands.

18 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

waters of the Teviot, Ettrick, Gala, Jed and Tweed, great Border mills washed, spun and wove the wool, or woo, to send into the world on the Waverley railway line.

But now the direction of travel has reversed: Border mills import softer fleeces from Asia and Australasia, and local shepherds, whose wage once came from the ‘wool-cut’, rear sheep to sell as breeding stock and meat.

Lamb is at its best arising from landscapes where life is by no means easy: think of mountain breeds such as Rough Fell, Welsh Mountain and Cumbrian Herdwick. The pure white Cheviot is a native sheep bred as hardy as its shepherds, and dotting the Southern

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Borders Lamb

COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Upland valleys of Megget, Tweedsmuir, Teviotdale, Ettrick, Yarrow, Liddesdale and Eskdalemuir, the horned Scottish Blackface, or ‘Blackie’, is the epitome of the mountain sheep. Tough, intelligent, and with a keen sense of survival sheltering in stone circle stells, and a clear knowledge of home on the hill, called a heft.

In the solitude and silence of the hills, the ‘Ettrick Shepherd’ James Hogg (1770–1835), author of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, wrote poetry watching his flocks. ‘At evening fall, in lonesome dale, he kept strange converse with the gale; held worldly pomp in high derision, and wandered in a world of vision,’ reads Hogg’s statue overlooking the Loch o’ the Lowes and Tibbie Shiels’ Inn, the pub where he and Sir Walter Scott swapped Border tales, perhaps wearing the ‘shepherd’s plaid’ trews of white and black check as portraits of both men depict. While much in a shepherd’s way of life has modernised, the Border collie, crook and seasons are as constant as in Hogg’s day.

> BORDERS LAMB The majority of spring lambs are born from March to May, and thrive in the summer while suckling from their mothers and grazing on the high pasture. Come late summer, autumn and early winter, the lamb is at its sweetest prime, perfect for roasting and serving pink. Grass or forage fed lamb has a more intense flavour than grain-fed. A lamb in its second spring and summer (one-year-old plus) becomes a hogg or hogget, and from the third onwards, its meat is known as mutton. This was once common fare in Scotland but its popularity has waned. The days of sheep’s heid broth followed by ‘boyled’ or ‘rost’ joints of mutton on the laird’s table are gone – for now.

Typical lamb cuts in a Borders butcher’s counter are as follows: Leg or gigot: roast fast and serve pink or bake slow for flesh falling off the bone.

Loin: the lamb equivalent to a sirloin of beef. An excellent roasting cut whole, with ribs

still in and the fat untrimmed. The eyes of loin chops (single vertebrae) make miniature fillet steaks called noisettes: the most delicate cut, perfect flashfried.

Knuckle or shank: rich in gelatinous sinew, this rewards long, slow cooking, with wine, stock and herbs.

Chump: where leg meets loin, the ovine equivalent of a rump of beef, making a nice little roasting joint on or off the bone.

Rack of lamb: the first eight ribs, very fine roasted whole or trimmed of fat and backbone (or ‘chine’) and sliced into cutlets.

Flank: the belly or breast, which although fatty, can be rolled up around a dry stuffing (for example, breadcrumbs, garlic and herbs) to make an economical, slow pot-roast.

Shoulder: another cheap roasting cut. Boned, rolled and stuffed with herbs, this has plenty of fat to baste the meat from within.

Neck and ‘scrag’: neck muscles are constantly working, so the meat is tough and a little sparse but no less tasty. Filleted neck makes good stewing meat.

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New Foods www.list.co.uk

New food from old land Borders food writer Fiona J. Houston discovers that innovative approaches to traditional farms and crops are lighting up the local food scene he old woods and hedges of Peelham Farm shelter fields that have been brought back to life.

After decades of exploitation under an earlier owner’s intensive arable regime, Denise and Chris Walton, and their business partner Amanda Cayley have invested money and love in restoring productive grassland on their mixed farm near Eyemouth. Now red clover does the work of bought-in nitrates to feed the soil, and their Scottish Luing cattle, Tamworth pigs and Lleyn sheep thrive on grass, home-grown barley and beans. It’s an elegant, sustainable, organic system that won the Future Farming Award 2009-10.

Their products are superb. Try their Salami Italienne: subtly flavoured with

T Top: Chris, Denise and Angus Walton of Peelham Farm.

Above: Willow Walker and her sea buckthorn juice.

20 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

whole fennel, aniseed and caraway, it is sensational. You could not taste better in Italy. And indeed, Italy and France are where Denise and Chris learnt their methods of preparing, drying and curing their charcuterie. Try too their free-range ‘ruby’ veal. The calves lead happy lives outside with their own mothers and the rest of the herd. They are slaughtered when still young enough to have the most tender and delicious meat. If it’s years since you ate veal because you didn’t like the idea, here is your opportunity to rediscover a forgotten but succulent experience.

At the other extreme of the Borders, at nearly 1,000 feet in the hills above West Linton, is another farming miracle. At Whitmuir a rough stock farm has been

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New Foods revolutionised by Pete Ritchie and juice throughout the year, have made it Heather Anderson. Like Peelham, they difficult for him to use the local crop. He run an organic regime, growing a uses English orchard apples whenever he surprising range of vegetables alongside can get them, favouring Braeburn, Pink their pigs, cattle and poultry. To taste Lady, Granny Smith and sometimes their fine products you have only to go to Bramley. The tastes are exhilarating, the their café. Then you can visit their shop, latter enjoying a sharp tang that makes it and find out about the Community an excellent medium in which to cook Supported Agriculture scheme that helps pork or venison. keep the farm running.

