Want the secret to making the world’s best butteries? It may have something to do with walks up Bennachie and other mountains, if Mark Barnett’s weekends are anything to go by. The reigning world buttery champion loves spending his Saturday mornings hiking in the Aberdeenshire hills. In fact, speaking to the P&J at the Inverurie Farmers Market, he’d just completed his 100th ascent of Bennachie, part of an ongoing effort to climb it 52 times this year — that’s once every weekend.
The reason? Fitness, says Mark, who’s trying to look after his health more as he approaches his 55th birthday. “It’s a worry for everybody,” he says. “The older you get, the less you tend to do.
” Bennachie, however, is small fry for Mark. The previous weekend, he completed the 18-mile Lochnagar loop that takes in five of Scotland’s 282 Munros — mountains over 3,000 feet. How does a buttery champion start his weekend right? With an early rise Mark’s weekends don’t start with the walk.
The New Pitsligo man is out of bed at 10.30pm on Friday night so he can start baking at midnight. Wife Lorraine is up at 4.
30am so the couple can be ready for their weekend round of farmers’ markets, where Mark’s world buttery title is proudly on display. He wears many hats. He used to work as a baker on oil rigs and now works for Aberdeenshire Council’s roads department.
Lorraine runs New Pitsligo chipper, . Mark’s — Covid and various other challenges mean the world buttery championship has yet to be held again. But like all the best world titles it completely changed his life.
He used to bake about 70 butteries on a Saturday morning, but now has a machine that allows him to do 180 every 10 minutes. Summer weekends are especially busy for him as he’s in demand at the many agricultural shows. He sent 500 butteries to the Turriff Show this month and 150 even made it to the Black Isle Show in the Highlands.
Meanwhile, he recently devised a recipe for an all-day breakfast pie, which includes bacon, sausage and even beans. What does a world buttery champion have for a weekend breakfast? Mark’s own weekend breakfast consists of — you guessed it — butteries. “Just butter on it,” he says.
“If it’s a couple of days old, then I’ll toast it with jam, no butter. “But of course I can get them straight from the oven, and you don’t need butter then. They just melt in your mouth.
” Once the farmers’ markets are done for the day, Mark plays snooker with friend John Robertson, who owns a garage in New Pitsligo. “I tend to win every time,” Mark smiles. “I’ve started giving John a frame head start, but he still loses.
” Sundays are for golf. Mark plays off a decent 15 or 16 handicap and enjoys holidays to Portugal and Turkey for rounds with friends. In fact, ask him what his ideal weekend would look like and he immediately answers: “Golf.
” He adds: “It would ideally be somewhere in Portugal — jump on a flight late Friday, play a few rounds then back on Monday. But unfortunately the lottery win hasn’t come in yet.” That said, Mark’s perfect weekend — golf followed by a bit of snooker — sounds a lot like his actual one.
“Yeah,” he agrees. “I kind of live the perfect life. “But don’t tell Lorraine that.
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