Our
visitor attraction this week is the award winning Highland Folk Museum
situated on Kingussie Road, Newtonmore. The Highland Folk Museum
triumphed at the 2007 Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards, bringing
home to Newtonmore one of the top prizes – the Tourism People
Development Award. The Folk Museum is situated within the boundaries of
the Cairngorms National Park on two sites: one in Kingussie, and the one
we are looking at this week at Newtonmore. The outdoor museum at
Newtonmore opened in 1995 and is a mile long living history site that
includes reconstructed buildings, a 1700s Township, a 1930 working farm,
live interpretation and a range of visitor facilities. The Highland Folk
Museum promises ‘to ensure that all visitors have a memorable quality
experience, within a safe and cared for environment’, and that is
exactly what they achieve. A great day out for all the family as the
Museum succeeds in its aim of preserving and recording aspects of
Highland life from the 1700s onwards. Within sight of the Cairngorms
this interesting and varied landscape combines farmland, woodland and
open area.
The
Highland Folk Museum was the brainchild of Dr Isobel F Grant, who although
born in Edinburgh and raised in London, always had the traditional home of
her family in the Highlands in her heart. In 1934 she determined to have an
open air Highland museum and in 1944 a museum was opened in Kingussie – the
forerunner to the 1995 Newtonmore development. Dr Grant’s vision comes alive
at Newtonmore as the Highland township which is based on the original larger
Badenoch settlement of Easter Raitts takes you back to the era of the
Jacobite Risings and the days when Cluny MacPherson brought his clan out on
the side of the deposed Stewarts. Aultlarie Farm, probably dating from the
early 1800s, is worked as it operated in the 1930s. A reminder of how
farming was in the early days of the 20th century. The Open Air
Museum Buildings range from The Railway Halt, Glenlivet Post Office (from
1913), a shepherd’s bothy and fank through to the Leanach Kirk, an early
1900s corrugated tin church relocated from Culloden and Fraser’s Joiner’s
Workshop where carts could be repaired and coffins supplied! As you would
expect the site includes audio visual introduction for visitors, café
facilities, toilets, bairn’s play area, shop and picnic area. Visit
www.highlandfolk.com for further details of this magnificent tourist and
historic attraction.
Whisky and milk would have been in plentiful supply in 1700s Highland
Townships and this week's recipe - Scotch Paradise - contains both.
Scotch Paradise
Ingredients: 50ml Whisky; dash of coconut syrup; milk
Method:
Moisten the edge of a highball glass with sugar syrup. Roll the glass in
desiccated coconut to coat the outer edge. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice
and add – a large (50ml) measure of Whisky, a dash of coconut syrup and top
up with milk (enough to fill the glass). Shake well and pour into the glass.
