More Culture In Fife

Yesterday we made a visit to the Pittenweem Arts Festival. We didn't know what to expect having read just a brief blurb about it which stated that local houses become art galleries for a week in this little fishing village. We expected a festival of local amateur art. But it was much more than that. The picturesque and ancient village, rising from a harbour reminiscent of Cornwall, was packed with visitors and there was a huge variety of art on show. Yes there was a preponderance of coastal and harbour scenes all very nice and competently done but there was plenty more on offer with exhibitions of glass, ceramics, jewelry and more contemporary arts.

My personal favourite was the ceramic art of Craig Mitchell. Packed with humour, these large and intricately modelled works were full of humour and colour and I would have gladly bought a piece but for the substantial price tags. I could certainly see them becoming collectors' items in the future like the ceramics of Grayson Perry. We spoke to Craig for a few minutes and found that he grew up in Burscough and lived in Southport for some time, another of life's coincidences. Sadly we had to curtail our visit to the festival before seeing everything as the heavens opened again and it has now rained constantly for almost twenty four hours. Maybe we will be able to return during the week as it runs for seven days.

There are rivers running down the road from the caravan park here towards St Andrews and I am glad that there is nowhere at risk from flood in the area as it has been truly monsoon conditions. There was no chance of going to the open air Shakespeare performance at the Hill Of Tarvit last night and I very much doubt that it went ahead. The fabulous children's playground on the site stands idle at the moment which is such a pity as there are a lot of small children on holiday here at the moment and they love it.

Rose with her favourite George the Giraffe

It will be nice when we can take Rose  to the playground although we don't want to be wishing our lives away. Fortunately for us, we are not worried about the weather. We're going to meet Rose's other granddad and grannie this afternoon for the first time. We're looking forward to meeting them as we've heard so much about the them but have never been in St Andrews at the same time before.