I’ve just heard from Giselle at Alton House that Cambo Estate is having a Tulip weekend this weekend – what a lovely idea for something to do if you’re having a short break in and around Crail at the beginning of May.

Sandcastle Cottage would be a lovely base for experiencing some of the events which are happening in and around Crail this weekend.

1 May 2010: Bank Holiday weekend – loads going on in Crail, with a New May mini festival 1-2 May 2010.

Don’t miss Caiplie House’s debut dinner for non-residents – Classic Scottish Cooking with influences from Finlay’s time working in France and Italy.

Or what about a chance to go to one of Jerdan Gallery’s famous previews, this Friday 30 April 2-8pm,
with wine and nibbles, all welcome, the new exhibition ‘Razzle Dazzle’ runs till June 20.

Also, see aboutcrail.co.uk for more about Crail!

Battle Trophy 25 April 2010

This year the Battle Trophy will be played for at Crail Golfing Society on Sunday 25 April 2010.  Sandcastle Cottage is in the village of Crail and is currently available for a short break of two, 3 or 4 nights over the weekend of the Battle Trophy at a rental of £250.  You’ll find full details of our short breaks here.

When we first bought Sandcastle Cottage back in 1992, my husband and my father both put their names down to join The Crail Golfing Society, and over the years both enjoyed many games on the superb links courses there. When they first joined the Society, there was only one course at the club, but in 1998 a further course – the challenging Craighead Course was added to the original Balcomie Links.

I’m not a golfer myself, but I can recall the discussions when the Craighead Course first opened. It was challenging and many balls were lost.

But in the intervening 12 years, the course has matured and developed, and both courses are a delight to play – truly a place to enjoy Scottish links golf at its finest.

Recently, the Crail Golfing Society has completed the redevelopment of the Clubhouse which provides a welcoming place for members and guests to relax and relive their game over a drink or a meal.

So, if you’re coming to Sandcastle Cottage for a holiday or short-break, don’t forget to bring your golf clubs!

And if this isn’t enough of a recommendation, check out these posts from fans of the courses at Crail:

• “Crail Balcomie is quite extraordinary”
• “Balcomie Links which is one of my favorite courses in Scotland“
• “Crail and Lundin Links are a couple of outstanding gems“

Read more on the Crail Golfing SocietyWebsite: http://www.crailgolfingsociety.co.uk

Sandcastle Cottage, Crail - a cosy cottage for a short break

We’re offering some short breaks in March 2010 for visitors to Sandcastle Cottage, Crail – and if you visit in the early part of the month, a visit to Cambo Snowdrops would be a lovely way to spend some time.

Available Weekend Breaks:

5-8 March £250 for up to 5 people, plus cot -booking now

12-15 March £250 for up to 5 people, plus cot – booking now

19-22 March £250 for up to 5 people, plus cot – booking now

26-29 March £250 for up to 5 people, plus cot – booking now

Mid-week March Breaks

8-12 March 4 nights for only £250 for up to 5 people, plus cot – booking now

15-19 March 4 nights for only £250 for up to 5 people, plus cot – booking now

22-26 March 4 nights for only £250 for up to 5 people, plus cot – booking now

At the start of the 2009 season, it’s lovely to reflect upon what wonderful holidays our visitors had at Sandcastle Cottage in 2008. I’m sitting poring over the Visitors’ Book and feeling very happy that all the hard work which we’ve carried out at the cottage over the last few years means that our visitors are pleased when they arrive at Sandcastle Cottage and find that it’s even better.

During 2008 we had a number of guests (most of whom had stayed before) telephone us during their holidays to say that they wanted to come back in 2009. This was wonderful, and means that we start 2009 with only one week available during the summer holidays.

But I’m going to let you into a secret – Crail is a fantastic destination at any time of year. We go there ourselves as much as we can during the winter, spring and late autumn. We revel in the fact that although it might be blowing a gale outside, as soon as we get the heating on and light the fire, we’re cosy inside. We head along to see Ronnie or Keith at Penman’s butchers, then work out what we’re going to have for our evening meal. A quick visit to First Fruits and we’ve enough fresh vegetables for a pot of soup. The Co-op has improved a lot with more Fair Trade and Organic offerings, so we might even buy muffins or croissants for breakfast too. With the provisioning sorted, it’s wellies on and off to the beach. Winter weather brings stormy seas and washes up plenty of wood for our foraging and building activities on Roome Bay sands. Or a walk round the village, or a circular walk out by Wormistoun is enough activity to merit the soup! Oh, I can’t wait to get up to Crail again!

Don’t leave it too long before you book to find out what it’s like for yourself: www.sandcastle-cottage.co.uk has all the details.

