Farm to Plate

Kitchen gardens

Written by Luxury Scotland

Hospitality is at the core of Luxury Scotland. Our members want to share this country with the world, which is especially true when it comes to Scottish food.

At The Boath House, where the staff plants thousands of seeds each year for the kitchen and herb gardens, the ethos is “from our garden to your plate”. In their walled garden, they have an orchard, vegetable potager, and herb parterres, as well as beehives and free-roaming hens. From spring until early winter guests can meander through the gardens, over 22 acres of them, to find the ingredients that will soon be on their plates, but there is also a glasshouse and polytunnels for year-round fresh herbs and vegetables.

Dining at The Crinan Hotel gives you the chance to watch seafood come off the boat, straight into the kitchen, then on to your plate – it doesn’t get any more “local” than that. Their Westward Restaurant has been awarded L'Assiette Michelin (The Michelin Plate) and looks out over Loch Crinan, while the Crinan Seafood Bar is renowned for serving the freshest seafood in Argyll. If you stay during the summer (June through September) you can reserve one of the 20 seats in their rooftop restaurant, Lock 16 to watch the sunset over Corryvreckan, Jura and Scarba while savouring the catch of the day or one of the chef’s specialities.

During the peak summer months, the kitchen garden at Gleneagles is the main source of vegetables for the culinary team. What is fresh and in season dictates what goes on the menus and as a result, the chefs attribute the intense flavours in their dishes with the fact that the ingredients are grown just steps from the kitchens themselves. With the growth of the hotel itself into a premier destination in Scotland, so too has the garden grown to include herbs, vegetables and fruit.

The Head Chef at The Torridon, Ross Stovold, considers himself a champion of local suppliers. He delights in showing guests around The Torridon Farm to give them a deeper understanding of the produce they grow and the way that the flavours blend together on every diner’s plate. Now over two acres, the garden consistently yields apples, blackberries, raspberries, potatoes, and carrots, while the herbs are seasonal. An additional bonus to the menu is their signature Torridon burger, named by a Scottish food writer as “the best burger in Scotland”, which is created from their own Highland herd (when supplies allow).

Just yards from the kitchen itself is the garden where the chefs source many of the ingredients for the dishes and tasting menus at Glenmorangie House. Fruits from the orchard go into their jams and chutneys, while items such as wild garlic and artichokes go into savoury mains. The meat comes from farms around the Dornoch firth and for the cheese to accompany their whisky tastings, they source from Highland Fine Cheeses, just down the road in Tain, where their distillery is.

The dedication to local produce extends beyond the menu at Glenapp Castle to a steadfast commitment to reducing their carbon footprint. The benefits for the guest are clear: maximum flavour resulting in simply exquisite food. From the preserves for your morning toast that are made from fruit grown in their glasshouse to the meats and cheese that come from farms just a few miles down the road, cooking and preparing food with local ingredients is a promise they keep to each and every diner.

The bounty of produce and game in Scotland deserves to be praised for its diversity. Luckily our members and their chefs make sure to highlight seasonal ingredients by getting as close to the source as possible.

First published 27 June 2019. Information correct at time of going to press.