Cosses Country House Blog » Gardening

Scottish food and Drink fortnight at Cosses Country House

susanc — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:11:12 +0000

For the Scottish Food and Drink fortnight href=”http://”>Cosses Country Househref=”http:///www.cossescountryhouse.com/dining.htm”> is highlighting its famous kitchen garden and use of local food.
Guests can help to select and pick their own vegetables- lots of varieties of potatoes,carrots and tomatoes, various salad crops, courgettes, french and runner beans, and a huge brassica collection. Today we picked the last of the Broad Beans and Czar plums. Victoria plums and Coxes apples are just coming into season.

Kitchen garden

Breakfast menus using home grown fruit compote and home made yoghurt; Dalduff bacon, haggis, black pudding and sausages; locally smoked kippers and haddock for kedgeree; home made bread and preserves.
Dinner menus using Ballantrae crab, lobsters and prawns, Crailoch Lamb, Dalduff fillet of beef, venison and game. Local Scottish Cheese, home made oatcakes and Rowan Jelly alomg with Joy’s home grown black grapes. All for £90 dinnner B&B in a luxurious suite. Cosses Country House has a superb wine and whisky list to choose from.

Home Grown Produce from the garden at Cosses CountryHouse

susanc — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:47:48 +0000

What a wonderful time of year in the vegetable garden. There is so much to choose from and everything is so lush. I visit the garden to decide what to serve my guests for dinner. www.cossescountryhouse.com/ I have just picked raspberries for a Mille Feuille and home made raspberry and Brockman’s gin Ice Cream. Brockman’s Gin
Brockman’s Gin is a great discovery in the kitchen, as it has so many botanicals that it enhances the flavour of many desserts. One of my favourites is Blackcurrant Creme Brulee.

Raspberrie Mille Feuille with homemade ice cream

The Czar Plums are ripening thus it will be a Czar Plum Sauce with the Gressingham Duckling breasts tonight on the menu. Courgettes are in abundance and the following recipe for Courgette cake will be for afternoon tea:
80g raisins, 4tblspn water, 280g flour, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, 1/4 tspn salt, 1/2 tspn baking powder, 1 and 1/2 tspn bicarbonate of sod, 120ml of olive oil, 150 g demarara sugar, 1/2 vanilla pod,
2 lightly beaten free range eggs, 1/2 kilo thinly sliced courgettes,
grated zest of a lemon, finely chopped stem ginger and 2 free range egg whites.

Grease and line 1 large or 2 small cake tins.
Pre heat the oven to 170C
Place the raisins in the water and simmer until the water has been absorbed.
Sift together dry ingredients.
In a bowl beat together the oil sugar and seeds from the vanilla pod. Add the eggs and beat until smooth and thick.
Mix in the courgettes, ginger, lemon rind and raisins, then fold in the dry ingredients. Finely beat the egg whites to a meringue texture and carefully add to the cake batter.
Pour into the tins and bake for 1 and 1/2 hours until firm (and a skewer comes out clean).
Leave to cool in the tins.
Mix together cream cheese, maple syrup and lemon juice.
Cut the cake in half horizontally, then fill and top the cake with the icing. Yum!

Luxury, Summer Holiday Offers in Southern Scotland

susanc — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:56:23 +0000

After some much needed rain everything is green and growing again! I made blackcurrant jam this morning and picked broad beans, french beans, spring onions and various salad leaves to mix with smoked Ayrshire Bacon, parmasan shavings, anchovies, free range eggs and olives for a delicious lunch.

As we still have some availability in July and August we have put together some special hot summer deals to tempt you to this beautiful unspoilt part of Scotland

If you are a ‘passionate foodie’ you will love it!

*Come and stay for a minimum of 4 nights (with dinner on a minimum of 3 nights) and receive 20% discount off the B&B price (Sunday to Thursday)

*Enjoy a weekend break away from it all and receive a free bottle of wine, with dinner. ( 2 nights)

*Walking Packages – from gentle walks to a bit more strenuous, to a real challenge (including free packed lunch and drop offs ) The walking in this enchanting area of natural beauty has amazing views with seascapes
, Southern Upland Way, Ayr River Way, Carrick and Galloway hills.

*Romantic Luxury Break with free bottle of Delamotte Brut, Champagne, (Established in the prestigious village of Le Mesnil. Champagne Delamotte is Chardonnays most refined in style and pedigree.One of the oldest Champagne houses, 250 years old this year.)
and Pamper Packages arranged at Pebble Spa. – minimum 2 nights

5*****Golfing breaks on delightful courses, for couples or small parties, in South West Scotland. Golfing itineraries arranged and a 3 night package will include 2 rounds of golf at Dunsky / Stranraer/ Brunston / or Girvan.

