In a brand new kitchen in Stirling Enterprise Park, Jennifer McEwan of the Wee Kitchen Company is busy creating some unique recipes for her range of savoury jams, preserves, and accompaniments. It’s been an incredible journey for Jennifer, from the day she made her first chilli jam to opening up sparkling new premises this month, and she is this week’s Local Hero.
The Wee Kitchen Company opened just a year and a half ago, with Jennifer initially cooking from her home, then moving to Stirling Enterprise Park in June. It’s a big change: what drove the decision to move out of home? ‘It had got to the point where I was receiving a lot of orders and it was proving difficult to separate work from family life – and to get the kitchen to myself! I felt I couldn’t take the business any further from my home kitchen. It wouldn’t have been fair on my family.’
Crusty bread, mature cheddar with red pepper and chilli jam
Where did the inspiration for the Company come from? ‘I was a stay at home mum for years – we have five kids. Then everything just fell into place – there wasn’t really a plan as such. I made my first batch of jam around 18 months ago, my friends and family tried it, wanted more, and that was it!’
What’s the best thing about running the Wee Kitchen Company? ‘I love doing events when people are tasting all my flavours and they tell me that they can actually taste the different fresh ingredients.’ (Jennifer will be at Alva Games and the Doune and Dunblane Show very soon.) I also love reading reviews on my Facebook page page. These keep me going when I have had a tough working week working till early hours.’
So things get challenging then? ‘The biggest challenge is trying to run the business alongside family life. I do plan to get help on board soon: at present I’m running everything alone. I’d like to get to a point where I can progress some new ideas I have, like my range of wedding favours. Right now, I work at nights a lot of the time and it can be exhausting. I even have my older children helping me at times – I have to thank them for that. Then you have the guilt of being a working mum – I don’t think that ever goes!’
Fathers Day Hampers, complete with chilli popcorn by Popor
Fresh produce is the core of The Wee Kitchen Company’s flavours
I comment that she’s pretty big-hearted to stock the produce of competitors, but it seems that’s just her way – there’s love, laughter and generosity in how she works and cooks. ‘My jams and preserves are fresh, handmade with love, and they are never the same twice. I’m beginning to realise the importance of the seasons in my cooking too. My top sellers change as consumers’ tastes move with the weather. Also, cooking fresh is the centre of everything for me: I buy in season to get the best tastes and to keep costs manageable. Fresh ingredients are naturally variable, so it means that the consistencies and flavours of my products change, no matter how exact my cooking. It’s authentic and, I think, part of the attraction.’
Jennifer’s cooking sounds like alchemy: all bubbling pots, passion, and creativity. Her understanding of her ingredients – chillies especially – is almost scientific. When I ask what product she is most proud of, she simply can’t answer. ‘I like them all!’ she explains. ‘But I am proud of where I’ve got in such a short time – I never thought I could have achieved this.’
Perth and Kinross Adventure Festival helps people of ages try something new
June is festival time! Mild weather and longer nights mean it’s time to get outdoors and celebrate the things that make us happy. Scotland’s festival calendar has never been busier, and here is a whistle-stop tour of the best festivals right here in Stirling and Perthshire.
Nothing says summer better quite like music in the streets, and Stirling hosts the nation’s first ever busking festival on June 12-13. The city will be alive with buskers who have come from all over the country to perform and to compete for the National Busking Awards, presented on the Saturday night. Come, listen and enjoy! Full details at their website here www.nationalbuskingfestival.com
For those who love new adventures, Perth and Kinross is the place to be this weekend. For the fourth year running, Perth and Kinross’s Outdoor Adventure Team are offering everyone an array of adventure, cultural, and environmental activities. No equipment needed, no experience needed. Just turn up, smile and get involved! Suitable for ages 8 and up. Details here: http://www.visitscotland.com/info/events/perth-and-kinross-adventure-festival-p1192431
Celebrate National Picnic Week this June
Tibbermore in Perth is the home to this year’s Solas Festival, 19-21 June. This weekend-long festival of the arts has a busy schedule of live music and dance, talks from well-known authors and commentators, and much more besides. Bring your kids and hire a yurt! For information and tickets, see: http://www.solasfestival.co.uk/
The Tummel and Tay Festival takes place on the same weekend of 19-21 June and celebrates the whisky, food and culture of Highland Perthshire. There’s something for all ages and tastes: live music, film noir, theatre, an arts food fayre, and a highland Perthshire Produce Trail to name just a few. Puppets and children’s theatre too. Details here: www.tummelandtayfestival.co.uk
The art-lovers among us will enjoy Pitlochry’s Art Walk Festival 20-28 June. Local businesses in this lovely Perthshire town have donated space for Scottish artists to display and sell their arts and crafts. The Walk Includes the Pitlochry Festival Theatre loop and all the venues are within walking distance of town. For more details, and how to get your map, see: http://meltgallery.com/
The Crieff Mountain Biking Festival runs from 21-28 June
Fancy spending the summer’s longest night by the fire in an iron-age loch dwelling, listening to Scottish music? If this is your idea of heaven then you need tickets for the Midsummer Music Festival, Aberfeldy. And it’s Father’s Day too! Details here – booking essential: http://www.crannog.co.uk/
The Stirling Smith Girl by Marie Louise Wrightson, 2014. Commissioned to celebrate the richness of the Smith collections.
