Weekly Rundown: Loch Fyne Food Festival

It's been a busy week for us this week. I'm so glad that I've got a bank holiday tomorrow because I need some time to recover from all the crazy early starts I've been having; not only did we have an early start to go to Loch Fyne last Sunday, we had a hospital appointment on Wednesday plus another early start on Thursday.

More about the hospital appointment, today we're talking about our trip to Loch Fyne.

I've been to the Loch Fyne garden centre before when we've been passing through but I was unaware of the Food Festival until the local community band that my husband is involved with headed up there to perform. I was invited along to take photos for the band (and to go admire the fancy food).

Now I have to admit, all of the fancy food was kind of wasted on me. I like food. I like food quite a lot. But I'm happiest when it's just plain food, not fancy stuff with added herbs and spices and other random things. Plus I'd been up really early, had spent an hour travelling to get there and we parked in a field that I wasn't sure we would get out of; I may have been a little cranky from the early start.

The mince and tatties smelled brilliant though and I did sample a slice of Rocky Road cake and a chocolate brownie, both very nice. I did not eat any oysters because I'm not sure that anything could induce me to try those things. I ended up next to a bin where people were dumping the oyster shells and that really didn't help endear them towards me as a foodstuff.

I wasn't really there for the food there, I was there for the photo opportunities. And I completely neglected to take any photos of the food on offer. I was with the band and they were my sole focus for the day. Oops.

I did get some really good shots though. The whole thing was taking place in a big marquee so even though it was grey and rainy out, the light was filtered through the white canvas so I didn't have any problems with getting some nice sharp photos. It would have been perfect for trying out some portrait photography, but maybe we'll try that if they go back next year.

You can see some more of the photos I took of the band on the Bute Community Band Facebook Page.

We also got to take Bluebell off road on the day. Parking was in a field which sort of had a pond right inside the gate. It wasn't really a permanent pond, but the amount of rainfall we've had recently meant that it couldn't really be classified as a puddle anymore. The field had evidently been home to some sheep fairly recently as well. Needless to say, I did a big load of laundry when we got home!

I don't mind a bit of mud (and other questionable substances) though and it was a really good day out. We took a trip up to Inveraray afterwards to visit Mr Pia's fish and chip shop (I know, I know, all that fantastic food and we went out for takeaway) before heading back.

Despite the wind, and the rain, and the mud, it was a brilliant day out. Next year if we head up there I will definitely make more of an effort to take photos of the food on offer though, not just shiny instruments.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to take a nap!