Of all the innovators, Willow Walker is It’s interesting that innovation and the most novel. She has turned to a wild organic farming seem to go hand in hand. shrub, the bright orange-berried sea Over Langshaw Farmhouse, run by the buckthorn, to produce a concentrated Bergius family, is another farming juice that is delicious, and unique in its enterprise with great ideas to add value to line-up of nutrients. Chief among them their delicious milk and eggs. They went are carotenoids, which are powerful organic ten years ago and now have fine, antioxidants. Vitamins (or pro-vitamins) clover-enriched grassland that supports A, C, E, K1 and D, and a remarkable well-loved cows. These lead far more combination of useful fatty acids comfortable lives than their sisters in complete the health-promoting qualities mainstream dairy regimes, alongside freeof sea buckthorn. Its oil sells for $25 an range hens that are equally happy. The rich ounce in the US. In Russia it is gathered and creamy milk combines with the from the wild or cultivated to make the organic eggs to make marvellous icesame type of bright orange extract that cream. Available in a range of flavours, Willow produces. She sells her wee many of which use locally sourced fruits bottles for just £5. It’s a bit more in (although exotic names like Madagascan Edinburgh wholefood shops. Each 250ml vanilla, banana and Baileys, and Amaretto bottle will provide you with a daily with macaroons figure alongside spoonful for over a month: an ideal tonic raspberry, and bramble sorbet). but also a novel fruity taste.

You can buy the ice-cream from the Willow came to her product, which is farm, restaurants and farmers’ markets. entirely new to Scotland, through her Look out for Beatrix, the interest in permaculture and forest traditional ice-cream bike, at gardening. This speaks of the local shows. The newest ROUGAHRM natural productivity of ‘A addition to their farm is a woodland, where plants thrive F STOCSKBEEN 50kw wind turbine, called at ground, herb, shrub and A H OLUWinifred. She should be able REV ISED’ canopy level. She turned to to run all the electricity that the hedgerows as relics of this TION farm needs and still export a natural system and has identified little to the grid. There is something potential food at all levels. From the endearing in the naming of these aids to foot of hedges she can harvest garlic good food production that speaks well of mustard, fat hen, Good King Henry, wild the farmers themselves. garlic and nettles. Higher up there are No article on innovation in Borders brambles and rose hips, above them food should go without a mention of sloes and hazelnuts. So far sea buckthorn Cuddybridge Apple Juice, based at is the only product Willow is marketing Kailzie Gardens near Peebles. Graham through her company Wild and Scottish Stoddart was inspired to start his smallbut watch out for her at events from scale, specialist apple pressing and agricultural shows to Borders Organic bottling enterprise after becoming aware Gardeners’ Potato Day, the annual of the Borders’ once-prolific orchards. fixture at Kelso on the first Saturday in Sadly, food hygiene regulations, and the March. She may have more good things need to produce a consistent supply of on offer soon.

Lucy Bergius of Cool As ice-cream, made from the milk of cows at Over Langshaw Farm near Galashiels.

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Where to Buy www.list.co.uk

COCOA BLACK

1 Cuddy Bridge, Peebles, EH45 8HX, 01721 721662, cocoablack.co.uk Mon–Fri 10am–5pm; Sat 9.30am–5.30pm; Sun 11am–4.30pm

By her own admission, Ruth Hinks has the best job in the world. ‘I get to mess about with chocolate all day,’ she says. ‘Can you think of anything better?’

Her enthusiasm comes in handy at her Chocolate and Pastry School in Peebles. Behind the child-like joy there’s a solid 20 years in the industry: a former Australian Pastry Chef of the Year and Culinary Olympics winner, Ruth’s no stranger to Michelinstarred kitchens. The school attracts all levels from kids and keen home cooks to professionals. Cocoa Black also sell their luxury, hand-made chocolates by post and recently opened a shop in Peebles selling chocolates, coffee, patisserie and ice-cream.

WHERE TO BUY The following listings of shops and producers are supplied by the Scottish Borders Local Food Network, indicating members of the network as of summer 2011.

Feature entries highlighted on panels on each page are independently researched and compiled.

Entries are listed alphabetically within the following geographical areas: West Borders: Peebles, Innerleithen and the Upper Tweeddale area Central West: Galashiels, Melrose, Selkirk, Hawick and surrounding areas Central East: Kelso, Jedburgh and surrounding areas East & Coast: around Duns, Eyemouth and Berwickshire

WEST BORDERS ■ Forsyths of Peebles Beef, Lamb & Other Meat; Bread, Cakes & Chocolate 21–25 Eastgate, Peebles, EH45 8AD, 01721 720833, forsyths.biz

A fifth-generation family butchers, local beef, lamb and pork is sourced from farms within the Scottish Borders. In keeping with a long family tradition their beef is matured for at least 21 days. They also have a good supply of local seasonal game such as venison, pheasant and rabbit. The bakery bakes its own bread, rolls and cakes fresh on the premises each day, together with a large selection of hand-made cakes, traybakes and celebration cakes. All products are manufactured on the premises to their own recipes.

■ Traquair House & Brewery Whisky, Beer & Other Drinks Traquair House, Innerleithen, EH44 6PW 01896 830323, traquair.co.uk

Authentic traditional Scottish Ales brewed in the ancient brew house of Scotland’s oldest inhabited house,

22 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

Traquair House Ales are made from malted barley, hops, yeast and pure spring water. They are the only British brewery to continue to ferment ales in unlined oak vessels which impart a unique flavour and the products are distributed through independent retailers in the UK and worldwide.

■ Whitmuir – The Organic Place Delis & General Food Shops; Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Whitmuir Farm, Lamancha, EH46 7BB 01968 661908, whitmuirtheorganicplace.co.uk

Described as a place where food and farming meet, visitors can take a farm walk to admire the pigs, sheep, cows, chickens and turkeys and hear the vegetables growing. Enjoy freshly cooked food from the farm in their licensed restaurant, visit the Dancing Light Gallery and stock up with some great meat and groceries from their extensively stocked farm shop. Home deliveries to farm supporters. Open Mon–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat/Sun 10am–5pm. See also feature entry on p. 26.

