The third and final part of our foodie adventure following the Lanarkshire Larder Food Trail took us to the Biggar area. If you haven’t read part 1 and part 2 you may want to catch up on them first!
You can download the Lanarkshire Larder Food Trail Map here.
No.17 Damn Delicious
Our first stop was to Damn Delicious, a farm shop based at a family run farm in Lanarkshire. Their unique selling point is the way in which they move their cattle though the fields ensuring they are only taking in the highest quality grass. They sell the meat in in their shop along with a range of different pies. We can confirm the steak pies are the best we’ve ever had! Don’t worry if you can’t visit in person though as they can send you their pies through the post.
No.18 Hillhead of Covington
After stocking up on a lot of meat and pies it was time for some dairy. We took a drive up to Hillhead of Covington to a shipping container where they sell fresh milk and flavoured milkshakes from a very fun vending machine. Honestly if you want to feel like a big kid (or you actually have kids) you need to head up, it’s a lot of fun. We bought some fresh milk plus some Creme Egg Milkshake which was delicious.
No.19 Biggar Gin
We love a little start up and found ourselves getting quite passionate about Stuart’s wee distillery built on his brother’s land. It’s amazing what little businesses like Biggar Gin can achieve. Stuart has created a range of gins, some of them award winning. We had the chance to do a little tasting and I was a big fan of the strong citrusy flavour. One I’ll be looking out for when we’re out and about.
No.20 The Orchard Biggar
There are several stops on the food trail on the main street in Biggar. After a wee bit too much gin we headed to The Orchard Biggar where you can buy lots of deli bits including homemade award winning oatcakes, scones and marmalade.
No.21 The Crown Inn
We had so many positive experiences on the food trail but The Crown Inn was the one exception. We popped in for a bit of lunch and went for the tapas food which read great on the menu but sadly very little of it was fresh and we were left feeling a bit disappointed. The highlight was the Gambas Al Ajillo, king prawns pan fried in olive oil with chilli, onion & pepper. The burgers and pub style food we saw being served looked significantly better, perhaps we just chose the wrong thing. The service was also a little brisk and lacked the local friendly vibe we found elsewhere on our trip.
No.22 Taylors Ice Cream at Cones & Candies
Think sweetie and ice cream shop of your childhood dreams and that’s pretty much Cones & Candies. They serve the much loved Taylors Ice Cream plus there was lots of stuff for, erm, gifts etc 😉
No.24 Sheildhill Castle Hotel
We stayed overnight at Sheildhill Castle which had been bought by a lovely family just before the lockdown. They are gradually refurbishing it to bring it up to a really high standard. We stayed in a room in the stable block which was simply decorated with some original tiling features. We enjoyed one of the best steaks we’ve ever had in the evening and the breakfast in the morning was very good too. One to support if you’re in the area.
No.26 Errington Cheese
We love going behind the scenes at food producers like Errington Cheese. It’s so interesting seeing how things are made and we had never been to a cheese making farm before, let alone an award winning one! We got to do an on site tasting with some of their famous cheeses including Corra Linn and Lanark Blue, we also got to take a box home with us!
No.28 The Wee Farm Distillery Steak & Still Farm Shop
Our final stop on the whole food trail was to The Wee Farm Distillery Steak & Still Shop. This is such an inspiring place, Jenny McKerr had always wanted a farm so bought this one in Climpy and began developing it. They now have sheep and cattle, a cottage which they rent out, plus their own gin distillery where they make a huge variety of flavoured gins. Her energy, enthusiasm and entrepreneurial nature is both inspiring and infectious and we left for home with a spring in our step and lots of new ideas for our own business.
We had the most amazing time following the food trail. If you are looking for an affordable foodie adventure this summer we highly recommend this!
Find out more about the Lanarkshire Larder Food Trail