Visitors’ Book extracts 2008

Lovely to return to this very comfortable and cosy home from home to not only have the ability to see our daughter (1st year at St Andrews), but have her spend evenings/overnight with us – long chats over dinner, games of scrabble, tec. Wonderful autumnal weather. Walked from Crail to Pittenweem (and back)… observed owls and sparrow hawk hunting. Hope to return again soon. Many thanks. Gopsill Family October 2008

Great Cottage! Plenty of room and HUGE back garden! Lots of surrounding areas in Crail. Enjoyed Fishery Museum and had a great walk at the coastal walk. What a GREAT cottage! The Mitchells say thank you! The Mitchell Family October 2008

What a fanstasic find! Stumbled upon this gorgeous cottage whilst mucking around on the internet one afternoon. Every eventuality has been considered by the owners and this has to be the best equipped holiday home we have ever rented. Comfortable, cosy,clean and fresh. The perfect base for our short break. Carial and the surrounding area are beautiful. Just wish our break was longer. Hope to return again! Many thanks! The Fisher Family October 2008

A well-equipped, comfortable spacious cottage for all the family. Brief weekend to blow out the cobwebs! Enjoyed the weather, the fab little beaches for ‘little adventures’, ‘little cliff walks’ with pram and Granny! The local fish and chips were good and local shop had anything we needed! Bonus experience seeing live pirates in costume at Anstruther – a bit too much with the re-enactment and the hanging!! (Pirate day at Anstruther Fisheries Museum). All in all a relaxing weekend, just what we needed! Paton Family October 2008

Lovely, comfortable, comfy, well equipped cottage. Enjoyed our few days revisiting Fife. We visited St Andrews, Cupar, Anstruther as well as having walks around Crail. Eating places we would recommend are Cafe Moka in Cupar (giant scones and muffins), Zizzi’s in St Andrews and the Cheese Factory in Pittenweem. Nice relaxing time had by all. Brisbane Family October 2008

Couldn’t believe our luck with the weather! It was so nice all the way her and on Monday, as the sun was still shining, we decided to find out about the boat trips to the Isle of May as we missed out on a previous visit. Conveniently the boat sailing was ‘billed’ as 12-30 pm on the Tuesday. Next day was also warm and sunny so we had a delightful visit to the Island and even saw a ‘pod’ of dolphins on the way over which caused some excitement! Fish and Chips at Anstruther rounded off our day. Spent a day in Dundee – my home town. Discovery Point is worth a visit. Captain Scott’s ship “Discovery” is alongside and is very interesting. Driving up to the top of the “Law” for wonderful views including fife, St Andrews and all round.
The small town of Ceres is worth a visit. Take the Cupar road out of Crail. Ceres lies about 2 miles south of Cupar. We though it was quite a unique little place, while so near to Cupar. Just after entering the town (Cupar) from Ceres you will find FISHER AND DONALDSON’S BAKERY and tea room on the right. It’s an Alladin’s cave of gorgeous, mouthwatering cakes, pies, tarts, scones, shortbread etc. – treat yourself!!
We have had a great time here. You must be pleased with your home here – so comfortable and cosy – someone has taken a great deal of thought and trouble with it!! Perhaps another time! Many thanks. Philpot/Partridge Family September 2008

Another wonderful holiday in this lovely cottage! Wather not too bad, quite warm and sunny at times. This is a perfect place for small children with the play park and beach just down the hill. Our son has been walking for a few months and loved doing the “castle walk”. We did a bit of the coastal path up to Fife Ness – not advisable with a pram, but well worth it when we got there. All in all a lovely relaxed holiday in the perfect cottage in a beautiful place – couldn’t ask for more. Hope to be back! Thanks! Currie Family September 2008

A wonderful cottage in a super town! I used to spend chilhood holidays at Largo and Elie so the East Neuk has a special place, not only in my heart but also now in my family’s. The weather has actually been good – beach and garden bmost days. Hopefully we’ll be back next year! All the very best to the ‘next’…. Waddell Family September 2008

Great cottage, beatuiful garden, terrible weather! Our 3rd stay in Crail and still finding new places to visit in the area: St Andrews Botanic Garden, The Pettigrew-Bell Museum, also Dundee for rainy day attractions – DRA, Sensations, Verdant Works. Of course lots of rock-pooling, paddling and ambles round the harbour. If you fancy a day in Edinburgh, think about cathcing the train from Leuchars – stress free. Left the timetable. Go off-peak and the kids go free – bargain. Ziggys – top burgers and music to suit m-m-m-my generation! Back next year. Downie Family August 2008

Our 5th year at Sandcastle Cottage and we love the new kitchen and hallway. Some horrendous weather – even the native Scotsman in the family admitted it was bad! Two lovely sunny days spent at West Sands, St Andrews – body boarding and also lots of fun catching crabs and building dams at Roome Bay. Zizzi’s in St Andrews was good for a family meal – beware the giant garlic breads, definitely for sharing! The fish and chips from Borellis (Crail) was really nice! I really enjoyed bodyboarding at West Sands! We also caught the train from North Queensferry into Edinburgh which was fun! It has been another great year at Sandcastle Cottage! Wheater Family August 2008

