breakfasts, speciality coffees, patisserie, lunches and light meals, Victoria's offers a unique ambience of quality set in informal surroundings

Victoria's Restaurant & Coffee Shop, Pitlochry

Website Newsletter

Feb 08
Well the big highlight of this month was that Victoria decided blonde was not for her! She has now reverted to her natural, beautiful, dark locks! Yippee! John jetted in for a quick visit and catch up and is off again, this time to Barcelona. He is now a fully fledged first mate having successfully passed his next qualification, so well done to him!

Jan 08
And so to New Year 2008 and party time!! Our traditional, small gathering at our house on 1st seems to be growing every year but this year I think was a new record. Think we’ll have to consider an extension for next year! Great fun was had by all once again with an amazing fireworks display provided by our own private pyrotechnician. Not sure how we top that next year though!! After all the excesses of Christmas & New Year, sister in law Gillian had the fab idea of a girls day away to the Spa at Cameron House over on Loch Lomond. This was a superb day of pampering and relaxing and catching up with each other. Highly recommended! And so to ski holiday and off to Courchevel we go. This year we were a party of 15 and the weather and snow conditions were absolutely fantastic. Burns night was celebrated in true style while over there – we even had haggis!

We certainly gave Courchevel a sight to remember as all the males in the party skied in their kilts! Chilly, but so fantastic to see, made us proud to be Scottish!

Dec 07
Holiday time!! Discovered the beautiful island of St Bart’s this year! John has been telling us for years to visit saying it is the most beautiful island in the Caribbean and we would definitely agree. We had the most perfect trip – it has the sophistication of the South of France combined with the wonderful weather of the Caribbean, quite perfect! We also chartered a boat in the British Virgin Islands for the second half our holiday which, until this trip, was our most perfect place to be in the whole wide world, to date that is! And so holiday over, rested and recharged, we headed home to Bonnie Scotland with the anticipation of our little girl coming home from Kenya for Christmas. It was so exciting waiting for her to come through arrivals at Edinburgh airport but nothing had quite prepared us all for the shock of seeing our gorgeous little girl looking a little different from when she had left home……….. Victoria was a blonde!! …….

We had a superb family get together at Creggans Inn, Strachur. Archie & Gillian did an outstanding job of entertaining us all and it was so lovely to be able to spend time with them after the hectic season. Unfortunately, John didn’t make it home for Christmas this year as he had to work – poor John, bobbing around in the Caribbean on a boat, such a shame! Creggans Inn is a lovely hotel set right on Loch Fyne and the perfect place to switch off and unwind,: it really is a beautiful part of the country over there on the West coast and you should try and have a trip over if you get a chance.

Aug 07 – Nov 07
So with our baby girl gone overseas, it is heads down & focus with the priority, season 2007, here at Victoria’s. Once again an incredibly busy year, fantastically rounded off mid October to early November, by the delightful Enchanted Forest, Pitlochry Autumn Festival and Perthshire Amber Festival. This is an exciting time of the year in Pitlochry and area and continues to grow year upon year. It is a lovely time to visit, with lots going on for everyone. Please check out the website at www.pitlochryautumnfestival.co.uk for all the latest. Life is for living though, and we managed to fit in a quick few days out to Majorca for a friend’s birthday party! What a fantastic trip we had out to Pollenca, and never having been before we shall certainly return!

August 2007
Since the age of 10, Victoria has been talking of “going to Africa to look after the children”. We had hoped her passion would have lessened somewhat but it became very apparent while discussing possible Gap Year options that indeed, this what she would be doing! So off to Nairobi went Victoria to work as a volunteer in a school and orphanage there. She adores her work with the children and is teaching Art in the school and helping look after the children in the orphanage as well as working on the commercial side, fund raising. She intends to climb Kilimanjaro during her time out there and knowing Victoria she no doubt will do so! We await her return with great excitement!

JULY 2007

Brother Archie & his wife Gillian and young family have taken over Creggans Inn, Strachur, Nr Dunoon, Argyll (See links page).  It is a stunning location and all of us in the family wish them all the very best in their new venture.  We look forward to fitting in a trip to visit them over on the West Coast as soon as we can.