Built in the reign of Queen Victoria, the Stirling Smith Museum and Art Gallery first opened to the public in August 1874. Originally ‘the Smith Institute’, it was founded as a gallery of contemporary art, with a museum and library reading room ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants of Stirling, Dunblane and Kinbuck’. The Smith, with resident cat, Oswald, remains Stirling’s artistic and cultural heart in 2015, and is this week’s Local Hero too. We spoke to director Elspeth King, to find out what makes the Stirling Smith so special.
The beating heart of the Smith is its 14-strong team and many volunteers: ‘Most staff work part time to provide coverage, some for just a few hours a week, like organic gardener Martin Macrae – his volunteer team keep the two-acre grounds looking fresh, neat and welcoming. Three of us work full time to deliver the museums and gallery service for the Stirling Council (our main funding body) area. We rely greatly on volunteers such as Alan Wilson, who has volunteered for three years and delivered a powerful amount of computer cataloguing. Two undergraduates recently researched the bank note collection, writing a mini world-history through these notable notes. Intern James Wedlake, in just six months, researched the work of artist Hugh Green (1892-1972) and produced a major loans exhibition and catalogue.’
Nursery class visitors
Unusually for a Scottish Museum, all of the current employees are Scottish and live in the area: ‘Many have provided long service too,’ notes Elspeth, ‘which is so important for the development of the collections. The Smith has had only eight professional curators in 140 years. Collections Curator Michael McGinnes has brought the records from hand-written cards and pencil drawings to complete digitisation over his 35 years here. I’ve worked here for 21 years, building the social history collections and highlighting aspects of Stirling’s story through the temporary exhibitions programme. Museum Assistant Evelyn Cameron, with nearly ten years’ service, brings local knowledge to the job of welcoming visitors, and her catering talents to our special events.’
There have been many popular events: ‘The centenary exhibition for the artist Joseph Denovan Adam (1841-1896) in 1996 was a show-stopper, for example, as, like the artist, we had a collection of animals (two highland bullocks, seven sheep and three goats) for visitors to paint. Housed in pens in the grounds, they attracted attention for almost a year, not least due to the BSE crisis. Lead Highlander Hamish – the Smith’s ‘publicity coo’ – served out his time at Kilmahog Woollen Mill, and died last year at the ripe old age of 21.’
But it’s often difficult to predict what will be popular: ‘During the 500th anniversary exhibition for Renaissance scholar George Buchanan (1506 – 1582) in 2006, we ran a series of Saturday Latin classes which were packed to capacity with people wanting to re-engage with classical studies. While for the nursery schools coming here, the most popular exhibits remain the musical instruments in Ailie’s Garden.’
The Smith has many treasures and has agreed to loans world-wide. This autumn, three paintings by the Glasgow Boys will be loaned to Drents Museum in the Netherlands. But often, the most valueless item can be the most interesting: ‘For me it is the mutton bone removed from baby James Drummond’s throat in 1853, in Stirling’s first recorded tracheotomy,’ says Elspeth. ‘The collections are a joy to work with, and the reason for the Smith’s existence. Rich and varied, the artist, Marie Louise Wrightson has summarised them in her 2014 painting ‘The Stirling Smith Girl’.
The best thing about the Smith? ‘When people identify with the exhibits and relate their own experiences to them. At the moment, our exhibition, “The Battle for Polmaise” commemorates the local coal mine, thirty years after the end of the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike. Many visitors from former mining areas have been so delighted to see their history in the Smith they have donated to the collections or shared reminiscences – the exhibition has even helped several people with dementia or memory problems to remember. People always have pleasure in identifying objects from their shared past, and it can be something as ordinary as the once-universal pit towel and laundry bag, or a poker and toasting fork.’
The Smith and Hamish the Highlander, by Stirling-based artist Greer Ralston, 1996.