CENTRAL WEST ■ BC Consultants Food-Related Services Scottish Borders Campus, Nether Road, Galashiels, TD1 3HF 01896 662571, bcconsultants.ac.uk

BC Consultants, part of the Commercial and Community Development Unit of Borders College, offer a wide range of specialized food training and skills development to meet the needs of individual businesses by developing innovative and creative training solutions.

■ Cool as . . .

Cheese & Dairy Over Langshaw Farm, Galashiels, TD1 2PE 01896 860244, overlangshawfarm.co.uk

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Where to Buy

The Bergius family make luxury icecreams and sorbets from the farm’s own fresh milk, cream and eggs. The delicious sorbets are made using juicy seasonal, Scottish fruit.

■ Lindsay Grieve Family Butchers Beef, Lamb & Other Meat 29 High Street, Hawick, TD9 9BW 01450 372109, www.angus.co.uk/haggis

Grieve’s renowned haggis is prepared by hand to a family recipe. They only use traditional ingredients including Border mutton, wholesome oatmeal and a special blend of seasonings.

■ DG Henry & Co Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Oakwoodmill Farm, Oakwood Mill, Selkirk 01750 23202

Giles supplies tasty free range-eggs, organic beef and lamb and sometimes has free-range chicken available for sale.

■ Liddesdale Selection Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Boghall, Kirndean Farm, Newcastleton, Roxburghshire, TD9 0SG 01387 376210, liddesdaleselection.co.uk

Liddesdale Selection supply delicious, hill-farmed Shorthorn beef, mutton and lamb, free-range chicken and Gloucester Old Spot pork all slowly grown on the high pasture of the Liddesdale Valley near Newcastleton.

Selecting breeds which thrive in their upland environment and using only natural, GM-free feeds, Liddesdale also rear chicken under the protective cover of young forestry trees. All the meats are butchered on farm. Find Liddesdale Selection at farmers’ markets in the Borders and Northern England.

■ The Spotty Dog Delis & General Food Shops 3a East High Street, Lauder, TD2 6SS

01578 722095, thespottydog.co.uk

The Spotty Dog is an exciting new store dedicated to supplying a fantastic range of local, artisan and organic produce alongside continental specialities. They also serve freshly ground coffee, a selection of teas, hot chocolate, filled rolls and home-baked cakes.

Complementing this is an organic box scheme and home delivery service.

Open Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pm.

■ Standhill Farmhouse Cheeses Cheese & Dairy Standhill Cheesery, Standhill Farm, Minto, by Hawick, TD9 8SF 01835 870225, standhillcheesery.co.uk

Jim and Annie Shanks produce delectable mould-ripened cheese on their farm at Standhill. At the 2009 Highland Show, they won ‘Best Speciality Cheese produced in Scotland’ with the delicious Roxburgh Roondie.

■ TFC Food Services Food-Related Services Greenhouse Farm, Lilliesleaf, Melrose, TD6 9EP 01835 870250, tfcfoodservices.com

Promotes local produce and all aspects of food tourism including produce demonstrations, product and event development, cookery books, recipe and trade presentations. The company also offers culinary, customer service and food hygiene training, as well as food product assessment.

■ Turnbull’s Deli & Whisky Delis & General Food Shops; Whisky, Beer & Other Drinks 4 Oliver Place, Hawick, TD9 9BG 01450 372020, turnbullshop.com

An award-winning family run delicatessen and coffee house. One of the oldest businesses in the town, they were first established in 1855. Best known for their famous whisky, Turnbull’s is the only surviving Borders whisky. Generally regarded as the

CUDDYBRIDGE APPLE JUICE

The Courtyard, Kailzie Gardens, B7062 east of Peebles, EH45 9HT 07522 424596, cuddybridgeapplejuice .co.uk Open for informal tastings most afternoons, or when staff are around.

All Graham Stoddart’s apples are hand-picked and hand-pressed into two versions of the juice: sweet or sharp depending on the apples available. From its beginnings in a small room in Innerleithen, the client list has burgeoned since bottling began in 2009 with local delis, cafés and restaurants in and around the Borders remaining loyal throughout, while topname Edinburgh restaurants and shops including Harvey Nichols have joined the demand. Stoddart puts his success down to the purity of the juice: ‘That’s its saving grace – there are no additives whatsoever, no sugar, no water, just pure unadulterated natural apple juice.’ And sweet – or occasionally sharp – it is too.

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BORDER BERRIES

benchmark for fine food and drink in the area, they specialise in locally produced fine food and drink showcasing the best of what the region has to offer.

■ Crookedshaws Farmhouse Pâtés

CENTRAL EAST

Delicious chicken liver pâté and terrines freshly made by hand using traditional recipes and wholesome ingredients, all gluten free. Awarded gold in the Great Taste awards 2009 for their Apricot and Roasted Pine Kernels pâté, they now make a mouth-watering relish to accompany the range.

■ Border Berries Rutherford Farm, A699 west of Kelso, TD5 8NP 07801 069819, borderberries.co.uk Mon–Fri 10am–7pm (July to mid August)

A third-generation fruit farm owned by Harriet and Alistair Busby, growing fields of strawberries, raspberries, red and blackcurrants, tayberries and gooseberries in season, when families can pick their own, and enjoy fresh baking at the Tutti Frutti Café. ‘The Scottish soft fruit industry is a great success story,’ says Alistair. ‘A strawberry is never sweeter than just picked, and we sell all our fruit locally now.’ Harriet adds: ‘Pick-you-own is thriving in the area.

