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Cafés
on Arran.

It’s 21:03 on Arran.
Isle of Arran

Pide at Machrie, sourdough at Home Farm.

Arran's cafés are full of home baking and good island produce. At Machrie on the west coast, a wood-fired oven built by hand in the Turkish style turns out flatbreads and pide, with big windows over the fields to the sea. An organic sourdough bakery that began in a shed in Blackwaterfoot now bakes bread, croissants and tarts at Home Farm, a mile north of Brodick. In the woods above Kildonan, a café at the start of the Eas Mor trail serves pizzas and burgers in its garden. Arrive early for the bread, as the best of it often sells out.

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From our guide17 hours ago

Forest of the Falls Café.

The Forest of the Falls sits at the start of the Eas Mor trail in the woods above Kildonan, with a garden of tables and a big timber shelter for wet days. It makes a perfect start or finish to a walk to the waterfall and the Library in the Woods. The cooking is homemade and generous. Pizzas are the favourite, with burgers, soups, sandwiches, cakes and good coffee too, and there are plenty of vegan and gluten-free choices. The view from the tables runs over the trees to the sea. The car park is small, so take care pulling in.

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From the magazine14 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 10Issue 10Spring / Summer 2025

George Grassie, a baker in Blackwaterfoot on the Isle of Arran, makes sourdough loaves that slowly spring back after he pushes his fist into them.

'You could drive home sitting on one of my loaves and it would spring back,' says George, and he proves it on a loaf fresh from the oven at Blackwater Bakehouse. Alongside hours of proving and kneading, the secret is flour from ancient or heritage wheats, the grasses grown by Bronze Age farmers and on through the Middle Ages. Modern wheat grows to 1.2 metres at most, not far above mould and pests, while these 'tall wheats' can pass 1.7 metres and thrive naturally. They are rich in vitamins, proteins and minerals, and George says some researchers think you could survive on nothing but these grains, as long as they are fermented and baked into loaves.

See Blackwater Bakehouse · Isle of Arran
Afterwards11 hours agoIsle of ArranDougarie Estate0.6 milesIsle of ArranMachrie Moor Stone Circles2.9 milesIsle of ArranKing's Cave3.6 miles

Round the corner from Cafe Thyme, Machrie.

The three good places closest to it: Dougarie Estate, Machrie Moor Stone Circles and King's Cave.

See Cafe Thyme, Machrie
Somewhere to eat8 hours ago

Blackwater Bakehouse, Isle of Arran.

An organic sourdough bakery, once a shed behind a Blackwaterfoot hotel and now at Home Farm near Brodick, baking bread, croissants and tarts.

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From the magazine2 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 11Issue 11Autumn / Winter 2025–26

At Café Thyme, at Machrie on the Isle of Arran, the Turkish cook Hamza makes pide, a Turkish-style pizza, including one with haggis and cheese.

The café stands next door to the Old Byre, a family business with a story of its own. In the 1960s Lorna Gunaydi's parents started selling sheepskin rugs from their home above the sea at Machrie, and demand grew so quickly that they had to open a shop. The Old Byre still sells sheepskins, now alongside sustainable clothing, and a few years ago Lorna added country shoes, boots and wellies. Her husband Hamza serves his pides with home-grown salad leaves and herbs, and outside there's a playground where you can keep an eye on the children over lunch.

See Cafe Thyme, Machrie · Isle of Arran

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