Another holiday of lovely memories in Crail. Weather started well so we spent lots of time at Roome Bay, on the beach and guddling in the rock pools. Then the haar rolled in but didn’t spoil our fun. The girls enjoyed lots to see and do in the Crail Festival. Been swimming Roome Bay and at St Andrews pool. Our daughter went out early one moring to spot dolphins but didn’t see any – spotted a couple of otters on the rocks, though. None of us want to leave….. Annan Family July 2008

Another fantastic holiday – number 4! Only one rainy day so we did get pretty muddy at the Mega-Maze at Cairnie! Managed all our favourite spots including Craigtoun Park, the swimming pool at St Andrews, the Deer Centre, not forgetting th swing park and beach on many occasions – lots of hermit crabs this year! The house looks fantistic and the kitchen is a massive improvement – lovely! I loved the Happy Gang Video & the Giggles, especially Spatz getting spatted with the cream cake. We had a great time sepecially when we had Irn Bru sorbet. Stewart Family July 2008

The cottage is the best one we’ve ever rented in Crail. Everything we needed is here. Our grandchildren loved the cottage and suggested we phone the owners and offer to buy the place for next week so we could extend our holiday…
Ideal places for kids – Allanhill Farm – superb strawberries. Built-up haystacks for kids to jump around. Craigtoun Park another winner. Weather was so so but didn’t stop us having a great time. Graham Family July 2008

This is our sixth year in Crail and once again we have had a great time. The weather has been fantastic and we have enjoyed doing some of the coastal walks. We would really recommend The Doll’s House and the Grill House Restaurants in St Andrews. (by Jenny aged 10) P.S. We love the kitchen. Anderson Family July 2008

Enjoyed another great holiday at Sandcastle Cottage. Weather was lovely and we packed so much into our stay here. Cottage is very well equipped with absolutely everything we needed. Love the new kitchen. Hope to visit again. Our visits this year included St Andrews, Hill of Tarvit (where the cook made a pancake for Caitlin), Anstruther for fish and chips, the Secret Bunkerr, Craigtoun Park (Caitlin did not want to leave) and several visits to Kingsbarns beach. We also enjoyed a lovely meal at the handy Golf Hotel. We are now going home to Bishopbriggs with happy memories. Pollock Family June 2008

Annie nearly exploded with joy when she saw Sandcastle Cottage!! She ran into every corner saying “It’s the nicest cottage in the world!” We have had a wonderful time in beautiful weather! As both Paul and I are Biologists we loved the rock pools at Kingsbarns and I gave lectures on the names of seaweeds!! Our best find was a Pipe Fish which amazed us by swimming like an arrow with no sign that muscles were contracting! Then, guess what! We watched a pod of dolphins in the bay! How good does it get?
Flying kites next day at St Andrews! Lunch at The Glass House which was great! We had the balcony table in the sun. The queue at The Anstruther Bish Bar sent us straight to “the other one”!! Fife Ness! Never seen such amazing rock formations! The wild flowers were amazing! At Fife Ness family swam in wet suits in gorgeous big rock pools – and saw more dolphins! (The were going to the Isle of May – but boat was full!). Thank you Susan and Sandy for all the care you take to make holidays special. Walton Family June 2008

We were here last year in May. We said we would be back and we are. Katie talked about Sandcastle Cottage all year – it was such a happy memory for her. This year wee sister Megan and Cousin Finlay were more able to join in the fun so will have even more happy memories. Our visit to the lovely Tentsmuir Forest and beach was great. The sun shone all day on Wednesday at Elie (everyone was in the water, except Grandpa!) and we had a great dinner in the Ship Inn. On Thursday we went to The Cheese Farm (above Anstruther). unfortunately no cheese was being made that day but we thoroughly recommend their Butterpat Cafe. No fish suppers at Anstruther for us this year, but the local Chippie (Borellas) was every bit as good, fishy suppers at the start and tasty pizzas at the end. We would also recommend The Dolls House Restaurant in St Andrews – quality food and child friendly. Three cheers for Crail and the East Neuk! Jones Family May 2008

Our second visit to Sandcastle Cottage (same week in 2005). Crail every bit as good as we remembered; girls enjoyed clambering over the rockpools at Roome Bay, Sensations Science Museum in Dundee and ice creams on the beach at Anstruther. Managed to visit all the East Neuk villages this time round and, of course, St Andrews.
Weather not kind enough for BBQs. Taylor Family May 2008

Had a great week again. Love the refurbishments you have done. Played golf at Anstruther, Charleton and Cupar. Weather was very kind to us – didn’t see any rain all week. Spent a couple of late afternoons/early evenings in the garden. BBQ’d 3 times. Crail is lovely. PS Great meat from Penmans. The Lucks May 2008

Recommended by our friends – and not disappointed. We’ve had a lovely week’s holiday – the first with our new addition: if only he would sleep past 5 am!! Spent a sunny p.m. on Elie beach equipped with buckets and spade, another at Craigtoun Park – very quiet and joined by squirrels for our picnic! Enjoyed a swim at East Sands in St Andrews and the aquarium in North Queensferry was a hit with the boys. Final day on the wonderful beach at Tentsmuir. Thanks for a great week in such a lovely cottage – we never saw rain once! Adam Family May 2008

