Autumnal delights

As the leaves change colour and the nights grow darker there are still lots of great things to do in the East Neuk, St Andrews and the surrounding area. Here are four of the best things I've been up to this autumn:

1. Rory mania

Following world no. 1 golfer, Rory McIlroy around the Old Course, as he teamed up with his dad to compete at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2014 (http://www.alfreddunhilllinks.com/m/home/), was a must this October. Rory and some of his fellow professional golfers, such as Victor Dubuisson, were fresh from the European team's Ryder Cup win at Gleneagles. 

For more on what the Dunhill Links is all about and why it's such a great event see my Dunhill blog: http://rosecottageeastneuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/celeb-golf-extravaganza-at-dunhill-links.html?m=1

2. Day trip to fabulous Falkland

Just half an hour or so from St Andrews is the picture perfect village of Falkland. Most visitors go for the National Trust of Scotland's Falkland Palace (http://www.nts.org.uk/property/falkland-palace-and-garden/)

The palace is well worth a visit for a glimpse into Scotland in days of old, when the Stuart monarchs travelled around with all of their furniture and tapestries so that their quarters in the next castle or palace could be made to look exactly like the last one! It was also a favourite place of Mary Queen of Scots.

The palace gardens are also lovely, though inevitably not as splendid in Autumn as they must be in Spring and Summer. 

A unique feature at the bottom of the garden is the stone royal tennis court - which is not the same as tennis as we know it. 

Falkland is not just about the palace though - its a very scenic and quaint place for a wander around, popping into enticing little gift shops, galleries and cafés as you go. Even the more industrial old mill is attractively vintage, though apparently soon to be knocked down. With more time you could also explore the very pretty surrounding countryside, which looked great for walking, cycling etc.

3. Proof that Anstruther dining is finer than just fish 'n' chips: The Cellar

We'd been huge fans of The Cellar restaurant in Anstruther (http://www.thecellaranstruther.co.uk/) and were disappointed when it closed in tragic circumstances. It's now open again and the new management, including Anstruther-born head chef Billy Boyter, have managed to put their own spin on it whilst keeping the charm. It's a highly atmospheric historic building, which you reach through a pretty courtyard area. You can then quaff an aperitif in one of the elegant seating areas before being shown to your table in the cosy, romantic restaurant. 

Once seated you can expect to be treated to a series of courses lovingly created with care, precision and creativity from the best seasonal local produce. 

For its combination of accomplished fine dining, friendly staff and a very atmospheric and romantic setting I would highly recommend The Cellar for a special occasion meal out or if you are simply treating yourselves (we went to celebrate Mr ENB's birthday). Book ahead though, particularly at weekends as the restaurant is quite small. 

4.Cambolicious

Twice a year Cambolicious (http://www.cambolicious.com/), the East Neuk's popular craft beer festival, comes to the Cambo Estate near Kingsbarns (in May and November) and I am a festival regular. It's small in scale but big in charm and appeals to children and adults alike. This time around there was lots of fun to be had with the outdoor games, including table tennis in a posh tent with a chandelier and various retro games which involved throwing skills (I was hopelessly bad at all of these!). Foodie delights included juicy steak burgers with a mountain of trimmings, freshly pressed apple juice and deliciously naughty sweet and savoury crepes. 

But really people love Cambolicious for all the craft beers, ciders and gins, with their weird and wonderful names, from around Scotland. 22 types were on tap this time around. The Fresh Root Ginger cider from Borders-based Thistly Cross was a sell-out again and for good reason. It's still my favourite cider ever. Of the beers Biology Girl loved the Spiced Pumpkin Rye from the St Andrews Brewing Company and Legally Brunette enjoyed the Staple Pale from the Top Out Brewery.

Never shy of a bit of dressing up, I got into the festival spirit and enjoyed making my own natural headgear at the stand for this. Here's my less than perfect attempt (well it was made in the dark!):

Sadly I missed out on the face painting, which was not just for kids - various adults were sporting Halloween-type designs, whimsical leaves or wood nymph-esque designs. Throughout there was the highly enjoyable and sometimes impromptu music from some of Fife's most talented musicians that I've come to expect from Cambolicious. Unfortunately no King Creosote or Lidh sets this time round but Emporium ended the event on a high. As ever at Cambolicious I didn't want to leave.

World famous sports stars, fantastic sight-seeing, fine dining and craft beer festivals - what's not to love about the East Neuk and St Andrews in Autumn?

Text and photos copyright Sara Scott 2014

Crail Food Festival 2013 part 2: foraging and lunching in the Crail sunshine

Day 2 of the Crail Food Festival (Sunday 16 July) was always going to be an entirely outdoors event so I was delighted to wake up to find that that the weather had dramatically improved overnight, transforming the East Neuk into a sunny, warm, Mediterranean-esque paradise.

