Day 35: Taste of Grampian

Today I want to taste Scotland so I’m off to Inverurie where there is a one day food fest going on called Taste of Grampian.  I am up for that. 

On route I passed yet another ghastly housing development that I have been increasingly seeing in this part of Scotland. 

B......Homes the builder claims they are building ‘exceptional luxury family homes’ and the graphic they are using on their advertising hoardings is of a young well-heeled couple, strolling hand in hand through a leafy woodland. There must be a case for Trades Descriptions legislation here. No, where is there anything like a leafy woodland in eyeshot? Just an ugly conurbation, cream coloured houses with grey titled rooves crammed together with no differentiation, imagination or soul. Not even enough space between them to plant one leafy tree, let alone a whole woodland. There seems to be plenty of land in Scotland. What a pity no-one is really thinking about creating exceptional  homes for people. I am equally sceptical about the 'luxury' part of it too. 

I had time to think about this because not until a couple of miles from Inverurie, was there any signage for the event. Then suddenly on the fast and busy A90 I came to an abrupt standstill. Along with hundreds of other vehicles, Gloria and I crawled one car length at a time at no miles per hour, for nearly an hour.  No wonder they hadn’t really advertised – they didn’t need to.

There were literally thousands of visitors and once we got to the venue, The Thainstone Centre, it was all exceptionally well organised. £5 bought me my entry for the day and free car parking. At no other event so far since before Northumberland, had I seen so many people.

The stalls were many and varied;

Meat in abundance and fish

Wine, oils and whiskey 

I found Mrs. Smith from Haddo with her 800 flower topped cupcakes

And if we are naming names, Donald Trump was there in spirit advertising his Golf Spa. 

His staff were SO looking forward to meeting him in the flesh when he flies into Scotland next week.

There were celebrity chefs strutting their stuff

 

And a craft tent also showing and selling locally made art work.

Most of the food was packaged and ready to go.... 

except these...

These are award winning Bronze Turkeys and they are going nowhere soon. 

All this nibbling and slurping samples made me thirsty for a proper cup of tea, but the queues were too long so I decided to slope off to investigate Inverurie. 

Nice little town with lots of established  family owned individual businesses and riverside walks. 

I found a delightful tea shop off a side street.

 

It was a music school, a second hand book shop and a cafe. It also sold musical instruments, second hand vinyl records and sheet music.

The other tea drinkers were an older couple. She was a ex-Findhorne community member and he was an ex-South African. Both were now living in Elgin having travelled to the Taste of Grampian on their bus passes. They gave me a list of suggested ‘must see and must do’ for my forward journey before rushing off to catch their bus home. 

Time for me to head back too. 

Before I left this morning I had mentioned to Vishnu and Rebecca where I had intended to spend the day and she said she had also hoped to exhibit.  However the organisers had refused her on the grounds her stand would be inappropriate. Really? Was she selling illegal highs? Puppies on a spit perhaps? No. She represents Vegetarian Outreach Scotland. At a food fair how is that inappropriate?. 

The Taste of Grampian was definitely flesh heavy but surely balanced views and choice can only be a good thing. If I were a betting person I would say she has a case against the organisers for discrimination. You can check her out for yourself: www.vegetarianoutreachscotland.co.uk

Rebecca had also suggested that I visit another stone circle on my way back to Old Slains. 

This is Aquhorties Stone Circle. Aberdeenshire is full of castles and stone circles. This one is known because it has a recumbent stone lying horizontally on purpose, not because it met with an accident or fell over. 

They are not tall either, just a little taller than me. Not nearly as dramatic as the stones in the Outlander series, but that's probably because these are the real deal and not stage props for a Canadian film company.

My last evening at Old Slains Castle and I was met at the gate by some of the happy residents.

All I have to do now is to decide whether to share the location of this wonderful place with everyone else, or keep it as my little secret!