Ardersier Pottering

It’s really nice when you find a place that’s relatively close to home, while feeling a million miles away from all the busyness of normal life.

One such place less than 30 minutes drive from our house is Ardersier, a lovely little village positioned right on the south side of the Moray Firth. The village really consists of two main streets – one that stretches out alongside the coastline, which then joins onto the main high street which leads out to Fort George, an 18th century fortress built after the battle of Culloden. Ardersier is not without it’s foodie connections, as on the way into the village, there’s also the opportunity to drop into the Connage Highland Dairy, and on the second Saturday of each month, there’s also a monthly Farmers Market.

Our trip out consisted of walking out along the shore path (great for walkers and cyclists alike) which winds along close to the coastline for 2 miles. Dolphins can be spotted here  (though we never have seen them, we’ve always ventured over to Chanonry Point as they play quite close to the shore). It’s a lovely walk, particularly in the spring, when the gorse is smelling particularly coconutty and bunches of daffodils line the path!

The path curves round to Fort George (admission fee applies, although you can explore part of the grounds for free, and grab refreshments if you want to)…

We however were due some lunch, so returned on the shore path back to Ardersier, spotting this community garden on the way.

Our lunch was in a new cafe – On the High Street which is a family run business.

As well as a cafe, there’s a vintage sweetie shop style counter, and an extensive gift shop which feature a whole range of creations hand-sewn in store.

We had a fab lunch here. There’s a simple selection of sandwiches, wraps and toasties, which you can choose to combine with a bowl of soup or extra salad and breadsticks.  Having skipped breakfast, we both had the curried leek and carrot soup and full sandwich deal (£5.50). What you can’t see from the angle of the below photo was that the sandwich was definitely of the thick doorstep variety! There were lots of fillings to choose from, I chose chicken and bacon salad, and Mr B chose egg mayo.

Before moving on, we had our hot drinks (a fancy white hot chocolate for me) and tried one of the impressive cakes on offer. There were lots of traybakes  –  Mr B tried the cookie dough traybake which was topped with M&Ms, and I had a fudgy, chewy chocolate brownie.

Lunch for two cost £18.50 which is excellent value – and certainly filled us up for the whole afternoon. On the High Street is certainly a welcome addition to the village – the cafe had a welcoming community feel, we will definitely be back!