Borderers are a berry picking people – they make jam whatever the weather.’ It all makes for a fun day out: ‘It’s healthy eating, and not expensive,’ she adds.

‘Kids all go home with something.’

Fruit & Veg Rutherford Farm, near Kelso, TD5 8NP 01835 823763, www.borderberries.co.uk

Raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries, for wholesale or pick your own. As well as the Tutti Frutti Café they also provide toilet facilities and a picnic area. Border Berries is open for six weeks from 1 July each year. See also feature entry, left.

■ Borders Brewery Whisky, Beer & Other Drinks Chesters Estate, Jedburgh, TD8 6UL 07802 416 494, chestersestate.com

At the Scottish Borders Brewery, handcrafted ales are created using their own barley grown in the fields surrounding the brewery. This plough-to-pint ethos is unique to Scotland, and delivers not just great taste but also true local provenance and traceability. On top of that, an extremely accessible range of ABVs means that the beers will always appeal to the broadest possible target audience. See also feature entry on p.25.

■ Border Meringues Bread, Cakes & Chocolate Morebattle Mains Farmhouse, Kelso, TD5 8QU 01573 440787, www.bordermeringues.co.uk

Border Meringues are so popular that over one million are made each year.

The meringues are sweet on the outside but full of organic ingredients including organic eggs and sugar. They are also fat-free and gluten-free. A new range of desserts including delicious cheesecakes is now available from the company, which also has an outlet in Jedburgh.

24 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Kelso, Roxburghshire, TD5 8PS 01573 420626, crookedshawsfarmhousepate.co.uk

■ The Juicy Meat Company Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Kincraig Farm, Hume, Kelso, TD5 7TS 01573 470638, thejuicymeatco.co.uk

Based near Kelso with mobile facilities, and professional staff to host a function inside or out, the company is renowned for its spit roast carvery and accompanying buffets. The spit roasts offer a memorable sight and aroma, with flexibility and complete peace of mind when booking offered as their trademark standard.

■ Playfair Farms Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Morebattle Tofts, Kelso, Roxburghshire, TD5 8AD 01573 440364, playfairfarms.com

Naturally reared beef, pork and lamb from a farm in the Cheviot Hills are all available in boxed form. Each box contains a variety of cuts and is butchered and prepared locally.

■ Stichill Jerseys Cheese & Dairy Garden Cottage Farm, Stichill, Kelso, Roxburghshire, TD5 7TJ 01573 470263

Stichill Jerseys are managed by a mother and daughter team who make top quality cheese, butter, cream, quiches, lemon curd, Yorkshire curd tarts and panacotta and cheesecakes by traditional methods. Stichill Jerseys are the only makers of clotted cream in Scotland. See feature on p.12.

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EAST & COAST

■ Peelham Farm Produce

■ Border Eggs

Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Foulden, Berwickshire, TD15 1UG 01890 781328, www.peelham.co.uk

Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Hutton Hall Barns, Hutton, Berwickupon-Tweed, TD15 1TT 01890 818286, bordereggs.co.uk

Healthy, great-tasting organic eggs produced by a small flock of hens who roam around a glorious grass field and are fed on organically produced cereals. They enjoy a happy, carefree life being entertained with Radio 2 and footballs to boot. The company also now supplies free-range eggs.

■ RG Foremans Ltd Beef, Lamb & Other Meat 8 Castle Street, Norham-on-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 2LQ 01289 382260, borderbutcher.co.uk

Traditional butchers, game dealers, wine merchants and cheese specialists.

■ Hoardweel Farm Partnership Beef, Lamb & Other Meat Duns, Berwickshire, TD11 3RY 01361 882844

Hoardweel breed and rear beef cattle, sheep and Berkshire pigs organically and are Soil Association certified. All the meat produced is hung for a minimum of 23 days for the best of flavours.

■ Laprig Fruit Fruit & Veg Hardacres, Greenlaw, TD10 6UW 07778 364415

Laprig are truly dedicated producers of pure, single-variety apple juice, the flavours ranging from dry to sweet depending on the variety of apple used. You can buy Apple & Rhubarb and sometimes more exotic flavours such as apple & chilli. Laprig’s refreshing and delicious products can be found at Edinburgh and Haddington farmers’ markets as well as throughout the Borders or you can contact them direct

Peelham produce free-range rare-breed pork, field-raised ruby veal, lamb and mutton, charcuterie and sausages from their organic farm and on-farm organically certified butchery. Peelham are BBC2 Countryfile Local Food Heroes, Quality Food Award nominees and Winners of the Future Farmer Award for being Scotland’s ‘Sustainable Best’.

■ Thisselcockrig Fruit & Veg Whitsome, Duns, TD11 3NB 07790 713125

Thisselcockrig is a traditional market and garden specialising in seasonal Scottish produce. Some of this produce is sold at farmers markets and the rest is used by Muriel to make a wide range of jams and chutneys. We have a small farm shop serving the local community and visitors - real food from the field to plate.

■ Tweed Valley Organics Fruit & Veg The Old Jail House, Greenlaw, Berwickshire, TD10 6XX 01361 810503, www.tweedvalleyorganics.co.uk.

Tweed Valley Organics specialise in growing organic herbs and salads. They also run a veg box scheme and deliver other local produce throughout the Scottish Borders and north Northumberland.

SCOTTISH BORDERS BREWERY

Lanton Mill, Chesters Estate, Ancrum, near Jedburgh, TD8 6UL

The Scottish Borders Brewery is Scotland’s only plough-to-pint microbrewery, creating cask ales using malting barley home-grown on owner John Henderson’s farm and water from the land’s own artesian spring.

