Andrew's tour of Scotland Cooking close to home

Date Published:

05/08/2008

Kieron Kelly, owner and chef of the Prince's Head Hotel in the Highlands of Scotland, must be one of the only chefs in the country to get his raw ingredients delivered to him by steam train

During the summer months salad leaves, grown by the Lochaber Horticultural Association, make the 25 mile journey along the West Highland line – as seen in Harry Potter - to Glenfinnan where he picks them up. "It wouldn't really be possible without the train," Says Kieron.

Steamed veg

Kieron and Ina opened the Prince's House Hotel on the 14th September 2001. "We were sitting in Edinburgh surrounded by boxes watching the news. And closer to home foot and mouth was still happening. In the end people stopped flying, the overseas market was replaced by a domestic one and I’d say 80 per cent of visitors are now from the UK, with 19 per cent European," says Kieron. Having an earwig at dinner reveals two English couples and one from the Netherlands.

Grazing from the garden

Another ingredient Kieron's able to readily get his hands on is Chanterelle mushrooms, which he uses in a warm salad of pigeon breasts. They grow in the lanes and back garden all around the house and his two sons pick them for him. "My supplier will sometimes say 'I've got Chanterelles for £20 a kilo' and I'll say 'I've got them for free 400 yards up the road'."

With food prices rising chefs are becoming ever more resourceful at sourcing supplies. "Because we're small and the menu changes daily, we can be flexible. One of the locals might come in with a tiny punnet of wild alpine strawberries and I'll think 'great, let's use these'. Sometimes I'm still writing the menu at a quarter to seven," says Kieron.

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