Welcome pack

For many of our guests our welcome pack is a highlight of their stay. Featuring the best of Scottish produce, the bread is still warm from the oven when they arrive, provoking happy exclamations and requests for the recipe. The home made raspberry jam is also a hit; many consider it ‘the best we’ve ever tasted’.

Many Scottish self catering properties offer a welcome pack. However, how many take the trouble to ensure that they offer a taste of Scotland? A local example supplies butter from Gloucestershire, potato crisps from Herefordshire, preserves from Essex, supermarket milk and unbranded hotel toiletries. All good quality, but hardly local, and, if I was a guest, I would be disappointed. Scottish produce is some of the best in the world, as hosts we should be showcasing it and making an effort to support our farmers and growers.

So, what can a guest at Ballat Smithy Cottage expect? Carefully chosen Scottish produce at its best.

The aforementioned bread is the result of many experiments and adjustments, however I can say with some confidence that it’s currently the best it’s ever been. Practice definitely makes perfect, however the game changer has been finding Mungoswells Malt & Milling, an East Lothian farm which grows, harvests and mills its own flour. Regular work nearby means I can collect the flour direct from the farm, keeping the food miles to a minimum. I use the organic option, combining white and wholemeal with a handful of mixed seeds, Aberdeenshire rapeseed oil, British sugar and Blackthorn sea salt and the result is sublime – so much so that I have had to ban myself from eating it because it’s far too good for the waistline!

Once you’ve tasted home made raspberry jam, nothing else comes close in terms of flavour. The annual pilgrimage to Broadslap, in Perthshire’s beautiful Strathearn, yields a tray of the most luscious fruit imaginable. I’m not ashamed to say that there’s an extra punnet to snack on during the drive home! And while Scotland itself isn’t a producer, our support of UK farming continues in the use of sugar made from sugar beet grown in the East of England. British Sugar is a company with a strong commitment to sustainability, a circular economy and regenerative agriculture, which ticks many boxes for me.

Our neighbours are dairy farmers, and while the milk produced by their cows leaves the area for bottling and to be transformed into an award winning butter, it only travels 20 miles to Bridge of Allan based Graham’s Family Dairy Summer guests are often treated to the impressive ritual of silage-making in the fields around the cottage, capturing the goodness of the grass at its best for winter feeding. Our guests also enjoy multicoloured free range eggs from Craigievern Farm, only a few fields away from the cottage.

A little bit more than a few fields away is the tiny Hebridean Isle of Benbecula, looking east to Skye and west to Labrador in Canada – and here is the bakery which produces the best oatcakes we can find. Organic and made without wheat, they’re delicious and the perfect accompaniment to mature cheddar cheese from Galloway, in the far south west of Scotland.

It’s no secret that the Galloway Mature cheese included in the welcome pack is easily found in many supermarkets, so although it’s made from Scottish milk it’s hardly local! However after plenty of tasty research, I rate this cheese as one of the best, in spite of its ubiquitous availability.

Guests are offered a choice between smoked salmon and bacon, and here again the best can be found in supermarkets. Good bacon is hard to come by, but the dry cured version from Simon Howie in Perthshire delivers deliciously. Here’s another Scottish family business committed to supporting Scottish farmers; in addition they’ve just spent almost £4m on installing carbon neutral technology at their factory. To quote from their website: ‘The new system makes the company one of the most sustainable food and drink businesses in the UK, producing high quality food products with no reliance on fossil fuels.’ If I have to go to a supermarket to access Scottish produce with these credentials, so be it.

Currently the jury’s out on which smoked salmon to offer my guests. There are fabulous smoke houses in Ullapool and North Uist, producing the absolute best, however there does come a point where cost has to be considered! So back to the supermarket – the Co-op in this case – and their Scottish Smoked Salmon has been passed for now by the family connoisseurs. Maybe………..

Guests who prefer a vegetarian option may opt for a specialist local cheese. Called Aiket, it’s produced by Dunlop Dairy just south of Glasgow using milk from the farm’s Ayrshire cattle.

Toiletries are another way I can fulfil my aims of providing the best for my guests while supporting Scottish businesses. The Highland Soap Company have supplied us with high quality hand wash, shower gel and shampoo for many years. Ingredients like heather, bog myrtle and juniper ensure an attachment to Scotland’s wild plants, and the company’s visitor centre in Fort William is close enough to be included in a day trip from the cottage.

So come and stay at Ballat Smithy Cottage, and enjoy the best that Scotland has to offer. From the moment you arrive and receive a loaf of warm, home made bread, to setting out to explore local coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants, you’ll find a commitment to quality and enjoyment which is world class.

Our Food & Drink page will help you get started, and before you arrive you’ll receive our digital guidebook, which provides more detailed information about how to find the best places to shop and eat.

Bon appetit!