The brewery’s two current cask ales, the 4% Game Bird amber ale and 3.8% classic pale ale, Foxy Blonde, are currently found in around 100 bars in the Borders and Edinburgh. To keep food miles to a minimum, the brewery at present only delivers casks to pubs within a 75-mile radius. John filled his first cask in February 2011, yet already he is confident of the future: ‘Our ability to claim true local provenance in conjunction with great tasting products is helping us gain a rapid foothold in the real ale market.’

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WHITMUIR – THE ORGANIC PLACE

Whitmuir Farm, Lamancha, West Linton, EH46 7BB 01968 661908, whitmuirorganics.co.uk Mon–Fri 10am–6pm; Sat/Sun 10am–5pm

Pete Ritchie and Heather Anderson’s mixed farm northwest of Peebles now has one of Scotland’s best-stocked organic farm shops with over 30 seasonal homegrown vegetables alongside herbs, fruit and farm-reared beef, pork, lamb, chicken and turkey. Their food hall has over 250 lines from cotton baby clothes to cosmetics. Alongside is a café-restaurant with a menu rich in farm-produced ingredients with an impressive range of daily specials; open daily, they also run an evening menu once a month. ‘We want to change the way people think about food,’ explains Anderson. And they are succeeding too: Whitmuir won the Best Organic Retailer at the UK Natural and Organic Awards 2011.

WHERE TO EAT The following listings of restaurants, cafés, hotels and guest houses are supplied by the Scottish Borders Local Food Network, indicating members of the network as of summer 2011.

Feature entries highlighted on panels on each page are independently researched and compiled.

Entries are listed alphabetically within the following geographical areas: West Borders: Peebles, Innerleithen and the Upper Tweeddale area Central West: Galashiels, Melrose, Selkirk, Hawick and surrounding areas Central East: Kelso, Jedburgh and surrounding areas East & Coast: around Duns, Eyemouth and Berwickshire

WEST BORDERS ■ Caddon View 14 Pirn Road, Innerleithen, EH44 6HH 01896 830208, caddonview.co.uk

Enjoy a relaxing break in this beautifully decorated four-star licensed country house with restaurant featuring local produce.

Winner of ‘Guest House of the Year’ at the 2009 Scottish Hotel Awards.

■ The Horseshoe Inn & Lodge Eddleston, Peebles, EH45 8QP 01721 730225, horseshoeinn.co.uk

Whether it’s a fine-dining experience in their award-winning restaurant, a meal in the informal bistro or an overnight stay in one of eight individually decorated, luxuriously appointed bedrooms, a warm welcome awaits you at the Horseshoe.

techniques he has mastered working with some of Britain’s greatest chefs.

Osso has recently been successfully reviewed and highly regarded by Richard Bath of the Scotland on Sunday and Joanna Blythman of the Sunday Herald and is included as one of the top ten restaurants in its class in Scotland in the 2010 edition of Scotland the Best by Peter Irvine.

■ The Sunflower Restaurant 4 Bridgegate, Peebles, EH45 8RZ 01721 722420, thesunflower.net

Val and Andrew Brunton are passionate about food, quality and service and are dedicated to providing food of the highest possible quality, using the very finest local ingredients whenever possible. Winner of the BBC Vegetarian award.

■ Whitmuir – The Organic Place Whitmuir Farm, Lamancha, EH46 7BB 01968 661908, whitmuirtheorganicplace.co.uk

Enjoy freshly cooked food from the farm in their licensed restaurant, open Mon–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat/Sun 10am–5pm. See also entry in Where to Buy, and feature entry, left.

CENTRAL WEST ■ Bowhill House & Country Estate Bowhill, Selkirk, TD7 5ET 01750 22204, bowhill.org

■ Osso Restaurant

Bowhill Estate has plenty to offer visitors of all ages for a great day out, including an exciting woodland adventure playground, ranger-led wildlife walks, a cosy 72-seat theatre and renowned tea room. Bowhill is a seasonal visitor attraction – check opening times before visiting.

Innerleithen Road, Peebles, EH45 8AB 01721 724477, ossorestaurant.com

■ Buccleuch Arms Hotel

A contemporary café and restaurant providing a comfortable venue where everyone is made to feel welcome. Chef Ally McGrath specialises in a unique marriage of seasonal local food with the

26 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

The Green, St Boswells, TD6 0EW 01835 822243, buccleucharmshotel.co.uk

This cosy yet stylish hotel is centrally situated in the Borders and is justifiably

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Where to Eat

■ Burt’s Hotel Market Square, Melrose, TD6 9PN 01896 822285, burtshotel.co.uk

Whether you’re visiting the Scottish Borders for a short break or on business, you won’t find better accommodation or a warmer welcome than Burt’s Hotel.

With dishes made from the finest local top quality ingredients, it’s no wonder Burt’s have been awarded two AA Rosettes every year since 1995.

■ Flat Cat Gallery and Coffee Shop 2 Market Place, Lauder, TD2 6RS 01578 722808, flatcatgallery.co.uk

Established in 1998, the gallery presents exhibitions of contemporary art, ceramics, sculptures and jewellery, including selected furniture from the workshop of Tim Stead. Its popular coffee shop offers tasty soup, filling baguettes, excellent refreshments and cakes. Open Mon–Sat 9.30am–5pm, Sun 10am–5pm.

■ Hazelknowe Restaurant and Bar Woll Golf Course, New Woll Estate, Ashkirk, Selkirk, TD7 4PE 01750 32799, wollgolf.co.uk

The Hazelknowe Restaurant and Bar on Woll Golf Course are open to everyone, serving food daily including bacon rolls and home-made scones in the morning, as well as lunches and dinner in the evening.

