FANS of a smash hit historical drama will get the chance to dine Jacobite style in a special tour which visits Cowdenbeath.

TV series Outlander, set in Inverness during the Jacobite Rebellion, has been a success around the world and now passionate fans of the show are flocking to Fife to catch a glimpse of the locations where the scenes were filmed. This year, Cowdenbeath cook, Jenny Thomson, is set to open the doors of her stunning Victorian manse, The Gables, to tourists wanting to try their hand at Jacobite dining.

Teaming up with Gerry McMullan, who has his own tour guide business, Carnegie Touring, Jenny will offer visitors a unique chance to go back to the 18th century and try the same culinary delights that the series’ characters would have eaten.

Jenny has been running her business, Courses for Cooks, for around four years now, teaching from her stunning home on Old Perth Road, and focuses on cooking courses, from small groups to doing ‘demo and dines.’ But after the success of the TV show, which is based on bestselling author Diana Gabaldon’s eight book series, teaching excited Outlanders fans about Jacobite dining might be her most unusual lesson yet.

“It’s great, I’m really excited,” she said. “It’s a huge subject, a subject which in certain areas has been lost, and people don’t have the knowledge any more.

“I hope it will provide a boost - I’m looking forward to it and think it will be great.

“We started talking and Gerry explained that there was a huge market for people who wanted to experience the books they read.

“The books really go into detail about the food and it was a way to give people something different.” Different will certainly be the key to the experience, as burgers and chips were nowhere to be seen in Scotland during the 1740s. Instead, guests will get the chance to learn about the kind of foods that were eaten back then, and even get a chance to try their hands at it themselves.

“18th century food was all very traditional,” explained Jenny (seen growing some of the ingrediatents), “It’s going back to things like tail broth and old, historical recipes with foods like haggis and barley bread. They used a lot of oats and ate things like porridge. It’s about taking people back to the 18th century.

“It’s really interesting. In the 18th century a lot of herbs were used and it will be good to make people aware of why they were used, for medicinal purposes as well as taste. The Auld Alliance between Scotland and France meant there was also a French influence and there was a huge trade in wine and all sorts of things - it’s like a food timeline.

“From nettles to salmon, herring, trout, venison and hare, they had a very ecological way of living.” To find out more about the classes Jenny offers, visit www.coursesforcooks.com