News
Friday, November 7th, 2008
Cloudhouse will be joining in the 10-day celebration of the 7th Borders Banquet of showcasing the best locally produced ingredients available in the Scottish Borders.
We always try hard to reduce our food miles and source local produce - this week help us celebrate the best of the Borders.
Our suppliers
Border Berries, Rutherford Farm, Kelso. www.borderberries.co.uk
Cool As, Farmhouse ice cream, Overlangshaw Farm.
Traquair Ale, Traquair House, Innerleithen. www.traquair.co.uk/brewery.html
Broughton Ale, Broughton, Biggar. www.broughtonales.co.uk
Tweed Valley Organics, Veggy boxes and fruit delivered, Greenlaw. www.tweedvalleyorganics.co.uk
Borderfields Rapeseed Oil, Coldstream. www.borderfieldsrapeseedoil.co.uk
Patsy’s Pantry, homemade chutneys and pickles, Foulden. www.patsyspantry.co.uk
Gilchester Organics, organic stoneground flour from Northumberland. www.gilchesters.com
Grahams Family Dairy, organic milk and butter, Bridge of Allan. www.grahamsfamilydairy.com
Standhill Cheesery, Hawick. www.earthy.co.uk/suppliers.php?supplier=20
Vegware, sustainable and compostable disposable coffee cups and packaging, Edinburgh. www.vegware.com
The Jam Kitchen, West Craigie Farm, Edinburgh. www.thejamkitchen.com
The Chocolate Tree, amazing chocolate from Gifford, East Lothian. www.the-chocolate-tree.co.uk
Wicken Fen, vegetarian sausages, Duns. www.wickenfen.co.uk
Border Meringues, Kelso. www.border-meringues.co.uk
Chain Bridge Honey Farm, natural honey and beeswax products, Berwick-upon-Tweed. www.chainbridgehoney.co.uk
Exclusive cakes, delicious Scottish tea loaf, wedding and birthday cakes made to order, Dalkeith. www.exclusive-cakes.co.uk
Muirhouse Farm supply pheasant sausages from their estate, Stow.
More info about the Borders Banquet at http://www.bordersbanquet.co.uk
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Monday, November 3rd, 2008
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Cloudhouse were delighted to receive a ‘Highly Commended’ award at the prestigious “Taste Scottish Borders - Eating Out Awards 2008″. Claudia Bolling accepted the award at the Tweed Horizons centre on Monday 3 November.
Thanks to all of our customers who voted for us!
About “Taste Scottish Borders - Eating Out Awards”
Borders residents and visitors to the region are being encouraged to nominate their favourite food and drink establishments for the 2008 Taste Scottish Borders Eating Out Awards. The popular contest is now in its seventeenth year and has been updated as part of the Taste Scottish Borders initiative aimed at promoting the region’s entire food and drink offer, from hotels and restaurants to food producers and specialist shops.
http://www.tfcfoodservices.com/promotion.htm
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Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
Cloudhouse celebrates its first birthday today! A massive thank you to all our customers who have supported us over the year … to celebrate we are giving our customers today a free cake and entry into a prize draw to win an evening of fine dining at our Borders Banquet evening on Saturday 15th November.
… Good Luck and Thanks!
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Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Cloudhouse are supporting the Afghan Schools trust by exhibiting and selling craft items donated by the trust. If your yurt poles need a cover then check it out!  We also have on dispaly some beautiful lapis lazuli jewellery and polished pieces, for which Afghanistan is famed. More items for sale include intricately woven textiles and other interesting items.
About the Afghan Schools Trust
The Afghan Schools Trust is a small charity dedicated to improving the lives and opportunities of children in Afghanistan. They fund and support community initiatives, particularly in areas outside the reach of government or NGO assistance. So far they have provided complete funding for four schools educating over 400 girls and boys in Nuristan, northeast Afghanistan. They also fund teacher training courses for the local men and who run and staff the schools.
To help support the efforts of Afghan communities to educate their children for the future, please donate at www.afghanschools.org.
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Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Having just perfected our gluten free carrot cake Cloudhouse are happy to be listed in the most recent edition of “A Passport to Gluten Free Living in the Borders”.
This publication is an invaluable resource to all coeliacs in the area. Hats off to Helen Houston, who lives in Stow, and the local Coeliac UK group commitee for all the time and effort they put into making this such a comprehensive guide.
You can download the booklet, as a PDF, here : A Passport to Gluten Free Living in the Borders
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Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Southern Reporter, by Mark Inchley www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk
It’s a long way from the bustling streets of New York City, but the sleepy village of Stow is proving quite an inspiration for international artist Alexandra Warren.
