Crail at Its Finest

Many of you realize that our life has been extremely hectic as of late, and that this trip was actually thrown together only 2 months ago.  Just about the time I started planning, I spotted a Facebook post singing the praises of Crail as the perfect vacation spot.

Well, we had never been to Crail, and when I was able to easily find a B&B, with a triple room, for 2 nights that fit into the schedule, I jumped at the opportunity.   And, after the exuberant welcome that we received last evening, I had the feeling that we would love it here.

Crail sits in eastern Fife, right on the Firth of Forth as it meets the North Sea.  Our original plan was to arise early and head down to the harbor to see the sunrise.   I could say that we got up and were disappointed when we saw that a fog was hanging in the air.  But the fact of the matter is, none of us was up before the sun, and, when I did peek out the window,  I knew immediately that we had missed absolutely nothing.

Can you see that mist out there?  Sleeping in a wee bit was the perfect decision!  And we were just happy that we didn't awake to rain!

After an absolutely awesome breakfast, we thought we would head down to the harbor area as it appeared that the fog was lifting a bit.

As luck would have it, the fog was lifting, and we delighted in the visual beauty that was slowly developing.

How awesome is that?

While we were standing on the pier in the harbor, I watched this boat slowly come in.

The man on the boat, then proceeded to unload lobsters from traps, into a large bucket which was hoisted to the top.

He then climbed up the ladder

The fresh lobsters were then taken just a few hundred feet to a small shack in the pier area.  

Here's what the lobster traps look like for those who might be interested.

We decided that we would come back later in the day and have one of the fresh caught lobsters steamed for our enjoyment. 

In the meantime, we headed out to Kellie Castle for a tour.  Just look at those brilliant blue skies! The mist had subsided.......for now!

When we arrived, we were told that a guided tour would begin at 12:15, and last around 50 minutes.  So, we spent the time walking around the surrounding gardens.

As you can see apple trees were brimming with fruit

pumpkins were nearly ready for picking

And I do believe that the zucchini had been forgotten.

The 45 min wait soon passed, and we headed inside for the beginning of the tour.  The guide, Margaret, introduced herself, and led us right up a flight of stairs to a landing.  She gave us a brief history of the castle, and showed us a very large painting that featured that very same staircase leading to an open front door.

The artist was John Henry Lorimer, and his father had purchased the house from the Earl of Mar, in the late 1800's after leasing it for many years.  Margaret was sure to give us all of the details of the painting which we might just have missed.

Now, we've been on quite a few of the National Trust property tours, and have found them to be fun and informative.  But today's tour was definitely one that will stand out in our minds for quite some time.

It was obvious that Margaret was a master in regards to the knowledge of this castle.  She knew the history of the house like the back of her hand, and she was an expert on every single piece of art, furniture, ceilings and statues.  I kid you not when I say that in the first room, the present day drawing room, there were no less than 70 separate items in that room, and she went into detail regarding every single one, and she also seemed to have some sort of anecdote related to many of them. 

It was definitely interesting, but, honestly, our heads were buzzing as she went on .....and on.......and on, obviously excited to share her vast knowledge with us.  I began to notice that people in our group were quietly slipping out of the room, but I didn't have the heart to leave, and I really did want to see the Castle in its entirety.  When all was said and done, our "50 minute" tour was not a second less than a full hour and a half.

So, what did I learn?

Well, the castle began as a single tower, owned by the Oliphant family as early as 1360.  The 4th Lord Oliphant added the east tower in 1573.  Twenty years later, the 5th Earl joined the two towers resulting in what one sees today. 

The 5th earl then sold the castle to Sir Thomas Erskine in 1613. He was a personal friend of King James I, and when he invited the king to his castle, Erskine commissioned a group of plasterers to make a unique ceiling in the formal bedroom just in honor of the king's visit.   The molds from the ceiling were then used in several of the stately houses and castles including Craigeviar which we had visited the other day.

In 1829, when the 10th earl died, there were no obvious heirs, and all of the contents of the castle were auctioned, and the castle was left abandoned. 

Kellie Castle was  then discovered by the James Lorimer family in 1870. He was a professor of law at Edinburgh University, was married, and had 6 children.  He approached the 9th Earl of Mar, who now owned the property but left the castle unattended, and asked if he would consider leasing the house.  A 38 year lease was agreed upon where the Earl of Mar would make the external repairs, and Lorimer could live in the house and pay for interior repairs.   James' sons and daughters were all artistically talented with John Henry being an accomplished artist.  His parents converted an upstairs turret room into an artist studio for him so that he would be close to him and continue to pursue his passion of painting.  Many of his artistic works are hanging in the castle.  