We had a very relaxing week in the cottage even though the weather was not very kind to us. We enjoyed all the home comforts and think the cottage is a great place to stay for a break. We would like to have enjoyed the garden more but the weather was too chilly/wet. Crail is a great place to come on holiday and we really liked the Pottery, the swing park and the locat shops. It’s also a great location for getting up to St Andrews (East Sands Leisure Centre for swimming is great) and all the lovely spots along the coast of the East Neuk. We had a nice lunch at the Grill House in St Andrews: great value, nice menu (including children’s) and good atmosphere. We very much hope to return again soon. Thans for a great stay. Rowan Family April 2008

We’re so pleased to be here at Sandcastle Cottage, enjoying all the beneifts of the new layout and the added light in the kitchen. It’s been a lovely, relaxing week. On Saturday we wandered round Crail, looking to find the best fresh produce at our two favourite shops – Penmans and First Fruits. Unfortunately we did a bit too much wandering and didn’t get to Penman’s until the afternoon – so had to settle for frozen chickens! We had guests from Edinburgh coming for dinner on Sunday, so we were glad to find that we could clean up a couple of the garden chairs to seat eight round our bit table.
We made many trips to Roome Bay on Sunday, enjoying building shelters from the wood we’d gathered on the beach and running inside to escape the occasional showers which soon blew over.
Monday was our “Visit Scotland” Grading visit, and we were pleased to attain our 4-star grading – we’d only been one point below it before, anway, but we decided it was worth having after all the effort we’ve put in over the years. It’s taken us 16 years to save up for the kitchen! After the grading visit we could relax…Tuesday we were so relaxed we did very little – a cycle for Sandy and Helen and some gardening for Sandy. Then a trip to Cambo to walk through the gardens and the woodland walk to the beach.
Wednesday: St Andrews for cycling Lade Braes, shopping (shoes, shoes…) and a trip to the cinema – burgers at Ziggy’s first. Thursday we decided to walk the coastal path from Crail to Anstruther with the goal of ice creams at the end. Alex’s first long walk so he had a double cone to celebrate (mint chocolate chip of course). Weather has been great – so all our rainy day activities have been missed – again! Friday brought a little drizzle so Sandy took Helen and Alex to the Secret Bunker: none of them enjoyed it. P.S. Trip on Saturday evening to see “The Guizzards” in “There Goes the Bride” was fun – meal in Byre Restaurant was passable. Friday evening: meal at the Marine Hotel was most enjoyable – our first time there for many years. Local produce and good value! Would have been better if there had been more customers.
McNaughton Family March/April 2008

Having been booked constantly at Sandcastle Cottage, Crail since early May, we’ve suddenly come to a grinding halt with our bookings for the rest of this year. Until last Saturday (15th Sept) we had no bookings after 29th September, then I got a telephone call while walking along Callander High Street asking us for a weekly booking fromm 6 – 13 October – hallelujah! However, this gives us another challenge. Because we’re just not sure what people are looking for at this time of year. We’d only just finished ‘crafting’ a short breaks offering from 29th September, and updating all the websites, and now we’ve a weekly booking – which is great, but means we’re back to trying to sell a week from 29th Sept – 6th October, then probably weekly breaks again through the end of October. Last year we had a couple of short breaks in October as well as some weekly ones.

So I’ve updated my short breaks page on my ‘2crail.com‘ website.

Which other sites are worth working on? Well, we’ve a listing on ‘The Cottage Guide‘ – so it could be worth posting some late availability there. Must e-mail them with our prices for next year too.

Then there’s the dreaded VisitScotland listing – why do we ‘dread’ this? Well, the infamous (to members) Tiscover system is almost unintelligible for us mere mortals who have to do the updating, and our visitors don’t seem to be able to figure out how to use it either, because we’ve had NO BOOKINGS AT ALL THIS YEAR which resulted from our presence on the system, and we paid an extra shed load of cash for a PRINTED BROCHURE ENTRY – for what??? Wish I could find a decent alternative place to spend the money we wasted this year on advertising with them! As I do this I search for my own accommodation for the week of 29 September and find it isn’t available – despite updating my availability. Another e-mail required…

Need to do some more searching round for where best to advertise Autumn Breaks

When our guests and their children return to school after the October holidays, the opportunity now arises for us to spend some time in our weekend hideaway at Sandcastle Cottage in Crail.

Our daughter is eager for the company of a friend for the weekend, so we invite one of her oldest friends (they met at nursery aged 6 months) to join us for part of the weekend. The girls are not quite at the age when they’d be happy to be away from their parents overnight, so we invite Dad too! It’s going to be a bit of a juggling act working out the sleeping arrangements – but it’s only for one night.

Friday Night

We set off from Edinburgh in the dark, with rain pouring down and a forecast of more to come over the weekend. We decided to wait until after we’d had our meal on Friday night before setting off because the roadworks on the approach to the Forth Road Bridge mean that setting off any earlier just lengthens the journey time. Fortunately by just after 7 pm the traffic is flowing smoothly, and it’s just the poor visibility which slows us down.

