This being our first visit to Woodlands Gardens since the original owners sold the site we were looking forward to meeting Iain and Tara Clark, and of course their young baby Cameron. They turned out to be a lovely friendly young couple who like the previous owners made us feel very welcome.
This is the seventh year running we have visited Woodland Gardens Caravan and Camping Site on the slopes of Largo Law in the East Neuk of Fife. The reason for our regular visits to this one acre site, which caters for Pods, Caravans, Motorhomes and Campervans, is that its quiet, peaceful and clean and well organised. All caravan/motorhome pitches are hard standing with electric hook up as standard plus two of the pitches are fully serviced. The site was busy as usual but without feeling over crowded thanks to decent size pitches.
Obviously this area is now very familiar and we tend to cover some of the same ground that we have trod previously. So our first walk was down to Lower Largo and a first visit to the shore for a short walk along he beach.
The following day we had our first visit to Blacketyside Farm Shop and Restaurant for lunch to celebrate 58 years married. Excellent lunch followed by strawberry sundaes. This was followed by a lovely walk back to Lower Largo via the beach, the sea air air being very invigorating.
This coast line of the Firth of Forth has an abundance of small picturesque villages and this year we decided to catch the X60 bus to Pittnweem to sample the local Arts Festival. Situated between St Monans and Anstruther its one of the only villages still an active fishing village. Its highly regarded for its beautifully preserved 17th and 18th century white washed cottages featuring traditional red pantiled roofs made possible by by the National Trust for Scotland under its Little Houses Improvement Scheme. The arts festival transforms the the entire village into an open air gallery and as witnessed it makes it very busy.
St Andrews is a beautiful town named after Saint Andrew the Apostle, whose relics are said to have been taken there in 732. St Andrew has been celebrated in Scotland for over a thousand years, However, it wasn't until 1320, when Scotland's independence was declared with the signing of The Declaration of Arbroath, that he officially became Scotland's patron saint.
The town is famously home to the University of Scotland, Scotland’s oldest university, founded by Bishop Kennedy in 1411, as well as being the seat of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club which was founded in 1754 and attracts a great many of today’s visitors. This years visit was spoilt some-what by the fact that the main shopping area had its yearly show which spoilt the ambiance of the town and was very noisy. So we walked to the shore and sat and enjoyed our piece overlooking the sea.
Along the coast line from Lower Largo runs the Fife Coastal Path witch brings you to Shell Bay, part way along we decided to diverted to the beach and walked the rest of the way along the shore line, always a great pleasure on a nice day.
The bay itself includes the very large Elie Holiday Park where we stopped for some refreshment before we continued to Earlsferry and Elie via a cross country path and down into the village to catch the X61 back to Lundin Links.
Cycling locally is certainly not recommended on the main 'A' Roads that criss-cross this area of Fife as they are narrow, bendy and are extremely busy, but there are some decent B Roads that you can cycle without risking life and limb.
A seven mile bike ride from the camp site is Ceres, once described as ‘the most attractive village in Scotland’ so always worth a visit. It is also one of the only villages in Scotland to have a village green. Known locally as the Bow Butts because of the archery practice that took place there in medieval times. It also holds the title for hosting the oldest continuously held Highland Games in Scotland dating back to a charter given by Robert the Bruce in 1314.
Overlooking the Bow Butts is a monument commemorating the men of Ceres who fought in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 when Robert the Bruce gave an English King, Edward the Second, a sound thrashing on the battle field.
The following day we had our second visit to Blacketyside for lunch walking both ways along the beach.
Very pleased with our visit this year we have already made a booking for 2027, on our regular serviced pitch, for 10 nights. The site itself has not changed and we are interested to see if in another year anything does change.
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