Summer dining on Arran

Café Thyme

Café Thyme is part of the family business comprising the Old Byre Visitor Centre in Machrie. It is run by a Scottish Turkish couple Lorna and Hamza and this mix is reflected within the menu. Offering good coffee, home baking, 30 loose leaf teas and delicious lunches which are a little bit different. There is a large wood burning oven and the speciality flatbreads and pides, a Turkish style pizza/calzone are baked in this. Made from scratch you can choose 12 different fillings which are cleverly created by Hamza using as much local produce as possible. There are meat options, vegetarian and vegan and they cater for any food intolerances as necessary. Also on the menu are homemade soups, sandwiches, haddock, burgers and a range of salads and handcut chips. The salads couldn’t be fresher as the homegrown leaves and herbs are grown on site and picked each morning.

The views are spectacular, Café Thyme looks out onto Kintyre beyond the fields, Druid standing stone and sea. If you’re lucky the highland cows will have wandered over to be in your photos too. There is a large well equipped children’s play area opposite the café so your children can play safely to their hearts desire for only £2.50 to cover the maintenance.

Also at the Visitor Centre is the Old Byre Showroom shop offering knitwear, sustainable clothing, wool throws and accessories. There is also a new shop “The Shoe Bothy”, Arran’s new exclusive shoe shop where there are shoes for children, ladies and gents from pre-walkers, school shoes, trainers, boots, walking shoes, sheepskin slippers and more. Be sure to have a browse while you’re there. The Old Byre Visitor Centre is well worth a visit, open 7 days a week 10am-5pm with lunches served 12-3.30pm. There’s no need to book, just turn up and if the café is full you’ll get given a pager for inside tables, you can browse the shops until a table becomes available.