JUNE 2007

This month Lewis turned 21!  Our little boy is all grown up.  Angus John decided an adventure day out was just the way to celebrate & mark the event. So on the morning of his birthday Angus John, Lewis and 8 of his pals all headed off on their adventure. This was organised through the excellent Nae Limits (see links page) based at Ballinluig junction.  They had the most fantastic day canyoning locally and because of all the rain we have had over this month the conditions were outstanding.  Victoria arrived home from school with 4 girlfriends in celebratory mood with the end of exams and in fact the end of school. The boys were delighted to welcome the girls into the group and we barbequed the evening away and generally had fun with sophisticated games such as British Bulldog and whellbarrow races!  The next night we celebrated Lewis 21st together with all the family based in Pitlochry when we barbequed again but this time didn't keep the neighbours awake!

MAY 2007
John arrived back into the Mediterranean after a fantastic trip delivering the motor yacht he works on from Australia, through the Indian Ocean, Red Sea & Suez Canal ready for charter work this summer season.  He was very chuffed with this beautiful Dorado caught en route.

APRIL 2007

So to April and Victoria's 18th Birthday......  Who can believe she can possibly be 18 already - well certainly not her two big brothers who it seems, still think of her as 12 years old!!  As Victoria boards at Strathallan School and this was smack bang in term time, it was celebrated quietly - anyway, we reckon in the family 21st is the big birthday!  To celebrate, we had a lovely meal out at the excellent Cafe Tabu in Perth. A little corner of France right here in Scotland. The attentive French waiters even sang Happy Birthday to Victoria as they presented her with her cake. All in all it was a lovely evening and then it was straight back to school for her afterwards. Victoria also passed her driving test a few weeks after her birthday, so watch out on the roads everyone!

February 2007
Hi to you all,
To our regular customers, just a wee newsletter on what we have been up to over the winter, and to all our potential new customers who have just found our website, a wee insight into life in the MacLellan clan - Winter mode .............

So after another very busy year and with the Enchanted Forest over, things started to become a bit quieter and we were able to look forward to the beginning of what we call in the family, “Winter Mode”!

This is when we kick back a little, de stress and enjoy some good, quality family time. We had the most fantastic winter period this year with all three of our children home for the entire festive period. Each year has become increasingly more difficult to achieve this as they each have their plans to fulfill, but this year it worked perfectly.

John jetted in from Australia looking more like a “Bondi beach surfing dude” than the “short back & sides first -mate in waiting” that we know he is!! For anyone that knows John, who would ever have predicted that he would ever be seen in a pink flowery Armani designer shirt!!! So with big bro home, Lewis of course postponed his planned ski instructing in Italy until Easter time and little sis Victoria started to plan for party time!

We had a lovely family Christmas Day followed by our spectacular, traditional Boxing Day walk from Killicrankie over the hill to Moulin, ending up in a wee dram at the excellent Moulin Inn.

Partying with friends on Boxing Day night and a birthday party celebration inbetween Christmas & New Year, brought us neatly on to Hogmanay when the whole family brought in 2007 with very good friends here in Pitlochry.

The morning of 1st came round very quickly - or so it seemed for some! So it was off to the Street Party here in town for dancing and celebrations. For any of you who get the chance to be in Pitlochry over the New Year period this is a great way of meeting new people and having fun. Back to tradition again with a small getogether at our house to kick off 2007 with a bang. Nibbles, drinks and fireworks helped us while away the hours as we reminisced over the old year but more importantly, looked forward to the New Year ahead with great expectations and enthusiasim.

Our ski holiday to Courchevel, Trois Valleys, neatly finished off our festivities. We had the most perfect week of blue skies, good snow and excellent company. Could there be anything more perfect? Sitting on the very top of a mountain, on a clear sunny day, sipping hot chocolate with gran Marnier, looking out over the French Alps - just like sitting on top of the world!

So back home to Pitlochry and the beginning of winter mode unravelling...................
John jetted back to Brisbane, Lewis back to university in Glasgow and Victoria back to school.

So for Fiona & Angus John it's back to work mode now with the focus on Victoria's and staffing up for the year ahead. It is always great to get the team back together again after a period of rest and relaxation and we look forward to 2007 with great enthusiasim. We will always have our special memories of our wonderful winter tucked away in our hearts, to be brought out and reminisced over whenever we need them. Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas & New Year where ever in the world you celebrated it. We look forward to seeing you all over this coming year.

Every good wish for 2007,
Fiona & Angus John & family