The Beauty of Fife

We bid farewell to Kirkcaldy this morning headed to the destination of Kellie Castle.  With atlas in hand, google directions in my lap, and Marty behind the wheel, we managed to find the place, back a long drive, off a very narrow road deep in the countryside of Fife.

We walked to the entrance, only to find that the castle didn't open until 12:30.  We decided to take the little nature walk around the castle, and head to the tea room, which opened at 10:30.

Along the walk, we discovered this very clever idea of a "Bird Hide".

Inside that ivy covered structure is a long bench and on the opposite side of this photo is a window, only partially covered with ivy, where one can peer out and catch a glimpse of the birds fluttering to and fro.

Stacey was very excited about this, and she was able to take several photos of various birds as they came to the feeders.

All of these were taken through the little openings in the window of the hide.  Is this a clever idea, or what?  Of course, it helps that there were just the three of us and no one else traipsing through the woods to scare the birds away.  So, we were actually quite lucky to show up so early.

Well, come to think of it, this place is pretty remote, so I'd find it difficult to believe that throngs of people would show up there.

After admiring birds for about 20 minutes, we decided to head to the tea room, where we were greeted by an extremely friendly woman who was so excited to meet someone from America!  She just thought our accents were so lovely!  Once we spotted the fresh, home made scones, Stacey and I had no doubt what we would be partaking. We placed the order for the scones with butter, jam and cream, and ordered a pot of tea.  

The woman went to the table where the scones had been fresh baked, and we watched her picking through the stack on the plate.  Finally she says, "I'm tryin' ta find the biggest ones for ya".  After she picked the perfect scones, she said that she would take them back and fix them up for us.

That photo doesn't do the scone justice.  Stacey and I called it the King of Scones.  It was filled with butter, jam, and a very thick layer of whipped cream.  All on a freshly baked fruit scone, which was so tender that it melted in your mouth.  I should stop before you start drooling onto your computer.  

By this time, the castle was open, and we could tour through the house, whose last owners were the Sir Robert Lorimer  family.  Two of the sons were quite famous, one of them, Hugh, being an architect, and the other, Robert, a rather famous painter.

The castle was filled with all kinds of interesting items, and it even included a small chapel that the Sir Robert  had installed in the one turret, after they converted to  Catholicism.  No photos are permitted of the inside, so, unfortunately, I cannot share the beauty that we were able to admire.

 The gardens were spectacular, and besides being ornamental, we spotted many plants that were growing to be harvested in the summer. I must have counted half a dozen varieties of rhubarb alone.  I had no idea that there were so many types.

Our destination for the day was Stirling, but I had planned one more stop for the day, which was kind of on the way.

Once again, we found ourselves traveling along small country roads, admiring the spectacular beauty of the Kingdom of Fife.

Marty stopped by the side of the road, so that Stacey could get a couple of shots of sheep.  There had been two cute little lambs, munching the grass by sticking their heads through the fence, but once Mama spotted us, she gave out a large BAAA which obviously meant "Get over here , NOW!", since the little lambs frolicked away before she could get a photo.  

Thank goodness for the National Trust of Scotland Brown Signs, or we would never have found this gem among the hills of Fife.

It's called the Hill of Tarvit, although I can't say that I know the history of the name.  This beautiful manor home was built in 1906 by a man named Schwartz who had made his fortune in Dundee in the Jute Industry.

He had a huge collection of antiques, and he wanted a place to showcase them.  So, this lovely house was constructed  with each room built to reflect the time period applicable to the antiques in the room.

It was designed by Hugh Lorimore, and many of the inside features reflected the interior details of Kellie Castle.  

This house stands out in the lovely countryside of Fife.  We walked down the road to admire the beauty of Ceres in the distance.

And, as if this isn't stunning enough, add to it sheep grazing in the field with the view of the town in the background, 

and you just can't help but be overwhelmed with the beauty of it all.

It was time for us to journey to Stirling.  With the rain falling rather heavily, it took us much longer than expected to reach the destination of our B&B.

We were warmly greeted by Laura, the owner, who brought us tea and tasty treats upon arrival, even though it was after 6:00 p.m.

What you see is Stirling Castle illuminated at night.  I took this photo while walking back from dinner to our B&B, which, by the way, stands at the foot of the hill of the castle.  So, while I am writing this, I can look straight up and see the back of the castle.

Now, if that isn't "cool", I don't know what is!