Claire, Lady Macdonald OBE is a Scottish cookery writer and former hotelier.

Biography

Claire Macdonald is one of three daughters of Captain Thomas Noel Catlow

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

DL RN and his wife Jean (née Nuttall), and lived as a child in

Thurland Castle Thurland Castle is a country house in Lancashire, England which has been converted into apartments. Surrounded by a moat, and located in parkland, it was originally a defensive structure, one of a number of castles in the Lune Valley. It is reco ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. In 1969 she married Godfrey Macdonald, who the following year, on the death of his

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

, became the 8th

Baron Macdonald Baron Macdonald, of Slate in the County of Antrim, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1776 for Sir Alexander Macdonald, 9th Baronet, of Sleat. The Macdonald family of Sleat descends from Uisdean Macdonald (died 1498), als ...

and High Chief of

Clan Donald Clan Donald, also known as Clan MacDonald ( gd, Clann Dòmhnaill; Mac Dòmhnaill ), is a Highland Scottish clan and one of the largest Scottish clans. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry i ...

. Lord and Lady Macdonald have four children: *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

Hotelier

The Macdonald estates on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

had historically been very extensive but the death duties payable on the deaths of Lord Macdonald's grandfather and father necessitated their sale. Lord and Lady Macdonald for the next four decades ran a successful hotel at Kinloch Lodge, a former Macdonald hunting lodge near

Isleornsay Isleornsay (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Iarmain) is a village lying off the main Armadale to Sleat road (the A851) on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It overlooks, but is not upon, the island of Ornsay. The island itself shelters one of the best nat ...

Honours and awards

Lady Macdonald is a Patron of Scottish Food Fortnight and The Association of Scottish Farmers’ Markets. She has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the

Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) was founded in Edinburgh in 1784 as the Highland Society of Edinburgh. The Society had its root in 1723 when the Society of Improvers of the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland was ...

. In 2008 she received an honorary doctorate from

Abertay University , mottoeng = "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom." , established = 1994 – granted University Status 1888 – Dundee Institute of Technology , type = Public , chancellor = Alice Brown , principal = Liz Bacon , head_label = Chair of C ...

and in 2011, she was given the

National Farmers' Union of Scotland The National Farmers' Union of Scotland is an organisation that promotes and protects the interests of the country's farming industry. It was formed in 1913, and has approximately 10,000 members who are farmers, crofters and others involved in Sc ...

’s Ambassador Award. She was appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the New Year Honours List on 31 December 2013.''The London Gazette''
31 December 2013

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).

References

External links

* Kinloch Lodg
hotel website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Claire Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Scottish women chefs Scottish food writers Irish baronesses Officers of the Order of the British Empire Women cookbook writers People from the Isle of Skye