For each of my books I have written virtual tours of the places which have inspired me to write, and Fife is no exception. My tour will be in chronological order rather then geographical, as I discover, explore and come to love this region of the UK.
I will begin in Lower Largo.
I was visiting my husband one weekend. He was commuting from Bedfordshire to Dunfermline each week and so I flew up to join him.
On the Saturday we went for out a drive.
‘Let’s have a look down there,’ I said, when I noticed a ‘to the beach’ sign from the main road along the coast. It was time for coffee anyway. There we stumbled upon a magical place, reminiscent of Cornwall years ago, before the floods of tourists descended. It was early May in 2013.
We stood gazing along the beach for a while towards the peninsula, which pointed out towards North Berwick on the south coast of The Forth. Rocks and sand stretched for what appeared to be miles into the distance. Behind us was a small harbour, The Crusoe Inn Hotel and a viaduct which framed quaint cottages, like a backdrop for an Agatha Christie movie.
We breathed in deeply, hubby after a week’s rewarding but challenging work, and me after a stressful time at college and delayed flights the previous evening. A welcoming coffee at The Crusoe next revealed Lower 
Largo’s claim to fame as the birth place of the real Robinson Crusoe, Alexander Selkirk. Old ‘letters’ adorn the walls of the hotel and you can even ‘walk’ on a footprint of the man himself.
I was so charmed by all of this, my natural curiosity inspired, and thus I began my first research into the history of Fife, the Kingdom I now call home.
(Author Diana Jackson loves researching social history and this inspires her writing. Her latest release ‘The Healing Paths of Fife’, a fantasy / memoir, reflects her growing love for the Kingdom of Fife.)
Diana Jackson 