Holiday in Fife: Days 6 and 7: Cambo Gardens, St Andrews and Crail to Anstruther Coastal Walk

Cambo Gardens were our first port of call on Thursday 24 March. It is our third visit to these lovely gardens. They are famous for their snowdrop display, which was just about finished, but there were still plenty of Spring bulbs to see - and the pigs!

 The forest walk leads down to the sea.

The stables, which are going to be refurbished shortly.

Some of the pigs - you can buy potatoes to feed them. So cute! There was a sow with a litter of piglets in a distant area, but we didn't go over to disturb them.

A collage of some of the flowers and statues we saw; including hellebores, primroses etc.

We had a morning coffee and cake in the cafe - dogs allowed and gluten free available, so it gets my vote! I think we might have been the only people there apart from the staff.

For lunch, we went back into St Andrews to Tulsi - a Thai and Indian Restaurant. We had the vegetable thali, which was delicious. A large compartmentalised tray each of rice, dal, okra, aubergine and spinach with potato curries. The owner/waiter was very friendly and helpful. Rob had a mixed veg curry instead of the okra with his, and parathas. We were also given complimentary poppadoms with mango chutney. With two soft drinks, the bill came to £31.40. There was far more than we could eat, although I would have liked to! The food was mildly spiced, but with plenty of flavour, made with freshly prepared vegetables and herbs. I am sure we will return next time we are in St Andrews.

On Friday 25 March, it was another sunny day, so we headed out to walk from Crail to Anstruther along the coastal path. This is one of my favourite sections of the walk. 

Looking back to Crail harbour.

Strange rock formations.

Cellardyke.

Anstruther harbour.

We had a coffee and cake in the Coast Coffee Cafe, sitting outside overlooking the harbour. Very pleasant! We just had time to wander around the harbour before heading to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Crail. The buses run along the coast hourly during the day.

Lunch was at the Crail Harbour Gallery. Dogs are allowed (at least in the garden) and we piled in there with everyone else on this lovely day. The garden overlooks a small sloping area with chickens in it, and beyond that, the sea. It is quite 'cosy', so everyone soon started chatting and it was a very friendly little party. The Cafe serves paninis and fish dishes, but sadly no vegetarian gluten free food, apart from cake. Rob had a cheese panini with salad and crisps. I had yet another piece of cake: this one with apple. I would definitely come back to this cafe again, though, for the coffee and the view.

The week had gone very quickly, as holidays always do, but I'm sure we'll be back for another visit to Fife. The best bits were the lovely coastal walks, visiting the pretty fishing villages of the East Neuk, and shopping in St Andrews. Most of the cafes we visited were very good - my favourite lunch was at Cuppa Coffee House in Pittenweem, favourite main meal at Tulsi, and favourite takeaway (we only had one, but it was good - hot and spicy!) was from Eastern Touch in Anstruther.

Holiday in Fife: Day Four

Another sunny day, so it was off to Cambo Gardens, Kingsbarns, near St Andrews.

There is a huge Victorian walled garden with a vegetable plot, herbaceous borders, fruit trees etc.

One reason we picked this garden to visit was the fact that they allow dogs on a lead, so Brock was able to accompany us. We took the woodland walk down to the beach and found another golf course running along the coast, and part of the Fife Coastal Path.

There is a small covered courtyard where you can enjoy tea, coffee and cakes. The waitress managed to produce a gluten free chocolate chip muffin for me, so I was quite happy with that. There is also a gift shop, and plant sales area. Entrance to the gardens costs £5 per adult.

 

The town of Cupar was our next stop. We had lunch in a small cafe, where we had courgette and carrot soup and a sandwich for Rob with Mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes/gluten free roll for me with egg mayo. The food was very good and reasonably priced and the proprietrix was very helpful. I think it was called Cafe Moka.

We had a walk through the small park and continued along the river bank where there were people fishing and walking dogs.

Back in Anstruther that evening, we decided to have chips for dinner. There is an award winning chip shop that we had intended to eat at, but the queues were too long, so we went to The Waterfront Restaurant up the street and sat outside overlooking the harbour, eating some of the best chips I have had in a very long time. Brock was with us and enjoyed the attention he received from a boy who seemed quite smitten with him. I had some ice cream from the Anstruther Fish Bar Ice Cream Parlour, which was delicious: cherry cola and rum and raisin flavours.

Holiday in Fife: Day Three

Thursday 20 September 2012

St Andrews
Anstruther

It was due to be our only cloudy/rainy day of the holiday, so we headed for St Andrews. It is a charming small city, famed for its University (the third oldest in the English speaking world) and for being the 'home of golf'. The famous Old Course dates back to medieval times.

Brock running at top speed. He was over by the jogger a second ago!

Brock enjoyed his walk on the West Sands Beach: a huge, empty expanse of sand backed by a narrow band of sand dunes. After which, Brock, had a sleep (or, more likely, a good bark) in the car, while Rob and I went off to explore the town. There are a good range of small shops, cafes and restaurants to browse.

We bought some delicious cakes from Fisher and Donaldson; and some handmade bread, mature Ayrshire cheddar and spicy pumpkin chutney from a deli. I had fun spending a birthday gift voucher in The Body Shop, before we had lunch in a branch of Bella Italia.

Rob had Pasta Norma (wholewheat rigatoni, roasted aubergines and garlic in a cherry tomato sauce, with fresh basil and baby mozzarella). I had a 'special' of salad leaves topped with bruschetta with goats' cheese, and red pepper tapenade. There were sadly no gluten-free, vegetarian options. The food was pretty good and it is a nice little restaurant with a view over a busy street. The bill with two mineral waters came to £21.15.

The rain had started in earnest on the drive back to the accommodation, so we decided to have a rest before venturing out into Anstruther later. Anstruther has a lovely harbour and marina, restaurants, shops and two very small, sandy beach areas. Tourist attractions in the area include The Scottish Fisheries Museum and Scotland's Secret Bunker (a large, underground bunker, built in case of nuclear war, and hidden beneath an ordinary-looking small house.)