Robert Lorimer was an architect and he designed numerous pieces of furniture that now stand on display in the house. 

Even though James died in 1890, the house continued to be lived in by this family until 1936 when  John Henry died and willed all of his possessions to charity. Once again, all of the contents of the castle were publicly auctioned off.  

In 1937, John's nephew, Hugh Lorimer, took over the lease and he and his wife Mary moved into the castle. When the Earl of Mar died, his successor offered the castle for sale to the Lorimer family, and so they purchased it and owned it until it was offered to the National Trust in 1970.

I can't really say how the trust managed to have so many Lorimer items on display since all of the contents had been sold off many years ago.  A few of the pieces were donated from family members, but believe me, that house was brimming with a variety of items, and you can rest assured that Margaret knew something about each and every one of them!

What I found extremely interesting was the ingenuity of Mary Lorimer in regards to some of the pieces.  There is a large table in the dining room, which had once been a wood workers table.  Mary purchased it at auction relatively inexpensively. Similarly, a huge wardrobe stands in the men's dressing room.   That piece once stood in a church and held altar robes.  A pianoforte stands in the drawing room, a result of trade between two families:  the owner was happy to trade it for a barouche. And, finally, there was a lovely canopy over Mary's bed that she constructed herself.  She found a relatively large oval broken mirror that had a gold gilded edge.  She removed all of the glass, had someone saw it in half lengthwise, added some gold upholstery to where the mirror glass had been, and hung it from the wall above the bed, with gold netting streaming down the sides.  Now, how clever was that?

Our guide knew absolutely everything about every single piece in that house, and believe me, we learned not only about the items, but about the personal history of just about every family member.

I'm just glad that we didn't have to take a test when it was all done!  We politely exited, and headed back to Crail, because, we had a date with a Lobster, remember?

When we returned to harbor, the mist had returned, but that didn't dampen our enthusiasm.  I peered into the lobster chest.

He didn't appear very happy.   

Marty ordered one steamed lobster at the little brown hut.

And, 10 minutes later,  this showed up for us, along with three plates and dinnerware.

Amy took one bite and decided that she didn't care for lobster.  So the rest was for Marty and me to enjoy.  One thing to note:  Scots do not eat their lobster with clarified butter.  Or so I was told by our B&B hosts, and, to be quite frank, there was no mention of such a thing when we ordered.  So, Marty and I just enjoyed the lobster without any enhancements.

And it was really quite delicious, full of flavor, and, obviously, as fresh as one can get, having just been pulled from the sea a few hours earlier!

By the time we finished our treat, the skies began to clear, and we decided to make the most of it and walk along a bit of the coastal trail.

But before I describe the walk, I'd just like to make mention of the Lobster man....the one with the hat in the boat, who hauled in the lobsters, climbed the ladder, and carried the catch to the Lobster hut to sell.  His appearance was quite  unique, with very long hair, a knit cap on his head, camaflouge shorts, and bright yellow Wellies upon his feet.    Honestly, it would be hard to miss him.

So, we found it rather amusing that while we were driving to Kellie Castle, this same man was driving his truck (at a rather fast pace) in the opposite direction, back to Crail.  He had obviously made a delivery to someone nearby.  

Later, while waiting for the steaming, we spotted this same man, skirting from place to place in the harbor.  Then, while walking back to the B&B, we saw him pop out of his truck, and walk up to someone's front door holding a canvas bag in each hand, (obviously each containing a lobster).  He departed the house empty handed and jumped back into his truck, obviously going out to make another delivery.  Hours later, that same man was still hopping around town.  What a hard working and industrious young man!  

Strolling through the village offered some really quaint houses, and, as usual, I took way too many photos, but I'll try to limit how many I share here.  (But it can be hard picking the best ones.)

The yellow house has a plaque with the year 1632.

This is the walk down towards the trail.

Some views along the shoreline.

A cute house along the way.

More shoreline

And, finally, the view of Crail  walking north along the trail from Anstruther. 

The weather was a bit chilly, but certainly welcomed!  Just a few hours earlier and it would have been impossible to see the village from the trail due to the mist.  Once again, how lucky were we?

Well....tomorrow's another day and we'll be off on another Gallivanting Adventure.  In the meantime, Crail has been everything that we had hoped it would be.  Can't ask for more than that, for sure!

Until tomorrow......