It’s a day away from the end of August and my time here has flown past, for during the past three weeks I’ve had the chance of experiencing wonderful country style highland cooking.

Early morning, my favourite time of the day starts with a beautiful view over the Glen, soft mist rolling over the purple heather hills and shy rays of sunlight touching every shade of green you can imagine.

Daphne, Hannah and I prepare a breakfast for the guests, a really substantial feast using local produce of the freshest quality. The Guests will need all the energy for the hills when they go out stalking, grouse shooting or Fishing. Sometimes guests have the luck of catching Brown trout in the rivers and streams which we then cook for their breakfast or dinner.

We prepare a picnic hamper for lunchtime and Allen will collect it and take it out onto the hills. The picnic consists of a selection that will certainly fill the spot for those who have been out hill walking the entire morning. Sometimes (rephrase to most of the time!) it pours with rain, Scottish weather is so unpredictable, so we prepare anything that will be suitable for 4 Seasons in 1.

Around mid to late afternoon guests start arriving back at the lodge to be welcomed by Tom, the Butler. He’s set up afternoon tea and Daphne, Hannah & I would have prepared cakes and savouries of various sorts.
Daphne is the creator of these wonderful menus - she has been working as a cook at Invermark Lodge for the past 38 years during the grouse Seasons!
With scent of roast beef, glazed ham or Scottish salmon cooking, a fine assortment of Scottish Highland produce is prepared. Fresh seasonal vegetables and of course the much loved Scottish spuds are used for wholesome, country style cooking. The Angus Area is very well known for its berries and vegetables and Daphne certainly makes the most this wonderful produce.

Dinner is a stylish affair and Tom has laden the table with super shiny silverware and crystal. He does a different napkin fold every evening, his unique twist for each table setting. Butterballs rolled and placed on the table will not only be for eating but also provide guests with ammunition to shoot up unto the ceiling, using their Napkins as a type of “butterball slingshot”. This Butterball event is a traditional custom amongst the patrons of Invermark Lodge. Next morning Tom and the housekeepers do their best to remove all these blattered butter balls - evidence of great fun!

Adam, another chef who only had one week at Invermark Lodge had shown Dylan & I how to identify and pick Scottish Chanterelle mushrooms. It’s very exciting to walk around and spot these amazing rings of bright orange mushrooms.

After cleaning and cooking them in some garlic butter, the best part is to eat them. Incredible and very delicious! Adam taught me how to make really good Sour dough bread and we had the mushrooms on some sour dough toast. An excellent and really decadent combination!

The pleasure of walking in these beautiful surrounds and finding unexpected wild produce is absolutely extraordinary.