As it was also Father's Day for a treat my dad and R spent the morning golfing at Kingsbarns Golf Club - my dad hadn't played before and he loved it. Meanwhile the girls, i.e. mum and I, hightailed it into Crail to join the Crail Food Festival's Foraging Walk. This was a free event which was being run by Mark from Galloway Wild Foods in association with the Fife Diet team. We joined the group heading out from the smoothie bike stall at Crail Harbour and ventured out along Crail beach in the now scorching sunshine to learn all about foraging from Mark and Chef Paul Wedgwood. Foraging is getting quite trendy in the UK these days, inspired in particular by Denmark's famous Noma restaurant. Closer to home Paul uses a lot of foraged ingredients in his Edinburgh restaurant, Wedgwood.

An hour quickly flew by as we went back to our hunter-gatherer roots to learn all about which plants are edible and which aren't, including plants which can kill you (avoid the deadly Hemlock, which looks a bit like a carrot plant and actually grows in our garden at rose cottage) and why dogs and foraging don't mix. Mark was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about foraging, entertaining us with stories and picking lots of things for us all to taste. It was different and fun. There was a slightly surreal moment about half way through when I found myself munching rather appreciatively on some Japanese knotweed, which was trying to take over the bank of wild plants (tastes like rhubarb if you were wondering!). If you want to try foraging for yourself you'll need Mark's foraging tips.

Foraging at the Crail Food Festival including Japanese knotweed (top left), Deadly hemlock (middle left) and Mark from Galloway Wild Foods

The intrepid foragers were then treated to an open-air cookery demo back at the harbour by Paul Wedgwood, using foraged ingredients. From the little morsel I managed to get a taste of (the dish was assaulted by spoons in a matter of seconds once it was ready!), my taste buds quickly decided that foraging and flavour go hand in hand. Mark was also offering a tempting taste of his homemade Elderflower champagne.

Crail Food Festival 2013 - Clockwise from top left - Chef Paul Wedgwood (answers on a postcard about why he has that expression!), Fife Diet's foraging board, Paul's foraged meal

Mum and I then had time for a bit more art - more on this soon in my East Neuk Open Studios blog post. Then it was back to Crail harbour to meet the boys plus L and S for lunch. Wow! I have never seen the harbour so busy - the festival and sunshine had really brought the crowds to little old Crail. It was bustling, the atmosphere was great and the cooking smells were making us desperately hungry. Feed me now! After a bit of queuing between us we sampled:  seriously good venison burgers from Seriously Good Venison, superb smoked mackerel and quiche from the award-winning La Petite Epicerie deli in Anstruther, the ever-amazing Arbroath smokies, juicy, sweet strawberries and cream from Crail in Bloom and indulgent crepes and hot chocolate (yes we'd already had some the day before but we couldn't resist more!) from The Pittenweem Chocolate Company. It was all delicious and brilliant to be able to eat alfresco. Nearby benches and the beach were brimming with people sitting to enjoy their lunch, the sunshine and sea views.

Crail Food Festival 2013 - harbour and stalls

   

 

Arbroath smokies - smokin'!

Despite all that food there was still more we didn't have the space to sample e.g. the smoothies from the smoothie bike I mentioned earlier, the wood-fired pizzas or the stall for Pittenweem's Little Herb Farm, whose flavoured vinegars are already regular inhabitants of the rose cottage kitchen. We would have loved some dressed crab and lobster from the little Crail harbour shack but they'd been so popular that they'd  completely sold out. Though as the shack is there all summer there's plenty of time to go back!

Meanwhile the cookery demos continued , a second foraging walk went out and there were oodles of other activities on the beach e.g. treasure hunts for kids. Inspired by our own foraging walk earlier, mum went back to the beach for a quick forage, mainly to impress the guests at her next dinner party with some unusual, wild ingredients! She bumped into the Californian residents that we met at the Festival the previous night, who were now presumably finding Crail a bit more like home given the significantly improved weather! 

Then it was time to go home and relax after all that food. All in all a brilliant summery day out and a really enjoyable festival that lived up to my expectations!

Crail Food Festival 2013 - sandcastle on the beach, view of the harbour stalls from the beach

The Crail Food Festival blog is well worth a read to find out more about the wonderful local suppliers and distributors we have in the East Neuk and wider Fife locale, who are able to meet your foodie needs throughout the year. The 2014 festival is happening on 14 and 15 June and no doubt will be bigger and better than ever. My stomach is looking forward to it already!

