You may remember our delicious Scottish-themed cocktail: Caledon , which we shared on Christmas Eve in 2024. This remains one of our most popular blog posts, so we thought we would share another one for you on this All Hallow's Eve! With that in mind, I am pleased to introduce you to: The Raighvan Park , inspired by Judith Crow's novella, The Folly at Raighvan Park, which you can find here . Here are your step by step instructions for creating this gothic beverage (have we just invented the gothtail ?!) It's deliciously dark, as you might expect, with a hint of the upper-class style of the novella. You will need: 1. Port 2. Patron Xo Cafe (you could use any other coffee liqueur) 3. Soda water with lime 4. Ginger ale 5. Pepsi Max 6. Liquorice Time to put them all together... 1. Pour one shot of coffee liqueur into a large wine glass. 2. Add one shot of port. Remember, a gothic gentleman loves his port! 3. Now onto the non-alcoholic additions... include two shots of soda wat...
Review I should begin this review by apologising to Dan Bailes, the author. I had promised to review Marlon's most recent adventure months ago but, after a very busy three or four months, I'm only just getting round to it. But I am so pleased I did eventually get round to reading Marlon and the Scary Something . It is a charming book, and one which deals with issues of anxiety and fear in childhood in a way that rarely strays into being heavy-handed. The story follows Marlon, a cat who certainly feels like he's got the cream! He's just lounging around and winding up his brother when suddenly a dog appears! He doesn't even know what a dog is at this point - he just knows that this new arrival makes him feel afraid. Over the course of the book, Marlon realises that the best thing to do is to face his fear and, eventually, it all ends very well. This is a personal book for the author, who explains in the afterword that he experienced anxiety as a child. This reall...