Scotland Off the Beaten Track

Dumfries & Galloway | Holywood | Garden | ★★★★

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation is only open for one day each year, but if the sun's shining and you're in the area you should make every effort to visit this unusual, quirky work of landscape art. Graceful landforms, sculptures, bridges and gardens celebrating the universe, nature and the senses are waiting to be explored, only slightly marred by hundreds of others doing the same thing. Some of it gets quite technical (the Quark Walk gets you up to speed with the Standard Model of Elementary Particles, for example), many parts are fun for kids (with curving mounds, bridges and walkways including the Snake and Snail Mounds and the Comet Bridge), while other areas are simply beautiful gardens in the more conventional sense (such as the Linear Paradise Garden). It's all spread over 30 acres of picturesque Dumfriesshire countryside bordering the River Nith, and is the brainchild of American landscape designer Charles Jencks;…

Fife | Methil | Museum | ★★

Methil Heritage Centre is one of a handful of small museums scattered along Fife's post-industrial south coast. The displays inside are smarter than the slightly unpromising exterior of the building suggests, outlining the growth of Levenmouth (the name given to the conurbation made up of Buckhaven, Methil and Leven) through the centuries and the fortunes and fates of its main industries: primarily fishing and coal mining. The museum also includes a small gallery, displaying coal mining art when we were there.


Location & info

📌 Methil Heritage Centre★★
High Street, Methil town centre, G.R.: NT 374996 ///violin.played.civil
Tuesday to Thursday & Saturday | Free

Fife | Town | ★★★

Kirkcaldy vies with Dunfermline for the title of the largest town in the Kingdom of Fife. Like many of the coastal settlements on Fife's south coast, Kirkcaldy's historical growth came from fishing, coal mining and salt production. These were followed by something more unusual: the manufacture of lino(leum), popular as a floor covering until a few decades ago. These industries have all now declined but are remembered in the excellent town museum. The winding high street (with plenty of scope for shopping) also remains; its exceptional length has given the place its nickname: the "Lang Toun". There's further interest to the northeast. Following the underused esplanade in this direction reaches a cluster of sites to visit, dotted through old villages now swallowed up by Kirkcaldy. In the area known as Pathhead, Ravenscraig Castle is an unexpectedly substantial clifftop ruin; a little further on is the old fishing village of Dysart.


Location

📌 Kirk…

Fife | Buckhaven | ★★

Buckhaven now appears to be an quiet, unremarkable coastal village, consisting of a lot of modern housing and not much tourist appeal. The small museum housed above the village library reveals that this wasn't always the case: by 1831, Scotland's second largest fishing fleet was based here before coal mining took over in the 1860s. Old pictures inside the museum show off a beautiful local beach; sadly, this was ruined by coal waste which also silted up the now non-existent harbour.


Location & info

📌 Buckhaven Museum★★
College Street, Buckhaven village centre, G.R.: NT 360982 ///bills.even.sudden
Open Tuesday & Thursday to Saturday | Free

Fife | East Wemyss | Castle | ★

Macduff's Castle is one of Scotland's more obscure ruins, named after the family who originally owned the land here. Set on cliffs above the wonderful Wemyss Caves and overlooking the Firth of Forth, it's easily reached by a short walk along the coast path from East Wemyss village. The castle was built by the Wemyss family in the 14th century following the burning of an earlier construction, and had two towers joined by a gatehouse range. Only the southwest tower has survived the wrath of the local council, who (apparently) demolished other parts of the property after somebody fell from it.


Location & info

📌 Macduff's Castle ★
10-min walk northeast of East Wemyss village centre, G.R.: NT 344971 ///feasted.official.cracks
Always open | Free

Anything else? Park on the seafront at G.R.: NT 342969 ///audit.catch.overlooks. From here it's a 10-min walk to the castle on a good path with steps, passing the entrances to some of the Wemyss …

Fife | East Wemyss | Caves | ★★★

The clue is in the name of the local village, East Wemyss: "Wemyss" is derived from the Gaelic uamh - or cave. Strung along the coast to the east of the village are a series of sandstone caves. They'd be interesting to explore in their own right, but what sets them apart is their wealth of ancient carvings. The Bronze Age, Pictish and Viking periods are all represented (as well as additions from more recent visitors which act as red herrings), making up a fascinating section of coastline. Macduff's Castle is easy to visit on the same trip, and an unusually low tide made for excellent rock pooling when we were there. The usual precautions should probably be taken if entering the caves, such as wearing a hard hat and telling someone where you're going, but many people probably don't bother. Most of the caves aren't particularly deep so a torch isn't essential, though having one makes finding the carvings more straightfor…

Argyll & Bute | Glen Fyne | Full day walk | ★★★

A Munro with a brewery at the bottom? Sounds like a dream come true. Fyne Ales Brewery is perfectly positioned at the head of Loch Fyne for a sneaky tour (check in advance) or pint at the start or end of this circuit taking in Beinn Bhuidhe, a remote Munro just outside the western boundary of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. A long, flat walk along Glen Fyne followed by a well-worn hill path has probably been the most popular route for decades; there are wonderful views alongside Allt na Faing and on the final summit ridge, but it's slow, steep going with rocky ground to negotiate further down. More recently a hydro track has appeared, snaking its way to about the 600 metre mark. It makes an easy alternative route (which we suggest using in descent, when legs are weary) at the expense of scenery: it's a truly hideous scar on the landscape, "designed" with seemingly no regard for the hillside it's bee…

Fife | Ceres | Museum | ★★★

Farming is everywhere in Fife, so perhaps it's not surprising that the county has an excellent museum dedicated to the region's rural history, housed in a former tolbooth and 19th century weaving cottages in the middle of Ceres. Er, where? Ceres is a village not far from Cupar - it's an attractive place but not really on Fife's main road network, which could explain why the Fife Folk Museum isn't better known. A colourful collection of gardening and agricultural equipment strung along Craighall Burn welcomes you to the museum, with a fascinating assortment of objects spread across several (small) levels and buildings. Upon entry we were each given a woven tag emblazoned with the name of one of Ceres' former residents, with displays at regular intervals allowing us to follow the life of our chosen citizen as we moved around the building - a nice, innovative touch.


Location & info

📌 Fife Folk Museum★★★
High Street, Ceres village cen…