It’s an easy drive from Edinburgh – only about an hour and a half at the most, and we take the A90 over the Bridge, then up to Junction 2a and on to the A92 towards Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. We choose the inland route towards Glenrothes and along the ? towards Leven – it’s longer but usually marginally quicker, and we start to feel like we’re coming ‘home’ as we approach our familiar chain of East Neuk villages – Lundin Links, Upper Largo, then choose the inland road again (we can’t see much at all so no point in taking the scenic route) through Colinsburgh where there’s a 20 mph limit in force through the village now, along with a whole load of road works. This route bypasses Earlsferry, Elie and St Monans and takes us straight to Pittenweem.

Somewhere between Colinsburgh and Pittenweem the tune for the hymn ‘For those in peril on the sea’ starts in my head and I am grateful that we’re inside our warm car and not out in this wild night, and certainly not in a boat. That’s also the time when our 4-year old son starts to ask ‘are we almost there?’ and our daughter starts to panic – ‘Are you feeling sick?’ She’s still remembering a fateful journey down the A68 when we were heading for Beamish and we didn’t manage to stop in time. The point where we discovered that he does suffer from car sickness.

However, we chant the mantra of the East Neuk villages, “look, here we are in Pittenweem passing Heather’s house (Heather takes care of Sandcastle Cottage and arranges the cleaning and preparation for our guests)”. “Watch out for the Craw’s Nest in Anstruther, can you see the flags and the Craw in his Nest?” “What’s round the next corner?” “Yes, it’s the Shell House.” “Not far now.” We’ve not got a saying for Cellardyke, but then we’re only really there for a few hundred yards on this inland trail. Then, “look, here we are at Kilrenny – do you remember the wonderful Kirk Tea we had there one day, with the delicious home baking?” Now, “over the bridge at Kilrenny and the next place is Crail.”

If it were drier, we’d point out the Island of May and look for the lighthouse flashing there as we travel on the last winding road towards Crail, but the rain is practically horizontal at this point and I’m concentrating on avoiding the roadside puddles – some of the water’s quite deep and I don’t want to skid.

“See those lights up ahead, there’s Crail, hurray, hurray!” “The Chip Shop’s open.” “Aye, but there aren’t many people out tonight – all the locals are keeping themselves warm and dry.”

I slow right down to negotiate the right turn off the High Street into Marketgate at the Golf Hotel, and as I do so I remark that the rain’s slowed down very conveniently which will at least allow us to unpack the car without getting completely soaked. There’s a scaffold up on the house at No 2 Marketgate, which makes the right turn into Kirk Wynd somewhat tricky, but fortunately there’s a big parking space just outside the cottage, so we’re able to scurry inside with our bags and lift our sleeping son indoors.

Fortunately when I was up a couple of weeks ago showing the Visit Scotland STB Grading Inspector round the cottage, I had the foresight to check the timing on the central heating, so the cottage is toasty for our arrival

We’ve only brought waterproofs and wellies and a couple of changes of clothing for our weekend stay, so unpacking doesn’t take long.

One of the things about this being our own cottage is of course that we’re never really ‘off duty’ – I notice that the new curtains which I put up last winter have one of the rings pulled out at the top, and resolve to get the ladder out tomorrow morning and fix it.

We also inspect the downstairs toilet where there’s a small problem with the cistern, which we’d been assured would be fixed this week – but no progress, which is a bit of a pain for us as it means we’ll all have to share the en suite toilet upstairs until it’s fixed. However, we’re coming up again next weekend so we’ll make sure it’s all done by then.

We’re all tired after a long week at work and school, so we don’t do much unwinding, but head straight for bed. Our son falls asleep almost immediately, and our daughter is satisfied with only one chapter of Roald Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach” before she’s happy to settle down to sleep.

I’ve brought “Restoration” by Rose Tremain to read, but don’t manage much of it before it falls on my nose and I realise it’s time for lights out.

Saturday morning

As the kids have had a pancake craze this week, I’d taken the precaution of bringing sufficient quantities of the necessary ingredients with us, just so’s we didn’t have to go out first thing before we’d had a chance to have a relaxing shower or long lie. However, for our elder child the pancake craze has worn off and she knows that there’s the possibility of a Penman’s sausage for breakfast, if only her dad shows willing to wander along to the Butchers. Fortunately the gale force winds and driving rain have cleared for the morning, and it’s a lovely sunny day outside, and it’s not even very cold.

I resolve to make the pancakes anyway as I know that at least one of our family will be glad to munch away on them whilst watching the diet of Saturday morning kids’ entertainments on TV.

There’s a moment of panic when our eldest finds that she’s not able to phone in for the competition on CBBC, and although I’ve brought the laptop, we don’t have internet access.

