Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
pristine lawn. Look out for the high walls of the oldest real (or royal) tennis court in
Britain - built in 1539 for James V and still in use.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
FALKLAND
By bus
Buses stop on New Rd, a few paces east of the palace.
Destinations
Glenrothes (Mon-Sat 2 hourly, 7 on Sun;
20min); Perth (Mon-Sat hourly, 2 on Sun; 55min);
St Andrews (Mon-Sat hourly, 5 on Sun; 1hr 30min).
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Covenanter Hotel
The Square
T
01337 857163,
W
covenanterfalkland.co.uk.
This traditional inn at the
heart of the village has a cosy pub and a good-value
restaurant serving unpretentious food from its all-day
menu. The evening à la carte options might include herb
roasted chicken with mash and mushroom sauce for
£8.75. If you're staying over, you'II find that the hotel
rooms here offer superb value, with their wide en-suite
rooms, big comfy beds and a ful
l Sc
ottish breakfast
included.
Food served 11am-late.
£70
Hill of Tarvit
Just off the A916, 2 miles south of the A91 at Cupar • Daily: house April-Oct, Thurs-Mon 1-5pm; gardens all year 9.30am-6pm or dusk;
Scotstarvit Tower keys available from the house April-Oct • £10; NTS
•
T
01337 840319
Remodelled in 1906 by Sir Robert Lorimer from a late seventeenth-century building,
Hill of Tarvit
offers a rare insight into the lives of the wealthy from the turn of the
twentieth century, with its central heating, telephones, plumbing and lighting - all
state of the art at the time. his Edwardian mansion - formerly the home of the
geographer and cartographer Sir John Scott - also contains an impressive collection of
eighteenth-century Chippendale and French furniture, Dutch paintings, Chinese
porcelain and a restored Edwardian laundry.
hree-quarters of a mile west of the present house and also on the estate, you can visit the
five-storey, late sixteenth-century
Scotstarvit Tower
, a fine example of a Scots tower house.
8
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
HILL OF TARVIT
By bus
Buses stop at the Cupar entrance (A916) and serve
Glenrothes (Mon-Sat hourly, 5 on Sun; 1hr) and St
Andrews (Mon-Sat hourly, 5 on Sun; 1hr).
Western Fife
Fife's
south coast
curves sharply north at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, exposing the
towns and villages to an icy east wind that somewhat undermines the sunshine image
of the beaches. he highlight of the coast is one of the largest man-made structures in
Scotland, the impressive
Forth Rail Bridge
, which joins Fife at
North Queensferry
.
East from here you'll find a straggle of Fife fishing communities such as
Aberdour
and
Kinghorn
which have depended on the sea for centuries, and now make popular, although
not especially attractive, holiday spots as well as being part of Edinburgh's commuter belt.
To the west of the bridge, the shorefront, blighted by industry and docklands, has
one great surprise in the time-capsule village of
Culross
, with links from the sixth
century to the dawn of the industrial revolution.
Inland, just north from the bridge, lies
Dunfermline
, Scotland's capital until the
Union of the Crowns in 1603. his “auld, grey toun” is built on a hill, dominated by
its abbey and ruined palace
at the top.
The Forth Bridges
he cantilevered
Forth Rail Bridge
, built from 1883 to 1890 by Sir John Fowler and
Benjamin Baker, ranks among the supreme achievements of Victorian engineering.
Some fifty thousand tons of steel were used in the construction of a design that
