The Coo Shed and Minecraft

Laigh Balsarroch Farmhouse is described on  Sykes Cottages website as "a wonderful, detached abode proudly positioned on the outskirts of Dalrymple in East Ayrshire. Surrounded by countryside, this haven boasts two toasty woodburning stoves, ground-floor living, and a stylish open-plan design, making it a fabulous escape for families or groups of friends seeking tranquillity in Scotland. Outside, the rear patio offers a serene spot to enjoy the surrounding countryside views and bask in the calmness of this rural retreat". And they are not wrong! 

And so we basked in that serene calmness all morning. Ben at the dining room table catching up with a lecture he had missed, Lucy and Maia studying at a table upstairs in the spacious hallway and Isla reading a book in the lounge. Laura and Kev were soaking and chatting in the hot tub and Jackie was baking cakes in the kitchen. And where were you, I hear you thinking? Well I was sitting in front of the second, unlit but potentially toasty woodburning stove, sweating over today's epistle, in the vain hope that someone may read my musings.

The Coo Shed is a triumph of business marketing. Take the well tried business model of adding a restaurant to an established plant nursery, but give it a quirky name and put cow themed decor throughout, from the light fittings to the toilet door signs. Make sure the word unique appears in your first internet review, safe in the knowledge that all subsequent review sites will just copy and paste the existing information and there you have it.  What is essentially an average garden centre café gets its own brown tourist road sign. But perhaps I do the place a disservice, as Trip Advisor does list it as Number 3 in the top ten Ayrshire cafés, just below Milport's Dancing Midge Café.

One fairly unique feature was it's automated milk bar, where for a mere £4.50 one could dispense a litre of fresh milk into a glass bottle flavoured with your choice of syrup. The service was controlled by contactless payment points and was open 24/7, ideal for those times you wake in the middle of the night and think "I really need a litre of fresh banana flavoured milk right now". If that's you, then the Coo Shed is the place.

Anyone who has been a child or had a child in the last 20 years will be familiar with Minecraft, which is still considered to be the world's most popular computer game. Our teenage contingent are no exception and decided that the new Minecraft movie was a must see. Ben summed up the collective mood saying "I know it will be bad but I feel I have to see it". So they spent the afternoon at the Ayr Astoria while we spent it in Tesco getting in the supplies for the rest of the week. If you are considering going to see the movie here are some honest reviews given by 4 members of the target audience.

Isla: rubbish, but I'm not too disappointed as I knew it was going to be bad anyway

Maia: it was something

Lucy: if I hadn't been in a strange town, I would have left half way through

Ben: it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but only because I thought it would be really bad

You have been warned.Read more