We find that it’s necessary to perch our mobile phones in the window of the cottage just to get some kind of reception here – the thick stone walls are protection against most mobile signals. However, the drawback is that we find that if we’ve to answer one of the mobiles we’ve to perch on the windowledge ourselves – which can be a bit awkward, not to say looking a bit odd from the street. However, one of our guests was successful in having sufficient strength on her mobile signal that she not only managed to ring through to the Fred MacAulay show on Radio Scotland, but also successfully won the Daily Dementor quiz – great excitement in Sandcastle Cottage that morning.

When Sandy returns from his walk along the High Street, he’s managed to buy provisions for the rest of the day, not just breakfast. This involved the obligatory chat with Ronnie at Penman’s, who agrees with Sandy’s view that parties for birthdays should stop at a young age. Sandy had been telling him that we were coming up to Crail next weekend to celebrate his 50th birthday, and going out for a meal rather than having a party.

But for those of you who are reading this for ideas on what there is to do on a weekend in Crail, we’d happily confirm that Sandy was able to buy plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, ham hough for making soup and three splendid sirloin steaks for our evening meal. Penman’s famous pork sausages and delicious back bacon are teamed up with fresh free range eggs from Kilduncan Farm which we buy at Fresh Fruits. They’ve also got perfect vine tomatoes and mushrooms for our breakfast feast.

Fortified with our cooked breakfast, the kids decide it’s time to go to the beach – yes, even in Scotland you can go to the beach in November. However it’s a pretty different sartorial decision than summer beach visiting. Our daughter decides that whilst she wouldn’t be seen out in Edinburgh in the layers of clothes we insist upon here, we’re in Crail so it doesn’t really matter. So t-shirt and skirt is supplemented by a stout pair of wellingtons, cardigan, waterproof and windproof jacket, hat, gloves, scarf. Our son is similarly bundled up and we set off – but it’s the adults who need the windproofing most because we’re so much more likely to stand around than the kids who’re soon off running.

Big sisterly concern is shown as we descend the steps by the 16th Century Doo’cot on the way down to Roome Bay beach. Our son quickly finds out about the dangers of standing on the green slimy stuff which coats the rocks nearest to the sea, and lands firmly on his bottom. Our daughter is soon returning with wellies which have accidentally let in some of the waves in which she was paddling, and needs her socks wrung out and stowed away in Mum’s pockets.

Some small boys are making their version of a 21st century fortification with rocks and sand on the beach – it’s quite an impressive structure involving circles of standing stones and mounds of sand.

It’s wonderful to see the kids relax and become carefree as they gallop around yelling and enjoying themselves. I reflect upon the passage I read recently in Nicole Krauss’s “The History of Love”, where the character of Uncle Julian talks about how an artist, in order to paint a head, has to make a decision to leave out the rest of the body. It’s a similar thing when we get to contemplating the beach at Roome Bay – beachcombing focuses our attention on the myriad of small things to be found on the beach, and pushes out cares and worries from our heads.

We enjoy the winter sunlight – although looking over towards the Lammermuir Hills behind Berwick Law and the Bass Rock, it looks as if the sun hasn’t really risen too far in the sky today as the light behind the clouds seems to be the colour of a sunrise, but the sun itself isn’t visible.

The children are soon wandering happily looking at the colours and shapes of the pebbles and boulders on the beach, and wading through piles of slimy seaweed. I spot some redshanks landing further along the beach, and there are whirling herring gulls and arctic terns shrieking above us.

Our daughter finds out about the properties of sandstone as she chucks a rock and it splinters, and about pigment as her hands get covered in red particles from spots of (presumably) iron within the rock.

I notice that the Seaside Award flag has tattered so much in the prevailing wind that the year of award has been worn away. There’s a new board up beside the path at Roome Bay Beach which provides some information about the beach and the parkland on the coast. I take a photo to remind me to look at the information later.

As we’re climbing back towards the play park to do some swinging and circling on the roundabout to work off the cold, we notice a couple of intrepid canoeists rounding the headland from Sauchope Links and heading towards Crail Harbour, also a couple of small fishing boats which follow them round the coast.

Meantime Sandy’s been back at the cottage preparing a delicious soup for our lunch from the aforementioned ham hough which he’s boiled up and added a selection of vegetables – leeks, onions, carrots, parsnips and potatoes. It’s wonderful to return to the smell of it filling the kitchen, and to welcome us back.

Our weekend guests arrive at this point and are soon happily sitting with us discussing plans for the afternoon and munching on the crusty bread which we’ve also bought from Penman’s this morning.

After lunch, we decide to take a circular walk which takes in some of the highlights of Crail, and will give our guests a flavour for why we love it here so much. Neither of them have been to Crail before, so it’s a great opportunity for us to travel familiar territory and tell some old tales of our experiences here.

