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Turning the Cheese
Jun. 4th, 2019 10:25 pmAt the weekend, the forecast for today was not good. In fact, it was calm and sunny, so would have been an excellent day for the trip to Staffa.
Just outside Tobermory is a farm where they make the award-winning local cheese, so that was where we headed this morning. I turned too soon, so went the long war round, via Dervaig. As is common on Mull, the road was single track and, at one of the passing places, the oncoming driver and passengers waved at us. It was our B&B breakfast friends – again.
Although we’d passed through Dervaig yesterday, we had not noticed the rather unusual church at the road junction. Painted white, it had a relatively thin, circular bell tower. In true local fashion, it was fairly plain inside, but rather nice. I was rather intrigued by some of the plaques and stained-glass windows which included memorial messages. 100 years ago, husbands and wives were mentioned, but had different surnames. I had heard that the ‘tradition’ of changing surnames on marriage was not common practice here, but one plaque particularly interested me. Catherine Chalmers and Patrick Chalmers Mackenzie. The practice of adding a spouse’s surname to your own is not uncommon these days, but it almost always is done by the wives. Never the husbands.
Isle of Mull Cheese. Their farm overlooks the channel north of the island and is perfectly located for the huge picture window of their cafe. So, morning coffee was ordered and we sat and drank overlooking the sea while listening to the singing of the birds. Interestingly, given that I’m currently in the middle of trying to line the ceiling of our conservatory, the roof of the cafe was also glazed, but smothered by the leaves of a 25 year old vine, so keeping the temperature manageable.
The farm offered a self-guided tour. This was rather over-sold, if you ask me, as it was simply a map taking you to windows onto the factory and explanation panels. That said, it was informative and not that expensive. We went into the ageing cellar for their cheddar cheese and fell into conversation with one of the staff. He told us about gasses escaping the cheese and how it would bubble the top layer of cloth unless the cheese was regularly turned over. He said their blue cheese had to be stored separately, or it would spoil the cheddar. Also, he said that while cheddar ages nicely in a cellar, the blue cheese needs to be chilled, or the wrong bacteria/mould would grow. Is this true? Seems plausible.
We then drove out along the same road which ended at Glengorm Castle, one of those typical Scottish manorial piles no doubt gained by nefarious means. However, it was undoubtedly lovely. We didn’t go in, but took walk out to the coast in the hope of seeing some wildlife. We’ve still not seen an otter, despite the fact Mull claims to have the largest concentration of the animals in Scotland. True to form, we didn’t wee one today either. However, the walk was lovely and we found a pleasant spot, sheltered from the wind, in which to eat our lunch and watch what I think was a buzzard floating stationary on the rising breeze while scanning the ground for its own lunch. The castle information called the spot the Bathing Pool, but the map calls it Dùn Ara Castle, even though it looks entirely natural.
Then, back into Tobermory for some more bread and cheese for tomorrow’s lunch and a rather delicious local ice-cream.
https://www.facebook.com/mark.kuramotoheadey/media_set?set=a.10213288360221620&type=3
Just outside Tobermory is a farm where they make the award-winning local cheese, so that was where we headed this morning. I turned too soon, so went the long war round, via Dervaig. As is common on Mull, the road was single track and, at one of the passing places, the oncoming driver and passengers waved at us. It was our B&B breakfast friends – again.
Although we’d passed through Dervaig yesterday, we had not noticed the rather unusual church at the road junction. Painted white, it had a relatively thin, circular bell tower. In true local fashion, it was fairly plain inside, but rather nice. I was rather intrigued by some of the plaques and stained-glass windows which included memorial messages. 100 years ago, husbands and wives were mentioned, but had different surnames. I had heard that the ‘tradition’ of changing surnames on marriage was not common practice here, but one plaque particularly interested me. Catherine Chalmers and Patrick Chalmers Mackenzie. The practice of adding a spouse’s surname to your own is not uncommon these days, but it almost always is done by the wives. Never the husbands.
Isle of Mull Cheese. Their farm overlooks the channel north of the island and is perfectly located for the huge picture window of their cafe. So, morning coffee was ordered and we sat and drank overlooking the sea while listening to the singing of the birds. Interestingly, given that I’m currently in the middle of trying to line the ceiling of our conservatory, the roof of the cafe was also glazed, but smothered by the leaves of a 25 year old vine, so keeping the temperature manageable.
The farm offered a self-guided tour. This was rather over-sold, if you ask me, as it was simply a map taking you to windows onto the factory and explanation panels. That said, it was informative and not that expensive. We went into the ageing cellar for their cheddar cheese and fell into conversation with one of the staff. He told us about gasses escaping the cheese and how it would bubble the top layer of cloth unless the cheese was regularly turned over. He said their blue cheese had to be stored separately, or it would spoil the cheddar. Also, he said that while cheddar ages nicely in a cellar, the blue cheese needs to be chilled, or the wrong bacteria/mould would grow. Is this true? Seems plausible.
We then drove out along the same road which ended at Glengorm Castle, one of those typical Scottish manorial piles no doubt gained by nefarious means. However, it was undoubtedly lovely. We didn’t go in, but took walk out to the coast in the hope of seeing some wildlife. We’ve still not seen an otter, despite the fact Mull claims to have the largest concentration of the animals in Scotland. True to form, we didn’t wee one today either. However, the walk was lovely and we found a pleasant spot, sheltered from the wind, in which to eat our lunch and watch what I think was a buzzard floating stationary on the rising breeze while scanning the ground for its own lunch. The castle information called the spot the Bathing Pool, but the map calls it Dùn Ara Castle, even though it looks entirely natural.
Then, back into Tobermory for some more bread and cheese for tomorrow’s lunch and a rather delicious local ice-cream.
https://www.facebook.com/mark.kuramotoheadey/media_set?set=a.10213288360221620&type=3