■ Hoebridge Inn

■ The Lodge at Carfraemill Carfraemill, Lauder, TD2 6RA 01578 750750, carfraemill.co.uk

Situated four miles north of Lauder at the junction of the A68 and A697, Carfraemill is an award-winning, family-run hotel, serving delicious locally sourced food in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The Plantation Bistro Bar, Jo’s Kitchen, featuring its own ruby-red Aga, and The Conservatory are open for meals all day every day from 7am to 9pm. Families are very welcome, and the inn has ten individually designed bedrooms and extensive function and conferencing facilities. See also feature entry on p. 29.

■ The Mainstreet Trading Company Main Street, St Boswells, Roxburghshire, TD6 0AT 01835 824087, mainstreetbooks.co.uk

Passionate about books, coffee and the pleasure of shopping for beautiful things, Mainstreet pride themselves on the quality of their coffee which is 100% Arabica fairtrade organic beans from Costa Rica, Peru & Ethiopia. Tea is by a variety of suppliers including Hampstead, Equal Exchange (organic fair trade) and Clipper, while the food is kept simple using the best quality local produce. Soup (usually a choice of two) is made daily in their kitchens along with the ingredients of their sandwiches, most of which are cooked from scratch (including pesto, hummus, honey roast ham and cucumber relish). Cakes are made in-house or concocted by Julia Bruce, a very talented local cook. The business won Scottish Independent Bookshop of the Year 2011 in The Bookseller Industry Awards 2011 among other recent awards.

■ Marmions Brasserie

Gattonside, Melrose, TD6 9LZ 01896 823082, thehoebridgeinn.com

5 Buccleuch Street, Melrose, TD6 9LB 01896 822245, marmionsbrasserie.co.uk

An award-winning family owned and run restaurant with a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. They take pride in selecting the best of local ingredients for use on their menu.

Marmions Brasserie in Melrose is a relaxed place to eat, drink and unwind whatever your day has been like. The restaurant is renowned for its fresh local produce and innovative menus.

HARDIESMILL COLIN TENNANT PHOTOGRAPHY

proud of its policy of using locally sourced produce. This resulted in the Buccleuch being named winner of the Scottish Hotels ‘Real Food Award’ for 2009 as well as winning Scottish Inn of the Year 2009.

Gordon, TD3 6LQ 01573 410797, hardiesmill.co.uk Mon–Sun 8.30am–4.30pm

Robin and Allison Tuke’s 482-acre farm near Kelso is home to a herd of pure-bred Aberdeen Angus cattle. Their beef has been served on the Orient Express and in No.10 Downing Street, and exhibited at the Bocuse d’Or 2011: the ‘culinary Olympics’ in Lyon. Using seam cutting, their butchery produces the largest range of steaks in Scotland – including onglet, feather, flat-iron and carbonade. Chefs, farmers and foodies from across Britain come to their ‘10 Steak Experience’, a farm tour, demo and tasting. Hardiesmill beef, as well as products from their Tombuie Smokehouse including a new speciality, wafer-thin ‘wisps’ of smoked lamb, can be purchased online or a small shop on the farm, as well as at farmers’ markets.

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Where to Eat www.list.co.uk

WINDLESTRAW LODGE

Tweed Valley, Walkerburn, EH43 6AA 01896 870636, windlestraw.co.uk Food served: Mon–Sun 6.30pm–8.30pm

Alan and Julie Reid’s secluded country house hotel by the banks of the Tweed near Innerleithen has six guest bedrooms and a dining room that makes more effort than most to show off the produce of the surrounding region, with fish from Eyemouth, organic rose veal from Peelham Farm and garden rhubarb. The fixed-price evening menu includes homemade ravioli, woodpigeon, guinea fowl and local roe deer, which is served with pearl barley, mushroom and red wine risotto.

■ Philipburn Country House Hotel Linglie Road, Selkirk, TD7 5LS 01750 20747, bwphilipburnhousehotel.co.uk

in the Which? Good Food Guide and has been a Scottish Restaurant Awards nominee 2010 and UKTV Local Food Hero nominee.

With 12 individually styled rooms and self catering lodges set in four acres of beautiful gardens and woodland, the Best Western Philipburn Country House Hotel offers a charming and relaxing venue for any occasion. The Philipburn Bistro is open daily for lunch and dinner serving classic bistro food while the 1745 Restaurant features fine dining menus using quality local produce seven evenings a week.

■ Gill Orde in Catering

■ The Townhouse Hotel

■ Oscars Wine Bar and Bistro

Market Square, Melrose, TD6 9PQ 01896 822645, thetownhousemelrose.co.uk

A sense of style, colour and a pleasing ambience characterise every aspect of the hotel. Good food, in lovely surroundings, along with friendly Scottish hospitality makes this a unique setting for guests to enjoy.

■ The Whitehouse Whitehouse, St Boswells, TD6 0ED 01573 460343, whitehousecountryhouse.com

Whitehouse is a country house with spectacular views over the beautiful Tweed Valley and is a relaxing haven with welcoming hosts, real log fires and delicious home baking. For the dinner menu they use their own wild fish and game along with the best local meat suppliers.

CENTRAL EAST ■ The Caddy Mann Restaurant Mounthooly, Jedburgh, TD8 6TJ 01835 850787, caddymann.com

Ross Horrocks produces an ever-changing menu which focuses on the best local and seasonal ingredients the Borders has to offer, cooked with skill and expertise. A Borders Best Taste Award Winner for 12 consecutive years, the restaurant is listed 28 The Scottish Borders Food Journey

The Stables, Pinnaclehill, Srouston Road, Kelso, TD5 8ES 01573 224808, gillordeincatering.co.uk

Gill Orde in Catering is a dedicated outside catering business. Gill provides a professional and fully integrated service to organize all types of function including weddings, corporate dinners, special birthdays, cocktail parties, funerals and deep freeze orders.

