Lazy Thursday afternoons

Weather: Overcast and/or raining. 9 deg C
Activity: Mountain bike: total 12.31km, 305ft ascent. Tea and Scones: one pot breakfast tea & one warmed fruit scone.
Today's Tune: Mostly various Röyksopp.
Comment: Three thousand and thirty two....four hundred...Four hundred? Yeah... I'll be right over...


Thursdays come round with alarming regularity nowadays. I know that's like stating the obvious but as each year passes and gets progressively shorter, the weeks seemed to have turned into nano seconds and today, I found myself thinking 'but we only went for coffee yesterday!' to be reminded that actually Jo, that was this time last week.

Holy shit..

This week, we decided to break with routine and head across town (that's not in a New Yawk across town kind of way as Banchory is only a mile across - max) to the recently built cafe/restaurant at the Woodend Barn. The 'Barn' as cool people call it, is a community-based arts venue situated on the outskirts of Banchory and surrounded by the beautiful scenery of Royal Deeside. An extremely versatile building, incorporating the Lang Byre Gallery, originally the cow byre, now an exhibition & workshop space, and a much larger space, originally the hay Barn, which can be used for anything from theatre, concerts or ceilidhs to fabulous wedding parties. The Barn is run by Woodend Arts Association. Bands play there, there are puppet workshops, poetry readings, theatre groups...that sort of thing and it recently underwent a fairly dramatic transformation with the addition of a large restaurant and upgrades to the rest of the facilities.

Woodend Barns brand new restaurant and coffee shop
 
The Buchanans, as the restaurant is named, is run by Val and Calum Buchanan who have their own catering company Buchanan Food. In keeping with the whole Scandinavian'ish look of the building, the interior is very subdued. Very muted. Sackcloth blinds against huge pine framed windows which look out over the Dee valley to the hills and mountains beyond*, biscuit coloured sofas and easy chairs nestle in between mushroom coloured shelving units and communal tables. The floor is wooden, the tables are wooden, the chairs are wooden. Its all so chilled.. The conversation is bubbling but hushed and people in baggy jumpers wander around picking up books and leaflets and the tables mix and match occupants as everyone seems to know everyone else.

We take a sofa facing away from the rest of the restaurant, a sofa with a view to die for. After a few minutes we manage to catch the eye of one of the staff and he comes over to serve us. We'd like a menu please (there are none around) and he returns with a A4 photocopied sheet of blurb and a tatty menu. The blurb is basically an apology for well...pretty much everything. I get the feeling they opened earlier than expected or in a bit of a rush and have printed this off as an antidote to some previous harsh comments. It also begs us not to to frighten the new members of staff with technical coffee requests (?) and if we are to criticise, then please do so positively as 'we are sensitive souls'. It finishes with 'hugs'...

 

Some of the artwork on display

The menu is very appealing. Everything possible is seasonal and at least Scottish, if not local. The Buchanans, who cater for the very best of Deeside, are advocates of the Slow Food movement - which is great to see. But we're here for tea and a scone - the menu doesn't list different types of tea or coffee or the cakes -  laying uncovered between the Hells Kitchen-esque portal into the kitchen and the diners/customers (tsk tsk Health & Hygiene) - and when we asked, the lady didn't seem to know what was available other than Earl Grey, Breakfast or A N Other.

Still, the [pots of] tea (breakfast and Earl Grey) were hot, made with proper tea leaves and large. The scones were fine if a little crumbly. The staff were extremely friendly and welcoming and really, although the whole experience smacked a little of 'new girl at work not sure how to use the photocopier' - you could forgive them quite easily. Forgive is too strong a word to be honest. You almost wanted to go and give them a hand or at least try and help yourself. Just till they got into the swing of things..which I think they are still trying to do. And good luck to them.

 














I'm not sure I'd take my kids in there. I imagine people do and perhaps its a reflection on my own toddlers er... toddler-ness but I would be twitching about him making too much noise or god forbid, staining one of the biscuit coloured sofas. We felt we, as adults, couldn't let go and have our usual laugh either and so we'll be returning to our usual haunt next week but I will go to Buchanans again, probably for a main meal and try out some of this oft-praised cuisine or maybe if I find myself on my own for an hour with a need for calm surroundings, a book and a view out to heaven*.

* Unfortunately, it seems the views will be mostly of Tesco if this little lot gets the go ahead..