Scone Spy thinks the charming Coco Works in Inverurie is on the right track

Coco Works Inverurie (Derek Ironside/Newsline Media)

IT’S fair to say that as far as commuting nightmares go, this one was up there.

Foul weather, late trains, laptop meltdown and an altercation over station parking. Help ma Boab!

I’m about to go off the rails when I notice the sign for Coco Works Coffee House, part of the pretty Victorian station complex in the bustling Aberdeenshire market town of Inverurie.

The B-listed café’s reputation goes before it, as it was once the Earl of Kintore’s private waiting room. I step into its wood-panelled interior and am instantly transported to another era.

The dulcet tones of Nat King Cole singing Smile waft languidly from a wartime wireless, and bistro chairs from the last century border pretty little tables topped with sweet smelling roses.

Vintage cases are piled one on top of the other on a shelf above the loo and over the period mantlepiece hangs a sign: “Come gather by our fireside, sit long, talk much, laugh often.”

Don’t mind if I do.

I collapse into a chair by the fire and I’m rewarded with an equally warm welcome by waitress Louisa Hansen. The cares of the commute are already starting to melt away.

We chat for a while and I eventually settle on an imaginative, home-baked lemon and poppy seed scone – my first of this variety – and a pot of tea.

The tea arrives with a tiny egg timer so that I can be sure it’s perfectly brewed. And the scone comes with raspberry jam in a cute glass jar, while the butter is neatly presented in an equally dainty cup. The delight here is in the detail.

Both the tea and scone are perfect. The latter is light, with just the right amount of crunch, and subtly tangy with the merest hint of citrus, while the poppy seeds add a surprisingly enjoyable texture.

Beside me, teenage lads baring suit bags and holdalls engage in some friendly banter over a cappuccino and mums sporting shopping bags settle down for a bite to eat.

The variety, quality and even the prices on this menu are impressive. Everything on the specials list is £7.95, including the Boozy Chicken: succulent with Monterey Jack cheese and Tracklements apple cider and brandy chutney.

Coco Works – which takes its name from the nearby locomotive works which closed in 1968 – was opened in 2012 by local couple Jennie and George Lawson.

And every inch of their sensitive renovation reflects the golden era of rail – so much so that they won a National Railway Heritage Award for the work.

No prizes, then, for guessing that this reviewer is already booking a return.

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned welcome, a delicious scone and the perfect cuppa to get a body back on track.