We set off again, suitably wrapped up and with the kids kitted out with Wellington boots just in case of paddling. We go down the path towards Roome Bay once again, which is just on the other side of Nethergate from our cottage. As we round the corner at the top of the Triangle Park, our guests remark that it’s an amazing surprise to come round the corner and find the sea so close. While you can see the sea from our upstairs bedroom windows, it’s still a breathtaking view from the height of the path at the top, looking towards St Abbs Head in the far distance and out to the North Sea from the very end of the River Forth. The tide has come in since our last visit to the beach, and the waves are stronger, splashing the children and forcing a speedy retreat up the beach in an attempt to avoid being completely soaked before our walk even begins.

We head along the Coastal Path in the direction of Crail Harbour. As well as the views out to sea, there are some interesting sights to take in on the landward side. The gardens behind Downie Terrace (also on Nethergate) show evidence of their historic use as bleaching fields where linen which had been woven in some of the old mills in Crail was laid to bleach and dry. We cross the fast-running mill lade and the Smugglers’ Path – is it called Brandy’s Holme? – and resist the children’s begging to climb up there. David Grieve, the owner of the Crail Pottery, has a wonderful organic garden behind his cottage on the steep slope towards the path. We spot leeks, Brussels sprouts and all manner of winter vegetables growing in his productive plot. There are ornamental gardens too – with railway sleepers set into the hillside to hold back pebble gardens, and large cactus-like plants and ornamental grasses.

The steep ascent towards the Watch House reminds us that there was once a mill here too – the board at the top of the path tells the story of the Corn Mill, called Kings Mill, which once occupied the site. There’s a link to our cottage too as one of the people who held the original title when the cottage was built had something to do with Kings Mill. I must check out the title deeds again when I get back home.

Our daughter relates our family story to our guests, that the benches on Castle Walk have a particular significance for us. Her grandfather proposed marriage to her grandmother there, so she in part owes her very existence to the benches there – it’s quite an inspiring spot.

Unfortunately the board at the corner of Castle Walk is missing, so we can’t see the distances to the Island of May, and the other landmarks on the horizon – the Bass Rock, Berwick Law and even Arthur’s Seat and the Pentland Hills behind Edinburgh.

There’s a steep path down to the harbour past the Harbour Cafe and Gallery which is closed for the winter until early March, and we find when we get to the harbourside that there are no crabs or lobsters to be seen – it’s a feature of our summer walks to visit the tanks at the harbour shed and see the crab and lobster crawling around in the tanks, and to buy some delicious dressed crab when it’s available.

By this time the children have decided to start begging to be taken to the sweetie shop for their afternoon treat, and after the ascent of the Hen’s Ladder, they’ve certainly earned it. We pass the East Neuk hotel which is advertising teas and coffees and meals – we must visit sometime to check it out as our friends at the other end of the village say that it’s now very welcoming and child-friendly. We also spot the Crail Bookshop, but it doesn’t have the essential sweetie factor, and the kids are now even more eager to get that sugar fix.

We’re surprised to find that Penman’s has opened again this afternoon – we didn’t realise that they were open on Saturday afternoons. Our guest is astounded at the range of produce on offer there – with all the preserves and speciality delicatessen foods as well as the butchery section.

A lady at the bus stop begs us to confirm that she’s standing on the correct side of the road for the bus to Leven as she says she’s been standing there for an hour already and she is worried that she’s going to miss the bus. We assure her that she’s in the right place, and that the bus is due quite soon – the timetable states that the bus is due at 14.39 and we see it a little later, although it’s running about 4 minutes early at that point – maybe that’s why she missed the last one.

Unfortunately the Newsagents doesn’t have the required variety of 8-year old girls favourite magazines, so we’re unable to ensure that we’ve patronised every single shop in Crail this weekend.

A quick trip into the Beehive however ensures that we’ve at least obtained the necessary sugar dose in the form of musical lollipops and a choc ice for our son who doesn’t seem to care that we’re already in late autumn.

We discover that First Fruits is open in the afternoon too and decide that their green grapes will go very well with the gift of cheese from Ian Mellis that our guests have brought as their contribution to the evening meal. A quick race across to the Co-op finds the required pink magazines with obligatory plastic gifts sellotaped to the front. These should occupy a quiet half hour later when the girls are worn out.

The Crail Museum has opened especially this weekend to show an exhibition of Santa’s Eye Views of Crail – some locals have taken a flight over the coast in the summer to check out an article which was published in the Scotsman newspaper in the summer which said that the dry summer had exposed some previously unknown archaelogically significant sites. Something to do with patterns appearing in fields of crops showing where there had been ancient buildings or sites. We appreciate the views of Crail, and put our names down to buy one of the prints which shows our cottage quite clearly. I’m wondering if I can scan the photo and use it on our website for the cottage. Must find out who took the photographs and write asking their permission.

Our weekend guest is fascinated by the part of the Museum exhibition which deals with HMS Jackdaw – the coastal defence base situated at the Airfield in Crail during the Second World War. It transpires that he thinks his father spent some time serving there. The younger members of the party are disappointed that the upstairs exhibitions are not opened because they include an old typewriter which they love to visit and bash away on. I’m a bit miffed because I find that the lovely Dunoon Ceramics mugs which I bought in John Lewis recently are cheaper at the Crail Museum!

