Category Archives: Scotland

Burntisland, only two miles from where we live, influenced us from the very beginning of our life in Fife. One evening we drove along the coast from Dunfermline, where we were living temporarily at a Premier Inn, to buy fish and chips.  We chose the Links Bar, which is nearest to the promenade which was where we sat eating and looking out over the Forth towards the island of Inchkeith Island and Edinburgh. From there you can also see Pettycur Harbour, across the vast expanse of sands of Pettycur Bay. A beautiful area!

Above is a painting by a local artist Douglas Gray from much the same spot where we were sitting that fine evening, enjoying the view for the first time. We bought it from their gallery above Kinghorn Station not long after we moved here permanently, as a reminder but also as a perfect, albeit unusual shape for a long bedroom wall.

For the last two Saturdays, on our visits to Burntisland, we have been surprised by two unexpected pleasures. A week ago we were returning to the car when we looked up to see to see a steam train travelling above the Links towards Kinghorn; it was quite a site. This Saturday a young pipers band entertained us as we enjoyed a drink and an ice cream.

Burtisland is a place we visit most weekends to do our fresh veg and fish shopping. Macauley’s fruit and veg shop isn’t just an ordinary shop though. Here’s their April 2018 facebook post:

“It’s official! Macauley’s is Scotland’s Fresh Produce Provider of the Year 2018 🎉 Here’s to our awesome customers, a vibrant local High St in Burntisland and our many innovative suppliers that keep us stocked with a great range of produce – thank you!!”

Congratulations on your well deserved success!

With fresh organic fruit and veg sourced as locally as possible, paper bags to serve ourselves and a delicious soup in a bag to tempt us each week, my mouth waters; then add the thought of the first Scottish strawberries which arrived in the last few days. I can’t wait 🙂

Next door to this delightful independent trader, and Burntisland’s shops are now filling up with a wide variety of them, is C n M Seafoods. Talk about a sweet shop for adults! When we visit each week we rarely know what we are going to buy, we just gaze over the colourful display of fresh fish, straight from the sea off Fife and prepared on the premises, and we decide on the spot. (and no non recyclable plastic trays in sight)

I could talk of the florist, the new Italian cafe restaurant, the ironmongers, Potter About, Food for Thought, the Spiritualist Shop…. I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone here but the last addition to the street is Novelli’s, an ice cream shop and cafe. Now, when it opened we were going through a spell of very cold easterly wintery winds filled and I wondered about the viability of such a shop, but now that the sun is out I realise what a fantastic spot they’ve chosen. The temptation is great, on the corner just before you return to the carpark, and they’ll be packed around fair time I’m sure. To top it all this week they had coffee ice cream, my husband’s favourite!

As you can see we enjoy our regular visits to Burntisland visiting local shops we are not as yet fortunate to have in Kinghorn. Now, in days gone by, that’s another story…

Thinking of the past, if I’d had the chance to meet Mary Somerville for a chat on my travels through Burntisland along The Fife Coastal Path in The Healing Paths of Fife, that would have been something special too, and did you know that the King James version of the Bible was written in Burntisland?