The sea is the life blood of the picture-postcard fishing villages of Scotland’s East Neuk of Fife, described by King James 11 as “a fringe of gold on a beggar’s mantle” … an apt description

Generally speaking, the East Neuk — in Scots, the word neuk means nook or corner — comprises the fishing villages of the most northerly part of the Firth of Forth as well as the land and villages ever-so-slightly inland. If you consider that on a map Fife looks something like a Scottie dog's head, then the East Neuk, fringed by golden sands, would be the muzzle. The charming villages of this unspoiled corner of Scotland with their history of smugglers and pirates, tight, cobbled rabbit-warren of wynds (old Scottish word for a street) and jumble of whitewashed, flower bedecked stone houses with red-pantiled roofs, external staircases and crow-stepped gables, spill over with old-world charm. This is a stress free world of brightly hulled fishing boats, lobster creels stacked on weathered quaysides, friendly locals and chattering white-bibbed seagulls. Surely no better place to rediscover life’s simple pleasures?
Visitors come here to enjoy some of Scotland’s best beaches, watersports and undoubtedly spectacular links golf courses. Walkers are in their element while sightseers are spoiled for choice with castles, museums and country parks to visit.

The largest of the East Neuk villages is — no abrupt name this — The Royal Burgh of Kilrenny, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester. Probably just as well this typical seaside village is known as Ainster to the locals.

Baltic brigs and French wine ships used to berth in the quay in the busy years of the 1730s. At the end of the 19^th century this was Scotland's principal herring port with over a thousand boats in its fishing fleet. Anstruther landed herring was particularly popular in Poland and the fishing fleet would follow the herring run down the North Sea as far as Lowestoft in England. Over 700 men and boys went out with the fleet with twice as many employed on shore, making nets and barrels, gutting, curing and packing. Anstruther had no equal in Scotland. Today however, its main claim to fame is as home to the Scottish Fisheries Museum, housed in a building that has been associated with fishing for over four centuries and which bears a memorial to the many seafaring men who lost their lives in the wild waves. The bustle that once typified Anstruther is no more and though the village is still home to a working fishing fleet, nowadays the harbour hosts mainly pleasure craft.

The Dreel River forms the boundary between Anstruther Easter and Wester and long ago was guarded by the Castle of the same name. Robert Louis Stevenson stayed in nearby Cunzie House while his father was working on the new harbour wall in 1868, and the cottage that was the birthplace of Thomas Chalmers in 1780 stands off the High Street. He was instrumental in forming the Free Church of Scotland.

On most visitors “must see” list in Anstruther is Buckie House known locally as Shell House, which is exactly that — a house painstakingly embellished many years ago with shells by local man, Alex Batchelor. His obsession with shells was such that he bought a coffin and decorated it with shells too, then charged a fee for visitors to come inside and see it! Robert Louis Stevenson who visited the area as a young boy, made a note in his Fife journals of the pebble-adorned house of the “agreeable eccentric”.
Steeped in lore and legend, charming Pittenweem, a few miles along the coast is another fishing port that is a photographer’s dream. Its name comes from the Pictish language and means “place of the cave”, a reference to St Fillan's Cave near the harbour. Around the 600s, it was used as a chapel by the saint who reputedly had miraculous powers and is said to have written his sermons in the darkness of the cave, guided only by a glow from his arm. Over the centuries the cave has been respected as a shrine, although it was used by smugglers and also briefly as a storage place for fishing nets.
In the 1930s the cave was re-dedicated and services are still held there. When locked, visitors can request the key from the Gingerbread Horse Café on the High Street (usually open from 10am to 5pm). Pittenweem is steeped in witchcraft history too and once upon a time was infamous for its harsh punishment of women believed to be witches. Several witch trials took place in the town and the unfortunates found guilty were drowned in the loch at Kilconquhar.

Crail, the name comes from the Gaelic word rock, is another pretty little place which features on many calendars and is the oldest Burgh in the East Neuk. Robert the Bruce showed his entrepreneurial streak when he granted permission to hold Sunday markets in Crail’s Marketgait, where the Mercat Cross now stands. What outrage his bold decision caused in religious circles! Pious John Knox, never one to mince his words and always ready for conflict, delivered a fire and brimstone sermon at Crail Parish Church damning the East Neuk fishermen for working on a Sunday. Such irreverence! Despite the protests however, the markets proved a huge success, growing in leaps and bounds to rival Europe’s largest.
With its characteristic tower and Dutch style roof the Tolbooth in the town centre has a fish as part of its quirky weathervane. This is a clever reference to a one-time local delicacy, the somewhat confusingly named Crail Capon, which was actually haddock, split and dried. Today the European influence continues to ring true in the old town hall because the bell in the tower was brought from Holland to become a permanent reminder of the town’s links with that country.

The Secret Bunker near Crail, hidden below an unremarkable farmhouse and a labyrinth of tunnels and operations rooms, was the British government's civil defence centre during the Cold War. Visitors can see the original RAF control room, dormitories, canteen, a BBC studio and watch vintage newsreels. This is no theme park — it was Scotland’s best kept secret for over 40 years.

Further along the coast are the twin settlements and ancient towns of Elie and Earlsferry, once separate entities but united in 1929. The older of the two is Earlsferry, which on receiving a charter in 1589 was described as being “old beyond the memory of man”. This is where you will find MacDuff’s Cave, where the Thane of Fife is said to have hidden from Macbeth’s assassins until a local fisherman bravely rowed him to safety across the River Forth. Golf is believed to have been played on Earlsferry Links as early as the 15th century and the layout evolved into the current magnificent 18-hole course course which has remained largely unchanged since 1896.

A walk along the coast brings you to the lighthouse and Lady's Tower, built as a summerhouse for Lady Janet Anstruther of Elie House. One of her favourite pastimes was to swim naked in the sea and when she did so a bellman would walk through the streets warning local people to stay away from her. The seashore between Lady’s Tower and Elie Lighthouse is called Ruby Bay because garnets can be found on its beach.

About five miles off the coast is the Isle of May, largest of all islands in the Firth of Forth, once home to early Christian missionaries. The Priory founded by King David 1 was inhabited for nearly two centuries until the monks moved to Pittenweem. It is thought that the name comes from Norsemen who called the island Maa Oy, Norse for Gull Island. Now this nature reserve with its sheer crinkly cliffs and deep caves, a European Special Area of Conservation, is home to around 40,000 puffins and grey seals. Vertical sea cliffs on its west coast are occupied in the breeding season by large numbers of razorbill, guillemot and kittiwake. Weather permitting, you can sail across from Anstruther harbour every day from May to October.