Sandcastle Competition, Crail Festival

Sandcastle Cottage was delighted to be able to sponsor the annual Sandcastle Competition this year, part of the Crail Festival. We were lucky enough to have Giselle Glackmeyer of Alton House, Crail on hand to take some photographs.

This is what Giselle had to say about the event:

It was a very exciting day at the Harbour Beach. Low tide, overcast but warm – a tractor was grooming the beach as contenstants arrived, and quickly vied for their favorite spot. Some choose the top where the sand is finer and others choose the bottom where the wetness is great for molding. The beach was fairly full as budding sculptors both local and visiting sketched out their plans and began digging, pilling and carving! An amazing amount of found objects were collected
and used to embellish the designs, from pebbles to fish bones, crabs to flowers, seaweed to thistle! Competitiors of all ages came out to show their expertise, some worked alone, and others worked in with families and friends and everyone had a good time. The sun came out for judging which was witnessed by the boats that sat in the incoming tide waiting to enter the harbour and one local said this is how it used to be when they were young with the beach full of youngsters.
We spend a lot of time building sandcastles on the beach, but it was lovely sharing the experience with so many other enthusiasts today! We worked hard enough that
we thought we earned ourselves an ice cream at the Beehive!

Caiplie Caves, Fife

A book group friend of mine mentioned that she and her family had recently been on a Geocache treasure hunt in Fife, so I thought I’d check it out. Putting the postcode of Sandcastle Cottage (KY10 3TU) into the Geocache site soon brings up some locations nearby which you might like to try treasure hunting in.

One such site is at The Caiplie Caves, which can be reached easily by following the coastal path from Sandcastle Cottage in the direction of Anstruther.

Don't go fossil hunting at high tide!

Inspired by finding out that there was a huge carboniferous tree trunk to be found at Crail, I’ve been doing some ‘digging around’ on the web and have found one or two resources which give more information about fossil hunting in Crail.

Our book group recently read Tracy Chevalier’s ‘Remarkable Creatures‘, so if you’re interested in finding out about the Victorian fossil hunters, it might be a good place to start – or a good book to pack for your holiday reading when you’re visiting Sandcastle Cottage.

Sites such as UK Fossils Network and Discovering Fossils give an idea of what you should look out for, and there are some directional photos on this blog.

A great way to spend a day in Crail, and I’m sure you could make up some marvellous stories to get the kids interested.  Why not give it a try?

Back in the early 1960’s an amazing box was discovered – and if you’re in Crail on the night of Monday 7 June 2010 you can find out more about what was in it!

Crail Museum Trust are hosting an illustrated talk on Erskine Beveridge, who took photographs between 1880 and 1919, including some in Crail.  Come along to Crail Town Hall, Marketgate, Crail, KY10 3TL at  7:30pm on Monday 7 June 2010 to hear more.

The talk will give further insights into the exhibition being held at the Museum this year – a collection of photographs of Crail.

If you can’t be there on the night, perhaps you’d like to purchase a copy of “Wanderings with a Camera in Scotland” which showcases lavish reproductions of over 170 of Erskine Beveridge’s finest photographs, along with a fascinating biographical introduction by RCAHMS Head of Collections, Lesley Ferguson.

The fun begins at at 1.30pm at the East Neuk Hotel for a fancy dress parade with the Crail Queen, Emma Busby, and the Goldwing Misfits providing an escort on their Goldwings Bikes.

Or join in at Beech Walk Park at 2pm for the crowning of the Crail Queen, followed by pony rides, kids races, games for all ages, home baking, raffles and stalls. Admission: Free. Proceeds go to the Parent Council for playground improvements.  Donations for stalls welcome at the school anytime. Have your photo taken on a Goldwing Bike for  £1 donation to charity.

Beech Walk Park (or adjacent Community Hall if rainy), 2-4pm.

St Andrews Road will be closed for the parade from 1:30 pm – 2 pm.

For other things happening around Fife at the moment take a look at the St Andrew’s ‘Things to Do’ page.

Barnet's Bakery, Crail

If you are touring around Fife you might also like to try some of the delicious cakes and breads baked by Fisher & Donaldson’s bakery – based in Cupar, but with a branch in St Andrews too. They are currently launching a Bread Club, which means that even after you have gone home you can re-live the tastes and smells of their delicious loaves.

Our family favourite is the famous Fisher & Donaldson’s Fudge Doughnut – so much so that we ordered a giant birthday cake sized one for a family celebration.

Fudge Doughnut Birthday Cake

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!

Crail Parish Church, Crail, Fife

A phone call from Giselle at Alton House this morning led to a chat about Twitter and how you can use it to promote your site and your business. But any chat about Twitter leads me into the time-consuming void which is my current Twitter addiction! Some people claim not to ‘get it’ and others like me think that it’s just the greatest fun.
So how does this have anything to do with Crail Parish Church? Here’s how it happens. I go into TweetDeck and set up a search for ‘Crail’ just to demonstrate to Giselle how she could find out what people are saying about Crail. There’s a problem. A “crail” (is it a c-rail?) is part of a skateboard, so we have to weed out all the mentions of ‘Crail Couch’ from the search as ‘On the Crail Couch’ is a YouTube channel where skateboarders talk about skateboarding stuff.
Then we’re looking (hopefully) at mentions of Crail, Fife on Twitter. And that’s where I find the link – Kim McGowan is a blogger who has written a post about her visit to the graveyard at Crail Parish Church. I’ve wandered through the church yard of Crail Parish Church many times, occasionally taking photographs, but more often on the way to visit my Dad’s grave for a few minutes of quiet reflection and a ‘chat’ with him and a nod to his boyhood friend Ernie whose grave is nearby. I’ve seen some of the things Kim talks about in her blog, but her writing has given me a whole new perspective for my next visit there. Go and read what she says, and maybe come and visit Crail soon.