To a hoose – ‘We hae meat’ and Robert Burns

As the 25th of January approaches and Scottish conversation turns to haggis, Burns poetry and wee drams, we’re telling the story of our own very special links to the Bard of Ayrshire.

Firstly, did you know that we took inspiration for our name from Burns ‘Selkirk Grace’?

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it,

But we hae meat and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Make sure you have it memorised before sitting down at your Burns Supper!

We both hail from Ayrshire, so this regional connection would be our second link.

And for our final link, we come to a farm – Craigenton Farm, in Turnberry.

Once the home farm to Robert Burns’ maternal grandparents and mother, amazingly, this same farm is also the location where our very own Carlyn was brought up and which her older brother farms today.

Burns’ mother lived in Craigenton in her early years. Although its not known that Robert Burns himself ever visited Craigenton, as a ploughman at other farms in his early years meant that he was no stranger to hard graft in the fields.

Known to many as ‘The Ploughman’s Poet’, farming life proved to be a treasure trove of inspiration for some of Burns’ most famous poetry, from ‘The Ploughman’ to those tim’rous beasties in ‘To a Mouse’!

We are getting set for our annual Burns Supper. And in the run-up to 2016’s celebrations, we’ve had nothing but haggis on the brain!

This year, we’re putting a twist on our traditional ‘Address to a Haggis’ as we’ll be sitting down to a hearty feast of Haggis Olives – don’t worry, there’ll be heaps of neeps and tatties too.

Fancy doing the same? You’ll find our new Haggis Olives at Co-operative Food. Don’t forget to share your photos!

Have a braw nicht!