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| Woodland Garden Camp Site. |
Woodlands Gardens Caravan Site is a small family campsite excellently run by Jan and Craig Young on the slopes of Largo Law in the East Neuk of Fife. It is a one-acre site with pitches set out in groups of four and five for pods, caravans, and campervans. All caravan/motorhome pitches are hard standing with electric hook up as standard. On our previous visits the site had in place extra Covid 19 measures for visitor’s safety but this time it was upto each individual guest. This is a grand site that we were happy to have visited for the third time already reserving a pitch for 2023, and would not hesitate to recommend it to other campers. The site was very busy as usual but without feeling over crowded thanks to decent size pitches. The first two days after we arrived witnessed some of the highest temperatures experienced in Scotland so needless to say we did not go very far just enjoying a welcome rest and catching up with some reading.
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| Robinson Crusoe. |
An enjoyable one-mile walk from the site brings you to the picturesque coastal village of Lower Largo, a conservation area situated on Largo Bay, which was an ancient fishing village and has historic links to the Knights Templar. Its main claim to fame however is as the birthplace of Alexander Selkirk in 1676. It was he who provided the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Outside 99-105 Main Street there is a life size statue of Selkirk dressed in self made goatskin clothes scanning the horizon for the ship that will rescue him after four years and four months as a castaway on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific 7500 miles from home.
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| Lower Largo Viaduct. |
The cuts, in 1965, to the railway network overseen by Richard Beeching closed the railway line that went through Lower Largo but the viaduct that carried the track still dominates the village.
The third annual Largo Arts Week event was taking place, so the village was bustling with visitors to see all the unique exhibits displayed in folks houses and gardens. Recommended by Jan Young to visit Nic Hogg's Studio 32 were we did actually purchase two lovely paintings. Also there was a chance to enjoy an audience with two of my favourite crime novelists, Val McDermid and Ian Rankin, but Im afraid we had to give these audiences a miss as both included a meal in the local hotel and would run out at a total cost of £400!
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| The Aurrie. |
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| Coastal Path towards Leven. |
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| Largo Law. |
Each time we visited the area previously we have tried to pluck up the courage to climb the eroded plug of an ancient volcano called Largo Law. This involves a five mile round trip from our campsite and although not particularly high at 215 meters its a very steep climb, and even accounting for the dry weather, very slippery. But when you get to the top and then across to the trig point the views make your hard work well worth it.
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| A lovely walk to Leven. |
The nearest ‘large’ town is Leven which boosts a sports/leisure/swimming pool centre. The town itself has a shopping high street that like most towns these days has a run-down feel about it, in fact far worse than the last time we visited. Sainsburys however has a large store not far from the local bus station. From Largo there is a coastal path to the town that follows the line of the beach on one side and a splendid looking golf club on the landward side. Our 4.5 mile walk was rewarded with a well deserved visit the Greggs for Apple Danish and hot chocolate before our walk back.
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| The House is now open. |
It was decided to revisit the Hill of Tarvit as the house was closed on our last visit.
So, bikes came off the Motorhome for our trip. The property and gardens were bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland in 1949. This Edwardian mansion house with its 500 acres of formal garden, forest and farmland some eight miles from our camp site is a hidden gem and is a ‘must visit’ if you're in the area.
Originally built in 1696 by William Bruce and called Wemyss Hall. In 1904 entrepreneur Frederick Bower Sharp purchased the Hall and estate. Sharps family had made their fortune in Dundee’s jute industry (and allegedly sold cloth for sandbags to both sides during the American Civil War). Entering the house we again met up with Greta at the reception who gave a wonderful preview of the house and its history. Sharp wanted a family home within easy reach of his Dundee interests but mainly wanted somewhere to house his extensive collection of paintings, tapestries, furniture and porcelain. The original building did not meet with his requirements so he engaged a top architect, Sir Robert Lorimer, to build a house that that would be designed around his collection. Over the next two years, the new mansion house now named Hill of Tarvit replaced the main block of the earlier house, although the rear service wings were retained. The new house was fitted with all modern conveniences, including electricity, an internal phone system and central heating. In 1924 Sharp added the twenties style Kingarrock 9-hole hickory golf course to the south of the house which can still be played by visitors.
Frederick Sharp died in 1932, a week before his seventieth birthday. his son Hugh inherited his fathers financial interests also improving the gardens. At the age of 40 Hugh became engaged to Mabel Hogarth and while travelling to meet Mabel, at her insistence by rail rather than road because of a snowstorm, when the Edinburgh to Glasgow express ran into his stationary train stuck in a snow drift. He was among the 35 people who died on the 10th December 1937. His mother and unmarried sister Elisabeth continued living quietly together at Hill of Tarvit until Mrs Sharps death in 1946 followed by Elizabeth's death in 1948 leaving the estate along with her fathers collection to the National Trust for Scotland.
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