35-37 Horsemarket, Kelso, TD5 7HE 01573 224008, oscars-kelso.co.uk

Oscars’ award-winning chef uses the finest locally sourced ingredients to create a feast for all tastes. A daily changing specials board complements the regular menu with local Border lamb featuring alongside fresh seafood caught along the Scottish Borders coastline.

■ The Spread Eagle 20 High Street, Jedburgh, TD8 6AG 01835 862870, spreadeaglejedburgh.co.uk

A restaurant using the best local ingredients in simple, freshly prepared dishes. Everyone should find something to enjoy, with the menu varying according to availability and season. Meat is sourced for the restaurant by Allan Learmonth and can be traced to individual Borders farms.

■ Woodside Plant Centre & Café Near Ancrum, Jedburgh, TD8 6TU 01835 830315, woodsidegarden.co.uk

A friendly plant centre specialising in ‘grow your own’ products, their charming café offers freshly made soups and homebaked cakes using local produce where possible. Their working kitchen garden supplies the café with seasonal fruit, salads and vegetables.

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Where to Eat

EAST & COAST ■ Allanton Inn Main Street, Allanton, Duns, TD11 3JZ 01890 818260, allantoninn.co.uk

A welcoming and tranquil country coaching inn providing every modern comfort and affording meticulous service.

Locally sourced produce features on the award-winning restaurant menu.

■ Churches Hotel and Seafood Restaurant Albert Road, Eyemouth, TD14 5DB 01890 750401, churcheshotel.co.uk

An award-winning restaurant and hotel which overlooks Eyemouth harbour, the hotel has six rooms all furnished to the highest quality while the Seafood Restaurant specialises in the freshest of produce which is landed daily in Eyemouth Harbour.

■ Giacopazzi’s 20 Harbour Road, Eyemouth, TD14 5HU 01890 750317, oblobar.com

Giacopazzi’s is a fish & chip restaurant, takeaway and ice-cream parlour situated on the harbour front of Eyemouth. A family friendly business, it’s also famous for its home-made pizzas and multi-award winning selection of icecreams and sorbets.

■ Kirkbank House Paxton, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 1TE 01289 386534, Kirkbankhouse.co.uk

John and Lena Tomnay welcome you to Kirkbank House, a new boutique B&B in the Scottish Borders offering serene contemporary interiors inspired by their travels in Asia, spectacular views over the Cheviot Hills and a tranquil garden.

Dinner is provided and local produce used.

■ Oblò’s Bar 18-20 Harbour Road, Eyemouth, TD14 5HW 01890 752527, oblobar.com

Oblò is an award winning style bar and bistro demonstrating excellent use of

fresh, local produce sourced in the Scottish Borders and surrounding area. It’s open all day for drinks, coffee and cakes as well as serving breakfast, lunch, bar food and dinner.

THE LODGE AT CARFRAEMILL

■ Paxton House Paxton, near Berwick upon Tweed, TD15 1SZ 01289 386291, paxtonhouse.com

A beautiful 18th-century mansion with beautiful gardens and grounds on the banks of the River Tweed. Visitors can purchase the exquisite Paxton House Smoked Wild Salmon, caught by net fishermen at the river below the house in an ancient tradition which stretches back thousands of years. It is smoked locally by the Berwick Salmon Company Ltd. Visitors can also enjoy delicious afternoon teas, cooked breakfasts and Sunday lunches in their atmospheric Stables Tearoom. Open daily April to October 10am–5pm.

Carfraemill, Lauder, TD2 6RA 01578 750750, carfraemill.co.uk Food served: Sun–Thu 7am–9pm; Fri/Sat 7am–10pm

Run by Jim and Jo Sutherland – a farmer and former home economics teacher – the restaurant and hotel prides itself on showcasing local produce. Their butcher attends the market in St Boswells every week, while their fish comes from Eyemouth. Farm cheeses and veg arrive from a slew of local suppliers, while lamb from their own farm completes the picture. Jim became famous in the late 1990s for his backing of beef on the bone following the BSE crisis, publicly flouting the ban and calling for people to make their own choice. Says Jo of their enterprise: ‘I think there’s a great momentum right now for Borders produce: it’s nice to be part of that.’

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Farmers’ Markets www.list.co.uk

Farmers’ Markets in the Scottish Borders PEEBLES Eastgate car park, second Sat of each month, 9.30am—1.30pm

HAWICK Town Centre, third Fri of each month, 9am—2pm

KELSO Market Square, fourth Sat of each month, 9.30am—1.30pm

Borders producers can also be found at the farmers’ markets in Kelso Farmers’ Market

EDINBURGH Castle Terrace, every Sat, 9am—2pm

HADDINGTON Court Street, last Sat of each month, 9am—1pm

BERWICK-UPON-TWEED Henry Travers Studio, Maltings Art Centre, last Sat of each month, 10am—1.30pm

Scottish Borders Food Network This is an exciting time for us as a regional food network. The opportunity we have created both to grow our businesses and our region’s foodtourism through the development of the network and initiatives such as The Scottish Borders Food Journey is a testament not just to our sensational produce and stunning landscapes, but also to our dedicated regional food producers and hospitality providers.

We have come a long way in the last five years as a constituted organisation founded by food and farming businesses with the aim of developing and showcasing the region's food both at home and beyond; and we are still growing!

