BOOKMARK Book Festival
Perthshire's Book Festival
BOOKMARK 2025
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The ingredients to the Gloagburn Farm Shop’s success story over the last 20 years were shared with an appreciative audience at the final BOOKMARK festival event of 2025.
The Blairgowrie and Rattray book festival session, which took place in the St Catherine’s Hall in Blairgowrie on Saturday, November 15th, saw Alison and Ian Niven from the Perthshire-based Gloagburn Farm talk about how the venture has grown, evolved and diversified in the 100 years since the family first took it on.
Alison also described how her new book, Gloagburn – Recipes from a Scottish Farm, in which she shares her secrets for unfussy and delicious home cooking, came about.
Speaking at the event, she said: “This book is both a reflection of our journey and a celebration of the produce of the farm, and the recipes are for food from our own childhoods that have in more recent years also become staples of the restaurant.”
Commenting on what was her first visit to BOOKMARK, Alison continued: "It was lovely to be at the BOOKMARK festival, it was a very nice, friendly event, with lots of familiar faces in the audience.
Thank you to Gail for inviting us - book festivals are all a bit new to us but we’ll hopefully be able to get along to other BOOKMARK events in the future – as audience members!”
Chair of the BOOKMARK festival, Gail Wylie, added: “On behalf of BOOKMARK, I would like to thank Alison and Ian for a lovely afternoon chatting about the history of Gloagburn Farm and the mouth-wateringly tasty recipes that have made the restaurant so popular over the years.
Thanks also to Adventure Into Books and Nest Creative Spaces for joining us with a selection of festive gift ideas, including of course, copies of Alison’s book, and thanks as always to the wonderful BOOKMARK volunteers who provided a fantastic afternoon tea for everyone who came along.”
Gail went on: “This was our final event of 2025, but we’re already looking ahead to our 2026 programme and are currently planning another eclectic series of interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking events.”
Report and photos courtesy of CraicN Communications
Background:
BOOKMARK established in 2012, has developed a reputation for being a friendly, well organised Book Festival which offers a wide range of events to suit all interests.
