Morning at Auchrannie Resort
If you missed them, click to read about day 1 and day 2 of our Ayrshire and Arran adventure.
Our bedroom had a door which took you outside to a garden area with a patio table and chairs. It was a bit too chilly to sit out in December but this was the view towards sunrise. Not bad eh?
And the view looking the other way with a path leading further down the glen.
When you are surrounded by gorgeous scenery, there really is no excuse for a morning constitutional before breakfast, however hard we tried. You can see Goatfell from the grounds at Auchrannie too.
Breakfast
Fully refreshed, we took our seats for breakfast. There is a wide selection of buffet items with local produce available and happily in full view. On the buffet table there were Arran Cheeses, Argyll Smokery fish and Wooley's baked goods.
Chef-prepared dishes included porridge, peat-smoked haddock, chive blini, full Scottish breakfast and pancakes. The tea was from Renfrewshire based Jenier world of Teas and there was a fair selection to chose from.
After breakfast, we checked out and made our way to the nearby Arran Cheese Shop.
Arran Cheese Shop
Home Farm, Brodick, KA27 8DD
Sitting on what was the footprint of the original dairy for the Home Farm which supplied the Dukes and Duchesses of Brodick Castle, Arran Cheese is worth a visit. Not only do you get to see the full range of their cheese on offer - you can also watch the cheesemaking as it happens. They also sell cheese from the Bellevue Creamery at Blackwaterfoot on the other side of Arran - we didn't know this existed or that they made an Arran Brie, Camembert and blue cheese but we made sure to take some home with us.
They have been making cheese here for over 15 years and you can find it throughout Scotland. A special shout out goes to the mustard flavour cheddar which is superb in macaroni cheese.
Sadly, our time on Arran and in Ayrshire was coming to an end and so we headed back to the ferry terminal in Brodick.
Ah, but we spoke too soon. The weather gods decided that we weren't to get home with some near hurricane winds - ok, not quite but it was 29mph and once it gets above 23 it can affect sailings, so our ferry was cancelled. What to do? explore some more!
We took the popular path along fisherman's walk, past the golf course which now has a new raised platform along part of it, meeting this fine fellow at Glenrosa water.
Then we fed the Glenrosa ducks. Yay for another honesty box, this time bags of duck food for 50p which we fed to the nearby posse of quacking ducks.
Then we hopped in the car to Corrie to see the sheep cleats - these are used for attaching boats to but these particular ones have been given an unusual paint job!
Here is the famous Wooleys of Arran, suppliers of baked goods to businesses all over Arran.
Despite the wind, it was actually quite a beautiful day. So we took another drive along the coast, this time to Whiting Bay and The Coffee Pot cafe where we treated ourselves to a large slice of cherry pie.
Due to the next ferry also being unable to sail, we had the hardship of spending another night at Auchrannie Resort, how awful eh?
This time we dined in their Cruize Restaurant with mac and cheese and a Cullen skink risotto. Both made using local produce and suppliers.
The wind and waves were calmer the next day and so we were successfully booked onto a ferry to get home.
We had a great wee trip to Arran and rediscovered what a vibrant, friendly and foodie Island it is. We're already looking at returning again this year.
Find out more about the Ayrshire and Arran Foodie Trails
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