Dornoch – The Hot Chocolate Chaser and a Medieval Cathedral
A few hours.
The route
Cocoa Mountain's chocolate makers started out at Balnakeil on the north coast, and their Dornoch shop pours the same thick hot chocolate in a long sandstone building on Castle Street.
Order the chaser, a hot chocolate with four of their handmade chocolates of your own choosing. Then cross the street to Dornoch Cathedral, the small, honey-coloured cathedral Bishop Gilbert began in the 1220s, with its Carnegie windows and gargoyles in the eaves.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Links House at Royal Dornoch in Dornoch.
The day
Dornoch
A hot chocolate and a handful of truffles on Castle Street, then a quiet half hour in the cathedral across the road.
About an hour and a half
Cocoa Mountain Dornoch
Hot chocolate
Cocoa Mountain is on Castle Street in the middle of Dornoch, a long, low sandstone building with its name spelled out across the front and blue picnic tables outside. Park on the streets round the Square, or in the public car park on The Meadows, about five minutes' walk away. It opens every day from 9am to 6pm; from November, check its own page for the winter hours. The thing to order is the chaser: a hot chocolate with four chocolates of your choosing from the rows under the glass. There are cakes too, and croissants filled with dark chocolate or chocolate and toffee, and the tins of hot chocolate to take home. If it's full, Milk & Honey on the High Street, a couple of minutes away, does coffee and homemade cakes, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 4pm.
Dornoch Cathedral
An attraction
Dornoch Cathedral is across Castle Street, a minute's walk. It's free to visit, with a chance to give a donation, and open in daylight all year; it's a working parish church, so on Sundays wait until the 11am service is over. Gilbert de Moravia, Bishop of Caithness, built it at his own expense, and the first service was held in 1239. A clan feud set it on fire in 1570, and it was not fully restored until the 1830s. Look for the gargoyles set in the eaves outside, and inside, the stained glass on the north side of the chancel, given in memory of Andrew Carnegie, who spent his summers at Skibo, near Dornoch. From June to August, volunteers welcome visitors at a table, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. The public toilets are a couple of minutes' walk away in the town.
