Cosses Country House Blog » holidaysouthernscotland

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!

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!

Holiday Southern Scotland at Visit Scotland Expo

susanc — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 08:51:42 +0000

Holiday Southern Scotland took a stand at visit Scotland expo to promote Southern Scotland and Wolsey Lodges. We are aiming to make Southern Scotland a premiere destination. We are the garden of Scotland with many of the best gardens in Scotland. Paddy Scott from Scotland’s Garden Scheme helped us on the stand. We have the best golf courses in Scotland from West Coast Links to East Lothian gems. The best walking in Scotland from the Ayrshire Coastal path, the Carrick Way, The Southern Upland way and Borders walks. With outstanding scenery, the best cycling is to be found in Southern Scotland at 7 Staines in Dumfries and Galloway. And without doubt we have some of the best food in Scotland from the Ayrshire food network, Galloway food towns, to the Borders food network with many ‘Slow Food’ members. And whilst participating in all of the above we have the best 4 and 5 ***** places to stay in Scotland from here at Cosses Country House and other Wolsey Lodges to Glenapp Castle or exclusive use at Blair Castle or self catering at dog friendly Castlehill.

Visit Scotland Expo

SSMI stand at Expo

A walk by the river Stinchar

susanc — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:24:28 +0000

It was such a lovely afternoon, so after a delicious fish pie made with local seafood and Caroline’s hen’s eggs, we took the dogs for a walk along the banks of the River Stinchar. There were signs of the recent flooding with silt covering the grass, sticks and branches caught up in the undergrowth and hedgerows. Snowdrops were peeping through, showing the first signs of spring. A heron watched us, having just eaten his fill of salmon par. The dogs raced along, chasing the scent of a hare or a fox and then jumped into the river for a swim.

Holiday Southern Scotland Seminar

susanc — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:54:06 +0000

The Southern Scotland Marketing Initiative is having its first seminar on Wednesday 20^th January at Woodland Farm Shop which is kindly hosted by Gillian and Michael Forbes.

Woodland Farm Shop is on the A77 just south of Girvan and not far from Ballantrae. It is like the most beautiful drive from Stranraer or Maybole.

www.holidaysouthernscotland.co.uk and www.blogsouthernscotland.com is the total answer to the visitor’s itineraries with activities, accommodation and Taste of Scotland dining suggestions in Southern Scotland. Pioneering, quality tourism businesses throughout Southern Scotland, supportive of each other are working together to provide visitors with an outstanding experience.

Looking out towards Ailsa Craig