When asked how important the Stirling Smith is to Stirling and its people, Elspeth speaks with passion: ‘The Smith contains the material culture which makes Stirling, Stirling – the Stirling Jug (granted by Act of Parliament, 1453), the Cowane’s Chest of 1636, the figure of Justice (pre-1560) from the Tolbooth, the cloak and axe used by the executioner in 1820. These, and hundreds of other things, distinguish Stirling from other towns: the identity of Stirling is invested in them. Stirling has had many past identities – royal court, carriage-building town, market town, tryst, publishing town – all of which are represented in the Smith’s collections. We think of the Smith as the Aricept which will guard against community forgetfulness and loss of identity.’
And is it relevant to overseas visitors? ‘If overseas visitors go to the Castle, the Wallace Monument and Bannockburn, they will pick up a lot of information on Scottish history, but learn little about Stirling as a town. The Stirling Smith looks at the broader picture of Stirling’s history, providing a clearer picture of Stirling’s significant place in Scotland’s history. In a nutshell, we like to say “Think you know Stirling? You haven’t seen Stirling until you’ve seen the Smith.”
May is often one of the prettiest months in Scotland – the days are lengthening, the foliage is fresh, and the landscape seems to burst into vibrant new colour. The weather this time of year is often balmy too, giving promising glimpses of the summer to come. So if you want a taste of Scotland at its best, try visiting in May, and make the most of its outdoor attractions while you are here.
Gardens: Avid gardeners like nothing better than wandering around other people’s gardens – and there are few better months than May for a garden trail. Whether you’re interested in small private grounds or the expansive lawns of stately homes, you’ll find listings of all gardens open to the public in Stirling or Perthshire at http://www.scotlandsgardens.org/. Even those normally closed to the public can be viewed by arrangement. Take a notebook and glean some ideas for your own back yard.
Shopping: For many, shopping is part of the holiday buzz, and in Stirling and Perthshire there’s no need to go indoors to satisfy the thirst for retail. Perth Farmers’ Market meets on the first Saturday of every month in King Edward Street and St John’s Place, Perth, while Stirling Farmers’ Market meets on the second Saturday of every month in Port Street, Stirling. Stallholders sell everything from locally reared meats to artisan breads, cheeses, organic vegetables and handcrafted gifts.
Segway riding in beautiful Blair Atholl
Guided touring: To see the most of Stirling or Perthshire during your stay, book yourself onto an outdoor guided tour. In Stirling, join Stirling Walking Tours on one of their acclaimed tours of Stirling’s historic Old Town, brought to life by actors in full period costume. If you fancy eating up the miles in Perthshire, get in touch with Segway Ecosse, based in Blair Atholl. You’ll get a full tutorial on segway riding, followed by an exciting, safe and professional guided tour of some of the area’s most stunning scenery, all aboard a rugged Segway X2.
Eating: If you’re hungry, but don’t really want to miss a minute of May’s clear skies, there can be few better places to dine than the Gallery Restaurant in Forth Valley College Campus. This hidden gem of a restaurant presents unrivalled panoramic views across Stirling, taking in the Wallace Monument, the River Forth, and beyond to the Ochils. The stunning venue is open for lunch and dinner daily, and is kind to your pocket too: it’s run by students at the college who are currently training to be world-class chefs. Definitely worth a stop on your holiday – even for the view alone: http://theplace.forthvalley.ac.uk/catering-dining/the-gallery
Craigvinean Pine Cone Shelter: Copyright Ronald Weir
Views: It’s no surprise that one of the best views in Stirlingshire is to be had from the top of the Wallace Monument, just a mile or so from the centre of Stirling. This monument to Scotland’s most famous patriot looks out from the crest of Abbey Craig, and offers stunning panoramas across to Stirling Castle, the winding Forth, and the city’s skyline. Don’t be put off if you feel you can’t make the climb – a shuttle can take you to the top from the Visitor Centre, and it’s all been recently refurbished too. If you’re in Perth, Pine Cone Point in Craigvinean offers the view of a lifetime cross the Tay to Dunkeld and to the mountains in the north, snugly sheltered by a beautifully carved wooden pine cone. Look out for red squirrels too. For this and more breathtaking Perthshire viewpoints, see http://www.perthshirebigtreecountry.co.uk/
Before the internet, and in the old days of ‘distance buying’ we’d pore over catalogues and choose a shirt or dress judging on how it looked on a model – buying ‘Sears-style’. Many of us still book holidays that way – making one of our biggest annual purchases based on a couple of pictures and a few hundred words of text in a holiday brochure. But the times are changing, and for the better. Thanks to ever-more accessible technology, even the would-be tourist can ‘try before they buy’. This week’s blog has a quick look at a few new ways that you can see your holiday in Stirling before you even get here.
