For three days at the end of August, I cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for a family reunion at Kilmartin Castle in Argyll — a family split between Australia and London, back under one roof for the first time in years.
I arrived each morning with baskets cut straight from the castle’s own organic kitchen garden — spring onions, shallots, whatever herbs were ready that day. Cooking from a garden like that changes how you plan a menu: you see what’s good first, then decide what it becomes.
The owners have built a proper outdoor cooking set-up behind the castle — a garden room, a smoker, a sink, all under cover, with a small pond for a cold dip and loungers for afterwards. Every sunset that week was extraordinary, and most of the dinner cooking happened right there, outside.
One night was built around a full seafood platter — langoustines, squid, octopus, salmon, whatever looked best at the fishmonger that morning. I get my fish from David Lawrie, and when the octopus is good, it goes straight onto the coals.
Once it’s tender, I dress it simply — cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onion, a good olive oil — so the char and the sweetness of the octopus stay the point of the dish.
Other days called for something heartier — a big piece of beef, seared hard and rested properly, then sliced thick and served with no ceremony. Over a stay like this the menu has to earn its keep across very different meals, not just one big dinner.
There was a 5kg salmon on the barbecue one evening too, and nothing about it went to waste. What was left the next day became a salad — the leftover salmon, grilled courgettes, shallots from the garden, basil, olive oil, cherry tomatoes.
Breakfast was the same every morning, deliberately — scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomato — served in the castle’s dining room before the day’s plans got underway. Most evenings ended with ice cream I’d made that day; the best was a garden-mint version with apples cooked down from the castle’s own trees.
It’s exactly the kind of booking I enjoy most — a full stay’s worth of meals for a family who don’t get to see each other often, cooked from a real kitchen garden rather than a single set menu. I’ve written more about how I approach group stays across Scotland — family reunions, golf weekends, shooting parties — if you’re planning something similar.
In short
In short: three days of breakfast, lunch and dinner for a family reunion at Kilmartin Castle in Argyll, cooked from the castle’s own kitchen garden — a seafood platter with octopus straight off the smoker, seared beef, a 5kg barbecued salmon that became the next day’s lunch, and ice cream made fresh every evening.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you cook for multi-day group stays, not just single events?
Yes — group stays are one of the bookings I do most often: family reunions like this one, golf weekends, shooting parties, sometimes four or five days running. I do the shopping, the prepping and the cooking, so the host doesn’t have to think about food for the whole stay.
What’s included over a multi-day stay like this?
Everything — breakfast, lunch and dinner, every day, cooked from wherever the group is staying. At Kilmartin Castle that meant the castle’s own organic kitchen garden and a proper outdoor cooking set-up, but the same approach works in any self-catering house or lodge with a kitchen.
Do you use local suppliers for this kind of booking?
Always where I can. The fish for this stay came from David Lawrie, and the herbs and shallots came straight from the castle’s own garden — sourcing locally is part of how I cook, wherever the booking is.
I’ve been cooking professionally for 35+ years, with 220+ five-star Google reviews from clients across Scotland. If you’re planning a group stay, family reunion or multi-day gathering, get in touch and check a date.