yourscottishtour January 8, 2015 0 Comments
After the excesses of Christmas we decided to make good use of our new book – “Isle of Skye – 40 Coast and Country Walks”
We were staying at a beautiful holiday cottage called Tir nan Og on the Waternish Peninsula so we chose a 5K walk to Oronsay Island to get us started.
The walk involves crossing a tidal causeway so if you decide to do the walk too, make sure you research the tides.
Details of the walk can be found here on the Walk Highland’s Website
Just along from the start of the walk at Ullinish, we noticed a sign by the roadside for the Old Byre Skye which declared it open….we hoped it would still be open by the time we got back from our walk.
Turning the corner on our way back, the sign was still out and there were a few cars in the car park so we decided to stop off for a bite to eat.  There’s not terribly many places open in Skye for food in late December so hats off to The Old Byre!
It seems that business isn’t booming with tourists at this time of year so we got a great welcome and the owners were delighted to have customers to serve.
We arrived just after a table of 4 so it was good lunchtime trade for the Old Byre!
At this time of year, the menu is short and simple but quite sufficient to have something to suit most folks.  Raymond had soup of the day which was a hearty and warming Leek at Potato and he said it was absolutely delicious, just perfect after a 5k tramp over the bogs, beaches and rocks of Oronsay.  The soup is served with a homemade bread roll.  All breads and cakes are made on the premises with the exception of the Gluten Free Breads which they get from Isle of Skye Bakery.
I decided to have the Highland Cheese Platter with Homemade Roll, Oatcakes and Pecorino Shortbread and served with Chutney and Olives.
You get a really good portion of cheese and it was lovely to have plenty of bread and oatcakes to enjoy the cheeses with.  Usually you end up with lots of cheese and very few biscuits, but here the balance was perfect.

The organic cheeses come from Connage Highland Dairy near Inverness and vary.  It was lovely to try the Smoked Dunlop and Connage Gouda.  The Highland Cheeseboard seems to be a staple on the menu, along with a Smoked Salmon Salad, but as the tourist season picks up the menu enlarges with lots more options.

You can always check out their Facebook page for the day’s menu and specials.

The café is also passionate about good coffee and use beans from Isle of Skye coffee roasters, Café Sia, who handpick beans from around the world and then roast them in the cafe/shop in Broadford.

I chose an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Kebel Woreda Aricha which promoted a creamy body with floral ripeness, lemony acidity and hints of cherry and bergamot tea.  It was served in a cafetiere.  Raymond had a Equal exchange fair trade organic Decaffeinated coffee.  The two coffees £2 each and were excellent.

Looking at the Old Byres Facebook page, cakes seems to be a speciality and ever changing during the main tourist season.  Available for our wee late December visit was Christmas Cake or The Rocky Road to Christmas (rocky road with Christmas cake in it too!)

We decided to go half and half and both were delicious and of high quality.  Good quality chocolate really made the taste of the Rocky Road, and the prices for the cakes very reasonably priced.

The Old Byre is also a gallery, so take time to have a browse of all the photographs for sale.

If you are visiting Skye, do pop in to the Old Byre Skye on the road from Dunvegan to Sligachan at Ose.  It’s a bit quirky, you will get a warm welcome, well fed, don’t be in a rush instead sit back, relax and enjoy.

 

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