If you are a visitor, come to the Borders and sample for yourself the wonderful landscape and food experiences described in this booklet. If you are a Borderer — just immerse yourself even more in what you have around you. If you are a regional food producer or growing business think about joining us.

bordersfoodnetwork.co.uk • info@bordersfoodnetwork.co.uk

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Index

Index abbeys 14 Abbotsford House 8, 9 ales 7, 14, 25 Allanton Inn 29 apples 7, 11, 21 bannocks 9, 10 barley 8, 9, 10 BC Consultants 22 beef 7, 27, 29 beef on the bone 29 beer 7, 14, 25 berries 7, 24 Birgham 13 Border Berries 7, 11, 24 Border Eggs 25 Border Meringues 8, 24 Borderloop 14 Borders Brewery 24 Bowhill House & Country Estate 26 Broughton 7 Broughton Brewery 7, 13 Buccleuch Arms Hotel 26 Buchan, John 7 Burns, Robert 9 Burt’s Hotel 14, 27 Caddon View 26 Caddy Mann Restaurant 28 cheese 12 Cheviot Hills 8 Cheviot sheep 8, 18–19 chocolate 22 Churches Hotel and Seafood Restaurant 29 Cleland, Elizabeth 10 Clooties 7 coastal path 13 Cobbles Inn 14 Cocoa Black 7, 22 common ridings 14 Cool as . . .

22 Country Kitchen 14 crab 15 cream 12 Crookedshaws Farmhouse 7, 24 Cuddybridge Apple Juice 21, 23 cycling 14 Dalgetty & Sons, Alex 9 Damascus Drum 14 Deli Beans 14 Dods, ‘Meg’ 10 DR Collin 8, 15 East Berwickshire Coastal Path 13 Eyemouth 8, 13, 14, 15 Farmers’ Markets 7, 30 Fish n’ Fine Foods 14 Fisherman’s Amrs 13 fishing 8, 15 Fishwick 8 Flat Cat Gallery and Coffee Shop 27

Foremans, RG Ltd 25 Forsyth’s of Peebles 7, 22 game 8 Giacopazzi’s 13, 29 Gill Orde in Catering 28 Glasse, Hannah 10 Glentress Forest 14 Grieve, Lindsay Family Butchers 23 Hardiesmill 27 Hawick 14 Hazelknowe Restaurant and Bar 27 Henry, DG & Co 23 hiking 13–14 Hoardweel Farm Partnership 25 Hoebridge Inn 27 Hogarth’s Mill 8 Hogg, James 19 horse-riding 14 Horseshoe Inn & Lodge 26 Hub in the Forest, The 14 ice-cream 8, 21 Innerleithen 7 Jedburgh Abbey 7 Jeddart pear 11 Juicy Meat Company 24 kail 11 Kailzie Gardens 21 Kezie 8 Kirk Yetholm 13 Kirkbank House 29 lamb 18–19 Lammermuir Hills 8 Laprig Fruit 7, 25 Leddy, Brenda 12 Leithen Water 7 Liddesdale Selection 23 lobster 15 Loch o’ the Lowes 13 Lodge, The at Carfraemill 27, 29 Mackay’s 13 Main Street Trading Co. 14, 27 Marmions Brasserie 27 McNeill, F. Marian 9, 11 Melrose Abbey 7, 13 milk 12 Millers of Melrose 14 mountain biking 14 New and Easy Method of Cookery 10 oats 8 Oblo’s Bar 13, 29 Old Melrose Tearoom 14 Orchard Farm Dairy 12 Oscars Wine Bar and Bistro 28 Osso Restaurant 26 Overlangshaw Farm 8, 21, 22 Paxton House 8, 10, 29 pears 7, 11 Peebles 14 Peebles Peppery 7 Peelham Farm 20, 25 Pennine Way 13 Pharlanne 14

Philipburn Country House Hotel 28 picnics 14 Playfair Farms 8, 24 potatoes 11 Reid, Alan 28 Reiver Country Farm Foods 8, 14 reivers 14 St Boswell’s 14 St Cuthbert’s Way 13 St Mary’s Loch 13 salami 20 salmon 8 Scot’s Kitchen, The 9 Scott, Sir Walter 8, 10, 19 Scottish Borders Brewery 24, 25 Scottish Borders Food Network 30 sea buckthorn 21 Selkirk bannock 9 Selkirk Deli 14 sheep 18–19 shellfish 15 Simpsons of Berwick 7 Southern Borders Loop 14 Southern Upland Way 13 Spotty Dog, The 14, 23 Spread Eagle, The 28 Standhill Farmhouse Cheeses 12, 23 Stichill Jerseys 12, 24 Sugar Mountain, The 7 Sunflower Restaurant 26 Swan, John 7 Swinton 13 Tempest Brewery 14 Teviot river 8 TFC Food Services 23 Thisselcockrigg Farm Shop 14, 25 Tibbie Shiels Inn 13, 19 Tombuie Smokehouse 27 Townhouse Hotel, The 28 Traquair House & Brewery 7, 22 Turnbull’s Deli & Whisky 14, 23 Tweed Cycleway 14 Tweed river 6–8 Tweed Valley Organics 25 Tweedale 7 Tweedsmuir 14 veal 20 Victoria, Queen 9 Waddells 15 Walker, Willow 21 walking 13–14 wheat 8 Wheatsheaf, The 13 Whitehouse, The 28 Whitmuir – The Organic Place 14, 20, 22, 26 wildlife 13 Windlestraw Lodge 28 Woodside Plant Centre & Café 28 Yarrow Valley 13 Yetholm bannock 9 Yetholm gypsy 11 The Scottish Borders Food Journey 31

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The Scottish Borders

Food Journey from Selkirk Bannocks to Eyemouth Crab

This guide to the food and drink of the Scottish Borders takes a journey through some of Scotland’s most attractive landscapes. Featuring specially commissioned articles written by leading food writers based in the Borders, it links together the region’s food heritage with its thriving contemporary food scene. It includes: ■ the stories behind the people and products who create the unique flavours of the Scottish Borders ■ food and drink ideas connected to footpaths, walks, cycleways and other trips around the region ■ listings of local producers, shops, farm stalls, cafés and restaurants