As part of our Scotland summer stay-cation, we visited the east neuk of Fife for a couple of days (see last week’s post on Crail). Heading westwards from Crail, the next stop was Anstruther, and then Pittenweem.
We only really made time for a wander round the harbour and lunch in Anstruther, but you should make time to take a look at the Shell House.
It’s impressive enough standing across the street, but even more so when you stand up close and see the painstaking effort that has been made to form this work of art!
A rainbow assortment of painted houses are opposite – with the busy main road running through the village it was tricky not to get any cars in the photo!
Our lunch in Anstruther was at the Dreel Tavern. Due to the lovely hot weather we experienced, it was important that we found dog-friendly options so not to leave Bartie baking in the car. Fife has loads of places, particularly in St Andrews, but there are enough in the East Neuk too. (I follow ‘Dog Friendly Scotland’ on Facebook for a comprehensive list of accommodation and restaurants). Bartie got some water and a bottle full of dog treats, and our lunches (Classic burger for him, a steak with all the trimmings for me) were locally sourced and absolutely delicious.
Our next stop was Pittenweem. We had a bit of a wet time here but like Crail, it’s gorgeous. I preferred these places to Anstruther because the village centres are well away from the main A road which winds round from Kirkcaldy to St Andrews.
We returned to the Cocoa Tree Cafe, a favourite haunt from when we lived in Fife all those years ago. I can confirm that the carrot cake was still as good! The cafe was deserted and we had an hour of reading books and chatting before the place filled up and we moved on for a walk.
The rain really started lashing it down for a while, and we even had to interrupt out putting competition to take shelter for a while.
There’s still a great view back towards Pittenweem Harbour from here, and this is the path that walkers of the Fife Coastal Path use. There’s loads of parking at the West Braes car park.
As the shower passed, we took a trip down to the harbour and even spotted a celebrity – Phill Jupitus, who lives in one of the harbourside cottages.
With decorated bicycles full of flowers and life buoys adorning the cottages and nearby walls, it’s a really nice walk to do.
Another place we made a return visit to was Bowhouse – a monthly food and drink event near St Monans. You can read my post about last year’s visit here.
That’s my round up of our East Neuk visit. If you like leisurely wandering round seaside harbour towns with access to great food and drink, then I would say that this corner of the Kingdom is a great holiday destination for you!
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