Get a feel for the city: If you want to get a snapshot, a quick flavour of what Stirling looks and feels like, and whether it’s the right holiday destination for you, Destination Stirling’s YouTube video below will give you a whistle-stop tour of the city’s major landmarks, its shopping, and its food. Far more quickly than any guidebook, having a visual run-through like this can help shape your holiday itinerary, give you an idea of your ‘must-sees’ and is also invaluable in getting the kids excited too! Have a look now:
Check out the neighbourhood: To demonstrate this, meander through Stirling Castle, which has just been added to Google Street View. Google Street View is an invaluable resource if you want to have a nosey around your proposed holiday destination. This feature enables you to literally look around as if walking or driving through it. You might want to have a look around the immediate neighbourhood of your holiday home to get a feel for the locale, for example – perhaps take a look at King’s Park, where many of Stirling Self Catering’s Stirling-based properties are. Also, you can better plan days out by exploring the landmarks you hope to see on holiday, just like the Castle for instance. And don’t worry – you won’t spoil your visit by having a run-through – you’ll just save the time normally wasted looking slightly lost!
View your accommodation: If you’re choosing accommodation with Stirling Self Catering, you needn’t just rely on what we say about our properties, but (for many of them) you can take a virtual tour inside too. Particularly useful for those with young families or other specific needs, our interior videos will give you a more accurate feel for your holiday home than words and pictures could ever achieve. Haverstock, Kingsview, Castleview, Springwood, Redcarr Lodge, The Courtyard and Milton Hayloft all offer video tours. You can view them all here: https://www.stirlingselfcatering.co.uk//properties/
So now you can visit Stirling before you even get here. Enjoy your holiday planning and we’ll see you soon!
Cleaning – you either love it or loathe it. But one company in Stirling have not only have made cleaning their business – they’ve raised the bar on service standards and the personal touch. They are also the reason that Stirling Self Catering’s properties always look bright, beautiful, and spotlessly clean. Working seven days a week, no job too big or small, Conroy Cleaning are this week’s Local Hero.
John Conroy established the company in July 2013: ‘Having been a cleaner for 13 years, I decided I had the experience to start up for myself. I was lucky enough to get a few small jobs straight away because I knew a few clients in my target market looking for cleaning services. Mostly through word of mouth, business picked up pretty quickly, sometimes relying on the help of family on busier days – I owe a few favours!’ Since then, and with the help of his partner Murray Davidson, John has grown the company into a sought-after service provider with clients spanning Stirling, Falkirk, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The Company pride themselves on attention to detail
When asked about the most rewarding aspects of running the business, John is clear about his priorities: ‘Building a brand in my own name and becoming recognised as a reputable company throughout Stirling and surrounding areas. I’m proud of the reputation I’ve gained so far – in just 20 months’.
John describes his company as ‘friendly, hard-working and professional’ and these core values are borne out by the client testimonials on the company’s website. But in addition, the team at Conroy Cleaning are no strangers to a challenge, which include turning large properties around quickly and at short notice. John has many examples: ‘After a stressed call from a local property manager, we were asked to deep-clean one of Stirling’s largest self-catering holiday homes in time for guests arriving just days later. We provided an emergency clean and after three days, the property was ready for its guests and received a 5/5 review – a common occurrence now Conroy Cleaning are looking after it!’
In just 20 months, the Company has gained clients throughout central Scotland
At the other end of the spectrum, John and his team are happy to take care of the important little things that can make such a difference to clients: ‘After one client had to leave the country abruptly before Christmas to visit family, the Conroy Cleaning team put up their Christmas decorations for their arrival back on Christmas day – we got a big box of chocolates that year!’
And some unusual properties can bring a little adventure to the working week: ‘We once cleaned a mobile home in Elie, located on Scotland’s west coast. You couldn’t ask for a more stunning location to work in, and just a short drive from Anstruther, where we found award-winning fish and chips – and a battered pickle!’
Friendly, hardworking and professional – John (right) and partner Murray (left)
So it’s not only the results that clients come back for – it’s the company’s warmth and can-do attitude. ‘Conroy Cleaning are fully flexible to our clients’ needs, even when last-minute changes are made. We’re very well organised, and on occasion have been told we are “a well -oiled machine”. Most of all, our clients appreciate our very high standards, competitive prices and a friendly face!’
Cheekily, we asked John how clean his house was? ‘Just come in and check … but don’t dare make a mess!’