There’s one more essential stop on the way back to the cottage – the Jerdan Gallery. The lady there explains that many of the favourite pieces have in fact gone off to Edinburgh for the weekend to participate in the Edinburgh Art Fair which is taking place at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh this weekend. But there’s certainly plently left to look at and lovely sculptures in the garden which excite our son’s imagination. One of our party however is having trouble with her wellies rubbing on her feet and we decide that it’s really time we retreated to the cottage for an afternoon cuppa and the odd chocolate biscuit or two. Just as we come out of the Jerdan Gallery, the sun reaches an angle through the High Street so that it illuminates the Market Cross, and I take some photographs.
We pause opposite Crail Parish Church to see if we can spot the Blue Stane – a big boulder which sits to the left of the entrance to the Kirk. Legend has it that the devil hurled it there from the Island of May – but legend doesn’t explain what the devil was doing on the Island of May in the first place!

The children take possession of the living room and the television, and the adults take their afternoon tea in the dining room – I’m glad I hung on to the old armchairs when we refurbished the living room last winter.

When it gets towards time for our evening meal, the children vote to have fish and chips from the Anstruther Fish Bar, so a small group sets out on that endeavour while I stay behind to prepare the vegetables to cook for the evening meal. Simplicity in itself, I peel betroot, sweet potato, parsnip, carrots and red onions then venture out to the back garden to snip some rosemary from the busy which grows at the back door and add this to some olive oil to coat all the vegetables. Forty five minutes or so in a hot oven will roast all of these and provide a tasty accompaniment to the sirloin steaks which Sandy cooks with onions, mushrooms and a little cream and brandy.

We don’t always go as far as Anstruther for our fish and chips – after all there’s Borella’s fish bar in the centre of Crail, but the last time we went there the fish was so overcooked that it was almost inedible, and we don’t want to take the risk of that when we’ve special guests for tea. Despite our daughter’s protests that she doesn’t want to go all the way to Anstruther, she decides that it was definitely worth it when she tucks into the tasty treat. Two fish suppers (haddock and chips) are an ample portion for three hungry youngsters, and there’s even a bit of fish for the adults to have a taste.

We have to confess to having brought our own red wine with us rather than buying it here – but this was really because we’d opened some earlier in the week and it didn’t get used. We could easily have bought some at the Co-op or KB Stores here in Crail.
An intensely competitive game of Scrabble keeps the older children and a couple of the adults amused until it’s time for bed. It’s amazing how large doses of sea are shorten the usually long-drawn out performance of falling asleep for our two eight year olds. Our four year old didn’t even make it to the game of Scrabble before he was completely worn out.

Sunday

Everyone awakes refreshed from a good night’s sleep – and not too early either. The children go off to find out what is on Sunday morning TV and I snatch another half hour with my book before I feel obliged to to and fix breakfast.

Suitably fortified with a stack of the (ok today it seems) pancakes and some home made apricot jam and strawberry jam, the older children are deemed responsible enough to be sent on a trip to collect the Sunday papers and some milk and rolls for later. This has the danger of allowing them their own choice of a sweet from the shop too, which inevitably results in the sugariest confections being chosen. However at least we don’t end up with the horrible concoctions which our daughter and a friend found in the campsite shop at Sauchope Links in the summer – lollipops in the shape of a thumb – which would have been bad enough, but to cap it all they were turquoise in colour and turned their lips and tongues bright blue!

The adults tuck into a wonderful cooked breakfast (diet tomorrow?) and enjoy the Sunday papers which the girls have brought us.

Amazingly, we’ve got another brilliantly sunny day, but our youngest has woken up with a temperature and a sore throat and doesn’t feel like going out or eating anything. So we let the older girls go off to the beach and the park at Roome Bay, taking periodic peeks down to see that they haven’t thrown themselves into the sea. I settle down to write this, and try to shut out the combined sounds of the Teletubbies on Video and the Nintendogs puppy chirping away in the background. So much for peace and quiet.

After a morning with the papers the Dads set off on a journey of discovery to the bottom of the garden – and out through the gate to take another wander round the village. There’s a little path running along the side of the Den Burn through the Denburn Wood and up to Beech Walk park which makes a pleasant circular walk which is not too taxing.

The girls return from their bracing voyage to the beach and settle down at the table in the dining room to busy themselves with some Sand Art projects which keep them busy until lunchtime.

short breaks near st andrews – great idea for a blog.

As I was editing this blog an e-mail came in from the guests who stayed in the cottage from 9-16 September 2006. They had this to say:

Just wanted to say how much we enjoyed our stay in “Sandcastle Cottage“. The cottage was very comfortable and we particularly enjoyed sitting in your lovely garden. We definitely intend to return to Crail in the future. We thought the little coastal villages were very picturesque and great for walking and watching a wide variety of sea birds and wildlife. The people in the area are very friendly and helpful and the local shops great!

There was also a reminder in the e-mail that I hadn’t returned their deposit yet – oops! It’s on the way now…