Claire is a storyteller based in the rural Highlands of Perthshire.

For this project I had a big chat with her and asked her about her work and her stories about bread and this is what I discovered:

Claire has travelled the globe and loves to tell the stories from places she has a connection with, whether that be by visiting the place, meeting the people, cooking the food, or listening to the music…. She has eaten oatcakes and dried reindeer heart under the Northern Lights , with people from the Sami community somewhere over the Arctic Circle.

She has baked bannocks and made the butter and jam to go with them, while telling the stories of the Scottish Drovers and their families, to children now living in those places where they were once to be found.

Claire shared with me the story of the adventure of a boy whose mother manages to make her last wee bit of meal into a bannock, which then jumps up and rolls away. Here’s my version of Bannocks Galore…

Claire is a respectful and committed tradition bearer, and a nourisher of life in every sense.

She loves baking bread and has created many wonderful projects like The Giant’s Kitchen. Here’s her recipe for Sligo Soda Bread.

One Summer she filled her wee red car with baking gear to make bread and tell stories in her local community, bringing interesting, nourishing activities to children in need of them, over the long hol-idays.
The local area is rich with tales of giants; stealing cattle and sheep and flour and so she made these tales the focus of their time together.

The project involved getting the children to make all different types of bread as they listened spellbound to the stories, and added elements of those stories to their baking, like bread giants or croissants in the shape of giant’s horns.

She is also a singer and once created a song with the Camphill Community for whom baking seasonal breads are part of the rhythm of the year, just as their daily bread is a rhythm of the day. Every day at 11am residents have a break from their activities and one of the community goes to fetch the freshly baked rolls from the bakery, one for every person. As part of a celebration in music of their 50th year, she wrote a song with them all about the bakery and what goes on there, it was a glorious, joyous celebration complete with joining in actions.

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