Nine years ago, the talented painter was working at her brother’s café in New York when a chance encounter with Borders artist Jackie Selcraig sparked a lasting friendship, out of which grew a love for the Borders that has transformed both her family life and her art.
Now, Alexandra lives in Stow with her husband David and two daughters, where, she says, she couldn’t be happier.
“When we got married, we came over for our honeymoon and loved it so much we decided to move here to live,” she explained.
“There’s lots of different things I love about Scotland and the Borders in particular, from the countryside and the hills to being able to drive on single track roads, which you don’t get in the States.
“We also really appreciate having schools within local communities that kids can walk to. That’s a really valuable thing.”
Alexandra and her family originally moved to Fountainhall, where they lived for four years before setting up home in Stow last May, where she continues to juggle family life with painting.
“We found a wonderful home here last year,” she explained. “It has a separate garage with skylights, perfect for a studio, which is one of the fabulous things about the place.”
Born in New York in 1963, Alexandra actually grew up in Greece where her love of art began. Since then, she has studied at New York’s Colgate University, Syracuse University in Florence and the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting.
Her work has been purchased by private collectors in the United States, United Kingdom and Greece, and has been exhibited at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, the Fulbright Foundation in Athens, the Robert Frey Gallery in Seattle and the Traditional Acupuncture Institute, Columbia.
And now the Cloudhouse in Stow, where three of her oil paintings are currently being exhibited.
Cloudhouse Café and Gallery opened in October and features the work of local artists, including an exhibition of contemporary Scottish photography currently on display.
“It’s a really nice gallery,” Alexandra continued. “I think it suits my work and it’s great to be able to just go down the road and enjoy it.
“The pieces there are some of my older work. It’s hard to describe the style. It’s still evolving, but I guess it’s figurative rather than realistic.
“I think of them as internal portraits. In my more current paintings the figures are more distinct.”
Now, the busy mother-of-two is working towards a solo exhibition at Cloudhouse in August to coincide with the Edinburgh festivals, which she says will have a very different feel to it.
“Being a full-time mother has influenced my paintings quite a lot,” she explained “I still tend to paint figures but I’m more aware of life now since becoming a mother. “My two daughters are in one picture and there’s another of my mother, my sister and me. It really reflects where I am now and it’s quite a change from before. “As well as that, since moving here, my paintings have got brighter and there’s a certain green that keeps popping up in them. I guess it’s inevitable that living in the countryside will inspire you in that way.”
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Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
Southern Reporter www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk
STOW is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its town hall this weekend, writes Sally Gillespie.
And anticipation is high that The Stow Hat (pictured) will take pride of place during the two-day festivities.
The foundation stone was laid in February 1854. Local landowner Alexander Mitchell Innes gave the ground and paid the £1,000 to build the hall. Three years later, the former Grenadier Guard captain and Oxford graduate returned with his mother to open the new facility.
Villagers have lined up a variety of events to celebrate their hall, including a photograph exhibition, cheese and wine party, and a community fair. But perhaps the highlight will be the Saturday afternoon’s return of The Stow Hat to the village from Abbotsford. The 17th-century relic belonged to the burgessmen of Stow and was rescued by Sir Walter Scott – but not before the last man wearing it, Andrew Henderson from Lauder, cut a pair of soles for his slippers from the brim of it! The headpiece dates back to about 1690 when a Baillie of Regality ran local government in Stow. At installations, burgessmen had to wear the large cocked hat with a rim a foot broad, which became known as The Stow Hat’.
The historic headwear is likely to have been worn by the baillies during some of their duties such as taking people to court, collecting rent, gathering tolls, guarding fishing rights on rivers – and officiating at witch burnings.
The hat has been loaned to villagers for the anniversary and will be on display in the town hall.
The anniversary proclamation takes place at 2pm on Saturday and is followed by the community group fair (2.30-5pm) when local groups such as the football club, Wooplaw Community Woodland, Stow sports committee, Chernobyl Children Lifeline and others will be present.
In the evening, the Town Hall Soiree,
an informal musical evening including more than 22 local musicians, starts at 7.30pm, compered by John Wilkinson which will also include addresses by ‘the ghosts’ of Alexander Mitchell Innes and of Reverend Robertson speaking from 1857.
Tomorrow, the exhibition of old and new photographs of Stow, Fountainhall and surrounding area, memorabilia and maps opens at 2pm. The evening’s cheese and wine party is being hosted by Stow Pensioners Group and the evening will also include an opening party at the Cloudhouse Cafe with special guest Jeremy Purvis MSP.
The year after the hall was opened, Alexander Mitchell, who went on to become a Liberal MP, established a reading room and library, and supplied money, books and a daily copy of The Times.
The new hall preceded the new village of Stow by eight years – and Mr Mitchell Innes also went on to fund the building of the new parish church.
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