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Aberdeenshire farmservants' chamer accommodation and food in...

Date 18 November 1980
Track ID 49600
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1980.105

Original Tape ID

SA1980.105

Summary

Aberdeenshire farmservants' chamer accommodation and food in the 1920s; anecdote about cooking turnips.

Charles Reid describes the chamer [room] where he was accommodated on his first farm. It was above the hay house in the stable, and was reached through a hole in the floor, which could be closed to keep out draughts. Heat rose from the horses below. The farmer wakened the workers in the morning at 4.45. Mr Reid saw to the cattle before breakfast at 6.00. They had brose: the kitchie deem [kitchen maid] poured on the quantity of hot water that each man wanted [on his oatmeal], then they helped themselves to milk. Porridge would have taken too long to make.

For supper they might have neep [turnip] or kail brose, made with the bree [cooking water] in which the vegetables had been cooked, then the vegetables with milk. Mr Reid tells how he complained about the neeps at a Burns Supper and explained that they have to be cooked slowly. At Bogs of Rora the mistress was his old schoolteacher, Mrs Mackie.

Item Location

County - Aberdeenshire

Language

Scots

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good