2024 ran away from us and I seem to have forgotten to do a newsletter last year!! Oops. It was a pretty busy year setting up our new business, Borderland Food Tours (more on that in a bit), the youngest son finishing school, the eldest son graduating & keeping tracks on the middle one still doing his thing up at Aberdeen University.

2024 was a great year business wise. Our accommodation was nearly full all summer and has continued to be steady right through the autumn/winter. The beer garden busy with guests enjoying Pizza Chef Hamish’ pizzas May- September. And the restaurant still performs very well all year with our strong reputation for the use of local & seasonal produce. As always, we showcase and champion as much local produce as we can get our hands on! Drink sales have slumped slightly, but this seems to be an industry trend as people are drinking less and cost of living being a factor too perhaps.

In the surrounding rural countryside as the fields lie sleeping through the winter months, we are at the crossroads of seasons with the shooting finishing next week, as the gamekeepers & beaters rest their weary legs & plus fours, the fishermen are poised ready with their rods and to pull out their waterproofs. Hopefully, it will be good weather for fishing this year.

I’m writing this as we have just weathered Storm Eowyn, with the Scottish Borders having been placed under the highest weather warning – Red. Everyone was quite startled by the Government alert sent out on mobile phones on Thursday night to warn of potential danger, very eerie when all the phones started going off in the bar/restaurant. Luckily, other than some ripped sheeting on the decking, we have stayed intact under the strong winds. Certainly, in Allanton, it wasn’t as bad as Storm Arwin in 2021, although there are still houses without power 4 days in, including my mum & dad.

The Rural Oscars

We are currently shortlisted in the Scotland pub category of the Countryside Alliance Awards 2025, known as the Rural Oscars (please vote for us). These awards recognise rural businesses that go the that extra mile for their customers & communities. We are thrilled to be nominated for this as that is a nutshell is what we do. It is what every custodian of the Allanton Inn has done over the last two hundred years as far as I know, as the Allanton Inn (and the Red Lion before it) has been the heartbeat of the village and surrounding Berwickshire for decades (with a reputation for fierce landladies too – the most notorious was Alice Southhall & her sisters who ran the place for many years from 1940’s).

The Red Lion

Our Suppliers

Always core to our business is to support other local businesses and promote all the wonderful produce and comes from the Borderlands. We are now buying bakery from Fords the bakers in Norham and keeping with my home village connections our Sunday Sirloin of Beef is from Foreman’s the Butchers in Norham too. We were at the Open Day at Standhill Glasshouse promoting my sister & brother-in-law Sweet Red Balls tomatoes back in September. We are looking forward to the new season of tomatoes in the spring.

Suppliers

Local food Legends

Also, Spring last year, we were showcased as one of the Local Food & Drink Legends in the South of Scotland. The project was led by South of Scotland Destination Alliance (SSDA) using government funding from the Regional Food Fund. An article written by Cat Thomson was featured in some of the national press and led to us hosting a group from The Food Writers Guild. It was fab to share the tastes & tales of the Borderlands that we shout about at the Allanton Inn and we continue strive to put the South of Scotland on the map #scotlandstartshere.

Borderland Food Tours
Borderland Food Tours

Borderland Food Tours

This leads me nicely on to our new business – Borderland Food Tours.

With all our local knowledge and passion for promoting all things local, many guests at the Allanton Inn have said over the years we should be tour guides! So that’s what we plan to do. Demand for Food Experiences are on the rise. Last year, we were selected by Scotland Food & Drink as one of 50 businesses in a project to develop Bookable Food & Drink Experiences in Scotland. The programme has been very helpful to us as we embark on this new adventure. SSDA & Visit Scotland have also been helping us promote the new business to the Travel Trade. There is a huge amount of incoming international tourist groups to Scotland looking for unique & authentic things to do when they come to Scotland. Our food tours of course will be one of them & head to the South of Scotland instead of the North!

We are no historians but have lived round here for a long time so have great local knowledge and of course know what tastes good. We have built up strong relationships with many local suppliers, farmers and producers over our 15 years here at the Allanton Inn. We want to share with a bigger audience now and tell our tour guests how much of the country’s wonderful fresh produce is produced right here in the Borderlands, in our countryside/waters. We can tell the stories and the heritage of our famous Borderlands through our food & drink, offering the tastes & tales of the Borderlands.

The small group tours will start part time in the Spring as we take time to get ourselves established. We have some smart new Borderland tartan uniforms made by the local & fabulous Scotland Shop in Duns and our fab new website is designed by Jonathan at Scottish Borders Website Design. Check it out – BorderlandFoodTours.com.

William & Katrina

The Tweed

Another exciting project we are working with is Destination Tweed. The new 113-mile trail being developed along the length of the Tweed, from the source to the sea – Moffat to Berwick (launching in 2028). With the Tourist Strategy Development Officer, we are working to help promote the lower end of the Tweed and provide tourists with a food experience/place to stay when they reach this end of the trail. I’m particularly excited about this project as I feel the Tweed runs through my blood. Being born on the banks on the Tweed (are you imagining Moses type pictures in your head??), a life straddled a few miles both sides and a family who have farmed near the Tweed for hundreds of years, the Mighty Tweed means a lot to me.

The Tweed

Scottish Agritourism

We are now members of the Scottish Agritourism body who support & represent rural businesses and seek to showcase local produce with their Go Rural brand.

Scottish Agritourism

In November 2024 I was invited to speak at their annual conference in Perth. What I thought was a chat to a small break out room about Innovation in our business ended up being to address the whole conference room in Perth Concert Hall. Quite nerve racking and I ran out of time (imagine – me with too much to say!) but it was a very informative event and exciting to see/meet other rural businesses around Scotland and hear their exciting plans like us for growth in Agritourism.

So, lots going on and plenty of groundwork taking place behind the scenes.

The Allanton Inn Team

Back here at the Allanton the core team hasn’t changed too much. Audrey, Inna & Sarah are still our housekeepers. The core kitchen team is still the same with Craig & Tommy, although John joined the team replacing Mike in 2023 and Finn replaced Sammy last autumn. The students continue to boost our team in the busy periods, like Matty who pops back in his holidays & always lifts the mood.

The front of house has seen the most change with both Craig & Steph moving on. Steph had worked for us for 7 years & Craig since opening after COVID so 4 years. We miss them, but both have moved out of hospitality for personal circumstances. Dave & Rachel are still here, and we are currently training up new staff members, so be gentle with them. And of course, our 3 boys are put to work when we need extra sets of hands.

2025 is shaping up to be another good steady year. In February, it’s our 15th year anniversary owning the Allanton Inn in and September sees our 25th year anniversary as hospitality entrepreneurs. We opened our first business, Isobar, in Leith in the year 2000 and Borderland Food Tours is our 4th business.

Easter is late this year in April so will be a slow start to the season I think, but the Jim Clark Rally in May, the Jim Clark Anniversary Weekend in June, some local weddings and a few big family birthdays will make the spring whizz by I’m sure. The craziness of the summer will be here before we know it.

Meantime, we are trying to enjoy some quieter nights which means more time at home, something that doesn’t happen much once the season kicks off properly. The boys are slowly drifting off to back to uni, a new grad job & travelling so it will certainly become a quieter house when they all aren’t home. Empty nest days are on the horizon! But we have the new business to keep us busy. All part of a plan (I think).

2025 let do this………………

Katrina

January 2025

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