Claire Macdonald
Claire, Lady Macdonald OBE is a Scottish cookery writer and former hotelier.
Origins and marriage[]
Claire Macdonald was one of three daughters of Captain Thomas Noel Catlow CBE DL RN and his wife Jean (née Nuttall),[1] and lived as a child in Thurland Castle in Lancashire.[2] In 1969 she married Godfrey Macdonald, who the following year, on the death of his father, became the 8th Baron Macdonald and High Chief of Clan Donald.
Hotelier[]
The Macdonald estates on the Isle of Skye had historically been very extensive but the death duties payable on the deaths of Lord Macdonald's grandfather and father necessitated their sale.[3] Lord and Lady Macdonald for the next four decades ran a successful hotel at Kinloch Lodge, a former Macdonald hunting lodge near Isleornsay.[4]
Writer[]
Cookery books:
- Sweet Things (Century, 1984)
- Seasonal Cooking (Corgi, 1986)
- The Harrods Book of Entertaining (Ebury Press, 1986)
- Delicious Fish (Grafton, 1986)
- More Seasonal Cooking (Bantam Press, 1987)
- Lady Macdonald’s Chocolate Book (Ebury, 1988)
- Celebrations (Bantam, 1989)
- Lady Macdonald’s Scotland: the Best of Scottish Food and Drink (Bullfinch Press, 1990)
- Quick and Easy Desserts and Puddings (BBC Books, 1993)
- Suppers (Doubleday, 1994)
- Lunches (Doubleday, 1996)
- The Claire Macdonald Cookbook (Bantam, 1997)
- Claire Macdonald’s Scottish cookery (Pitkin, 1998)
- Claire Macdonald’s Simply Seasonal: delicious recipes for year-round informal entertaining (Bantam, 2001)
- Claire Macdonald’s Entertaining Solo: delicious recipes for single cooks who like to entertain (Bantam, 2002)
- Scottish Highland Hospitality: New Recipes from the Scottish Highlands and Islands (Black & White, 2003)
- Fish: inspiring fish recipes for creative cooks (Bantam, 2006)
- The Scottish Salmon Bible (Birlinn, 2013)
- The Scottish Food Bible (Birlinn, 2014)
- The Claire Macdonald Game Cookbook (Birlinn, 2015)
Memoirs:
Lifting the lid: a life at Kinloch Lodge, Skye (Birlinn, 2012).
Honours and awards[]
Lady Macdonald is a Patron of Scottish Food Fortnight and The Association of Scottish Farmers’ Markets.[5] She has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. In 2008 she received an honorary doctorate from Abertay University and in 2011, she was given the National Farmers' Union of Scotland’s Ambassador Award.[6] She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours List on 31 December 2013.[7]
Family[]
Lord and Lady Macdonald have four children:[8]
- The Hon. Alexandra Louise Macdonald
- The Hon. Isabella Claire Macdonald (who now runs Kinloch Lodge)
- The Hon. Meriel Iona Macdonald
- The Hon Godfrey Evan Hugo Thomas Macdonald.
References[]
- ^ Capt Tommy Catlow – obituary, Daily Telegraph, 4 September 2014
- ^ Lady Claire Macdonald. - The red rose of Kinloch, Lancashire Life, 10 November 2009
- ^ Lady Claire Macdonald bangs the drum for Scottish food, Sunday Herald, 4 August 2012
- ^ Kinloch Lodge web-site, accessed 15 March 2018
- ^ The Hot Scots Power 40: Lady Claire Macdonald, The Caterer, 21 February 2013
- ^ Scotsman chef Macdonald wins NFUS ambassador award, The Scotsman, 14 February 2011
- ^ The London Gazette, 31 December 2013
- ^ Burke's Peerage, 2003
External links[]
- Kinloch Lodge hotel web-site
- Living people
- Scottish chefs
- Scottish food writers
- Irish baronesses
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Women cookbook writers
- Women food writers
- People from the Isle of Skye