St Andrews... golf and more

Mick particularly wanted to go to St Andrews to see where the world famous golf course was.  We followed the road around the coast, ending up at a rather average looking transportable home park.  A fellow walking by offered us directions to St Andrews in an accent so broad we could barely understand him.  We did get the bit about stopping at Crail on the way. We were glad of the advice because it was a lovely little town.  We parked the car and had a good walk around.  Along the way we passed a couple of deer looking out at us from a field.  We've noticed signs warning of deer on the roads.

By the time we were approaching St Andrews we were in need of morning tea so when we saw a sign pointing off up a hill to a farm shop we turned off.  It was a nice little shop called Allanhill, specializing in all things strawberry.  We had a nice cup of tea and shared a scone.  I bought strawberries to take home with us for my breakfast.

Back on the road we reached the edge of St Andrews and saw a sign pointing to the harbour.  We parked the car again and set off on foot in the direction of the cathedral ruins we could see.  We couldn't believe how amazing it was.  To get an idea of the scale of this place, I borrowed the photo below from Wiki.  You can see the outline of how large the building was and where the pillars were down each side inside.  It was built in 1158 and was 100 metres long.  Incredible!  It fell into disrepair way back in the 16th century after Catholic mass was outlawed in Scotland. The cemetery surrounding the ruin was well worth a look around too.  My mum would have loved to visit here.... thinking of you mum.

We had a good walk around St Andrews and really loved it.  It would be a great place for a holiday without need of a car.  There's a great selection of shops to browse, plenty of places to eat and lots to see and do, especially if you're into golf.  We walked to the entrance of the renowned gold course.  Shame it was so overcast.  Over the edge of the cliff along the seafront we could see below to the aquarium where a fellow was feeding three seals.

As we made our way along the coastal edge to the harbour where we'd parked the car we also encountered the ruin of the castle.   There were plenty of fabulous houses and buildings to admire along the way.  We got in the car and began to make our way out of the parking area and then decided we should be looking for somewhere for lunch.  On the road leading out the other side of St Andrews we spied a sign for yet another farm shop.  This one was called Balgove Larder.  It had a great cafe where we had lunch and outside was a very clever "Steak Barn" which had walls made of stacked up crates.  The aroma of steak being cooked over a fire was mouthwatering.  The building itself was fantastic.

Although the weather started out dark and gloomy and we even had a spot of drizzle, it lightened up as the day wore on and it really wasn't too bad.  In all, we had a great day out.