Text and photos Copyright Sara Scott 2013

Celeb & golf extravaganza at the Dunhill Links

We hadn't really planned it like this but a week's holiday at Rose Cottage ended up coinciding with the annual Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and this actually became a real highlight of the week. If you're a golf fan you will absolutely love this opportunity to see some of big pro names' swings and putts in the flesh. If like me you think a bogey is something you would find up your nose it's still a great event for the celeb-spotting! 

This is a 4 day event where professional golfers pair up with amateurs - many of them celebrities from the worlds of sport, music and film. Over three days the competitors play a round on each of three famous Scottish links golf courses - The Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. The best professionals and teams then play a final round on day 4 at the Old Course. The first three days are FREE for spectators to attend (including free parking at Kingsbarns). Tickets for the final day, the Sunday, are £15 for adults (£10 for OAPs and free for students and under 16s - its also possible to get free tickets e.g. by wearing visible tartan or buying something at the Farmers Market on the Saturday). There are gourmet food stalls, toilets etc and, in St Andrews anyway, lots of scope for some post golf drinks should you feel the urge e.g. at the Dunvegan Hotel (at the end of Golf Place) - we saw some of the Day 1 star players here.

We spent our first day at St Andrews where we based ourselves mainly at the 14th and 15th holes. The air was cold but with some welcome sunny spells. First up we saw Ian Botham (pictured) in a fetching neon green jumper and a pair of patterned trousers which had to be seen to be believed, topping the whole ensemble off with a cigar. He stopped to speak to his son Liam who was playing on the 4th. Botham senior was playing in the same group as Shane Warne (and I believe his wife Liz Hurley came to watch him play the next day at Carnoustie). Then came a group with Scottish sporting legends Gavin Hastings and Alan Hansen (commentating on his fellow players' performances). Staying at the same spot we also saw US Vice President Dan Quayle (my partner joked that his swing was "almost presidential"), Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres and two more ex-footballers Johan Cruyff and Ruud Gullit. We finished the day by following ex-footballer Jamie Redknapp's group's game to the 18th. After a fantastic drive to about 40 yards from the pin at the 18th he rather strangely (I'm told) decided to use his putter from the fairway rather than chip onto the green. After putting to about 8 feet from the hole and receiving a round of applause, he turned to the crowd smiling and admitted he was "a scaredy cat really - I went through the back of the green the last two years I played".     

By day two, this time at Kingsbarns, my partner quipped that it was like being on some sort of celebrity safari, with household names popping up behind every bush. With the sun splitting the sky we had arrived to see Paul Lawrie, fresh from the European team's Ryder Cup success, teeing off on the 1st. The Scot was partnered with his young son Craig. Then we saw actor Bill Murray (making chicken noises) and singer Huey Lewis. Later at the 5th Huey accidentally hit his ball while doing a practice swing at the tee. It went into the rough just to the side of the tee and Bill Murray's pro partner David Howell was winding Huey up that he had to hit it from there. Huey sportingly went to do just that, with Murray saying to the crowd: "Ladies and gentleman - Huey Lewis - what a sportsman". Howell then 'fessed up that he didn't have to.

We also saw Colin Montgomerie and Sir Steve Redgrave (pictured) on the 5th - a team who went on to end the day on an impressive 12 under par - and also the actor Greg Kinnear (pictured).

A highlight for me and a lot of excited kids was seeing the Olympian and Paralympian group - US swimming legend, the giant Michael Phelps and the Bladerunner himself, South African Oscar Pistorius. We were within inches of Pistorius when he had to move the barrier to take a shot in the rough on the 5th. Earlier in the day Phelps' pro partner Paul Casey had apparently had his ball stolen on the green by an over-enthusiastic dog!

We also saw a jovial Ernie Els, a giant of a man, who had won the Open earlier this year. His fellow South African partner Johann Rupert said to him at the start of the 3rd "you birdie this one and I'll get the next!".

My partner enjoyed getting up really close (right behind the tee) to see the incredible speed and accuracy of the pros driving. Often it was impossible to see the ball at all - just a whooshing sound high up in the air. I enjoyed the celeb-spotting and the light-hearted atmosphere - the players seemed to be really enjoying themselves and having a bit of banter with each other and the crowd. Though I imagine things might get more competitive on the final day!

We finished off by quaffing some Rob Roy burgers and getting the programme signed by two pros: Dustin Johnson (from the American Ryder Cup team) and Northern Irish golfer (and possible future Ryder Cup captain - though he wasn't giving anything away to the press on that) Darren Clarke.

The 2012 event was won by a South African pro, Branden Grace, who had led right from Day One - click here for the full results. Looking forward to next year's event already!