The Way to our Hearts

Well, we couldn’t write about food on Valentine’s Day and not start with Chocolate, could we?

Headed by Gunther Vonck, an expert chocolatier originally from Belgium, and a previous apprentice of the well known Story Chocolates in Inverness, Highland Whisky Chocolates was opened by Gunther and his wife Heather last year, shortly after they moved to Golspie – and what an addition it has been. Specialising in Whisky and Gin Chocolates, in our humble opinion, they bring together some of the finest ingredients from Scotland and Belgium! For those less inclined towards a tipple, they create beautiful fruit chocolates and bags of solid chocolate too in all sorts of beautiful shapes and sizes, so there really is something for everyone. Our guests at Dunrobin Cottages will be lucky enough to receive a small sample of their treats, but we highly recommend popping into the shop so you can see the full array of treats available!

Alexander George Campbell first opened the shop in 1947 after returning from India after the war. Skip forward a generation and his son of the same name now continues his legacy. As we may have mentioned before, once or twice, many of our Cottages are situated on the Sutherland coast, which means we are lucky enough to have access to some of Scotland’s finest seafood and we are reasonably sure most of it can be found at AG Campbell. We are particularly fond of their smoked salmon, smoked by the team at their shop in Golspie. And if like us, holidays are a time for lazy mornings and a spot of brunch, you can also pick up local free-range eggs at the shop to whip up the perfect feast. Even better if you can persuade someone else to do it for you, while you take in the beautiful views!

If you haven’t tried making bread over the last 12 months, then you must be in the minority. We have certainly given it a go and were very thankful to lay our hands on some of Golspie Mill’s finest wholemeal bread flour. Golspie Mill is one of the only traditional water-powered mills remaining in production in Scotland. The Mill itself was built in 1863 as an Estate mill, for Sutherland Estate and was fully restored in 1992. They still use traditional production methods and renewable energy to produce specialist meals and flours.

We particularly love their oats in our morning porridge, in fact, why not have these as your starter before your smoked salmon and eggs! A local feast fit for kings!

If you haven’t tried making bread over the last 12 months, then you must be in the minority. We have certainly given it a go and were very thankful to lay our hands on some of Golspie Mill’s finest wholemeal bread flour. Golspie Mill is one of the only traditional water-powered mills remaining in production in Scotland. The Mill itself was built in 1863 as an Estate mill, for Sutherland Estate and was fully restored in 1992. They still use traditional production methods and renewable energy to produce specialist meals and flours.

We particularly love their oats in our morning porridge, in fact, why not have these as your starter before your smoked salmon and eggs! A local feast fit for kings!