3 nights dinner B&B and 2 rounds of golf in the Ailsa or Iona Suite £295 per person / Garden room £265per person

Please quote ‘Summer Specials’ to claim any of these offers – subject to availability.
We are a Wolsey Lodge, that very special place to stay away from it all!

Cosses garden in July

susanc — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:27:27 +0000

The sun is shining again after 24 hours of lovely summer rain so all the plants are drenched, fresh and happy! Cosses has a beautiful hidden garden where guests can relax in a romantic setting soaking up the sun and the beauty. After the rain I can plant out the remaining bedding plants, cut back geraniums which have finished flowering and dead head roses and lupins. In Wolsey lodge tradition, our guests enjoy afternoon tea (lemon cake with strawberry jam yesterday) in the garden.

In the kitchen garden I have picked mange tout, carrots, courgettes, spinach, chard and beetroot as well as several varieties of potatoes; and strawberries and gooseberries this week. I made strawberry jam yesterday.
Our guests from Luxembourg wrote in our visitors book “What a wonderful place! Lovely hosts and Susan’s cuisine is absolutely out of this world!”

Fine Dining at Cosses Country House

susanc — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:00:14 +0000

I just love these long summer evenings when it hardly ever seems to get dark. The cottage garden is a dream with lupins, delphiniums and roses, and the kitchen garden is beginning to produce an abundance of fruit, herbs and vegetables. The guests relax in the garden over afternoon tea with chocolate cake, whilst I select the evenings vegetables. There is a choice of Swift or Epicure potatoes; spring cabbage, spinach or Swiss chard, a gourmet selection of lettuce and lots of fresh herbs. Strawberries and gooseberries are in season, well matched with Elderflowers for faulous desserts.
i will be demonstrating at the Royal Highland show on Thursday, using all this seasonal produce.

Old Riley stays at Cosses Country House

susanc — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:02:12 +0000

Wolsey Lodge guests arrived in their beautiful blue Riley, having been to a rally near Loch Lomond. Wolsey Lodges are a great place for vintage car owners to stay as they nearly always have safe discreet parking.

Tim with his Riley

Other guests, this week have had great walking experiences doing the first section of the Ayrshire Coastal Path, walking aroung Glen Trool, the first section of the Southern Upland Way from Port Patrick and out to St.Ninians Cave on the Isle of Whithorn.

The path down the Merrick towards Loch Trool

The garden is looking glorious and guests have enjoyed afternoon tea and breakfast in the garden. It has rained all day today and provided a much needed watering of the garden.

In the garden at Cosses Country House

Holiday in Southern Scotland

susanc — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:03:35 +0000

Guests leaving this morning said that their visit to Cosses Country House was ‘the icing on the cake’ to finish a lovely week touring Scotland. They said that the dinner was fabulous – Fresh asparagus with Marrbury Smoked Salmon and home grown salad leaves; Fillet of Dalduff beef with mushroom stuffed with spinach and roast beetroot with balsamic and saute potatoes; Blackcurrant Creme Brulee; Scottish Cheese and Home made oatcakes; finished with coffee and home made Tablet.
They called in woodland Farm shop to buy farm house cheese – Ann Dorwood’s Aiket Brie and Epicure potatoes to take back home to Ireland; then they were going for a walk in Castle Kennedy before going for the ferry.

It rained last night, which watered the garden, as I had planted out the runner beans – St George and climbing beans – Cobra. The first early potatoes (in the green house) will be ready at the weekend, the spring cabbage is almost ready, and everything else has grown after the rain – including the weeds!

Gardens in Southern Scotland are a ‘must see’ in May

susanc — Sun, 09 May 2010 12:20:23 +0000

May is my favourite month! Everything is poised to burst open, there’s an incredible amount of energy around and lots of bird song. There are carpets of bluebells throughout the woods, with many other wild flowers including orchids. The camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas, crinodendrons, embothriums and other spring flowering trees and shrubs provide stunning colour and scents. There are numerous gardens, open to the public, for the garden lover to enjoy and we suggest itineraries for guests to get the most out of their stay with us, including where to visit on their journeys to and from us.
Bargany is a favourite:

The boathouse

Glenwhan celebrates being open for 30 years next Sunday with a hog roast and special tour of the garden
www.glenwhangardens.co.uk . Castle Kennedy Gardens, famous for its huge display of ancient rhododendrons and exotic shrubs, and Logan Botanical Gardens are thrilling with their displays of trillions, meconopsis and rare plants. Many gardens are just open on certain days and details of these can be found in Scotland Garden Scheme www.gardensofscotland.org

Wisteria growing round the kitchen window

The perfect Garden Lovers Holiday (very romantic locations!)