Ten Things We'll Miss About St Andrews

With just three more nights to go before we head south (weather permitting - I see that the Mirror and Express had big weather scare headlines yesterday), it's time to take stock of our six months in the caravan here in St Andrews.

Little did we know when we told the buyers of our house that we'd be happy to move out before the work on the place in Suffolk was finished that we were committing ourselves to over half a year of living on a caravan site and eighteen thousand miles of driving up and down the country. But it hasn't been at all bad. In fact, although we've known St Andrews ever since Sarah started university thirteen or so years ago, we never really KNEW it until 2011 when we bought the static at Craigtoun Meadows and even then we only knew it as temporary visitors.

Eighteen months later we've grown to love it and if we did not have family in other parts of the country we could quite happily have opted for retirement here. We watch A Place In The Sun Home And Away regularly and it never ceases to amaze me how people hanker for foreign climes when there are such fabulous places in the UK. Anyway, here are the ten things we'll miss the most. The list excludes our family who, it goes without saying, will be missed a hundred times more than anything else.

1. The caravan itself. You may think that being cooped up together in such a small place twenty four/ seven for six months would be enough to send anyone stir crazy but it's been cosy and quite relaxing (when not dealing with 101 queries from builders, architects, decorators, electricians and other suppliers) and there's a lot to be said about a place that takes just an hour or two a week to keep clean.

2. The wildlife. Unfortunately I don't have any photos but since most of the regular caravan visitors have stopped coming during the winter months more and more animals have shown themselves and we find ourselves watching rabbits and buzzards and listening to owls. Recently new arrivals have appeared and we regularly see three deer wandering across the site and even spotted a rare red squirrel
last week. 

3 The local scenery. Rugged coastlines, glorious sandy beaches, spectacular ancient monuments. Few places can equal what it has to offer.

4 Cycling. We've not done much in November and December but from July through to October we were on our bikes frequently and built up a number of excellent routes raging from a simple ride to the shops to more grueling hill climbs with exhilarating descents.

5 Dining out. There are scores of places to eat in St Andrews and we've tried most but you can't really beat The Seafood Restaurant. We've only been three times in the last six months but it has an unbeatable position above the sea, the food is fabulous and the service is first class. 

6 And of course, there's coffee shops too. Forget Starbucks and Costa, our favourite is Mitchells. It's not just a coffee shop. There's a cracking deli, and they serve, breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as our favourite coffees, teas and cakes. The service is great and there's a really buzzing atmosphere. We're going there for their delicious chicken and chorizo bean casserole on Saturday and looking forward to enjoying it with a couple of glasses of chilled wine. The North Point is also worthy of a mention. They advertise it as the place where William and Kate enjoyed coffee and it's usually packed with students enjoying their great teas and some delicious cakes.

7 Metal Detecting. The farmers around St Andrews have been extremely welcoming and I've enjoyed regular days in the fields in glorious countryside and made some great finds to boot. My favourite was this little piece of Bronze Age gold which is currently at the Treasure Unit in Edinburgh but hardly a day out passed without finding something interesting.

8 Fraser Gallery. We only discovered this super little art gallery in November (which is perhaps a good job or we'd be broke). They exhibit paintings by some excellent Scottish artists and we couldn't resist these by Alice McMurrough and David Mackie Cook. Roderick, the proprietor is passionately enthusiastic about his artists and, even if you don't buy, you should have a look at what they have to offer.

9 The night sky. There's virtually no light pollution at Craigtoun Meadows so (although this is not my photo) the sky at night often looks like this. Combine this with the stillness and peace and it's the perfect recipe for relaxation.

10 Last but by no means least, the people of St Andrews. Now I know that many English people see the Scots as a dour race but nothing could be further from the truth. Be it shop, supermarket, cafe, hairdressers, restaurant or hotel we've been served with charm and friendliness without exception. When Marion went into a shop today to buy an obscure battery for my car key, the shopkeeper, on finding that he didn't have one, phoned a competitor for us and asked him to reserve it, Now that's the sort of service you don't find every day. 

St Andrews - we'll miss you.  

My Granddaughter The Photographer

Well they say it's never too young to start and, at fourteen months, Rose is showing a keen interest in photography - well, let's say that she likes things with buttons. I was babysitting for her the other day and we got around to experimenting with my phone. Here are her first efforts.

I think you'll agree that she's starting to show an artistic streak. And talking of artistic streaks, Marion treated me for lunch at the wonderful Seafood Restaurant here in St Andrews for my birthday today. There was a bit of a mix up with our reservation - I messed up by using Twitter and not getting a confirmation, but all was not lost and, despite a full reservations book, they managed to find us a table by a window (not difficult really in a building that is constructed of glass) and proceeded to serve the most delightful of meals. Each course not only tasted fantastic but was a work of art on the plate (no wonder they were turning people away). Here are just a few of the amazing courses we enjoyed.

A delicious crab starter. Now I can't remember how the dish was described on the menu but I can only say that the pale yellow ball which was like a cold sweet corn puree was fabulous.

Our mains were equally grand and I enjoyed a decadent half lobster while Marion had the monkfish wrapped in parma ham special which was amazingly good (I know because Marion left some). There was no let up with the chef's imagination with desserts and we shared our panna cotta and dark chocolate puddings.

You would be hard pressed to find a better lunch and the beauty of celebrating at lunch time means we won't miss the X Factor! (Although from what I read, nobody is bothering to watch it this year) . It won't be long before the live stages begin and I can place my annual bet which has been successful every year except the one when I lost by backing Cher Lloyd. I quite like the personality of a girl in a duo with a rapper and think that's where my money will go this time.

We headed to Edinburgh yesterday to take my Bronze Age gold metal detecting find to the museum. The good news is that it's still Bronze Age gold and the curators agree with my identification but all will be revealed when the results of tests on the metal are carried out. They liked everything else I found too and I've left it all with them - I wonder when I will see it again. Whilst in that lovely city we seized the opportunity to go and see "Untouchable". "You do know it's in French?" the young woman at the ticket office intoned as we bought our tickets a bit like the way that they said "You do know it's silent" when we went to "The Artist". I suppose you can't blame VUE for making sure when they screen something that is a bit out of the ordinary - they don't want unhappy customers who were expecting to see Elliot Ness (you need to be fifty plus to get that reference). It's as good as it says on the poster. An unemployed no hoper somehow manages to land the job as carer for an incredibly wealthy Parisian quadriplegic and starts a life changing experience for them both. It's funny, touching, gentle and totally watchable with a wonderful performance from Omar Sy as the carer Driss who just oozes cool and personality. Based on a true story I worried that it was going to be too sad but it avoids that pitfall and is a total joy.

I'll leave you with photo's from today's lunch. Another year on, retirement still seems to be suiting us both.

 

Goodbye Kent

We love Kent and we've enjoyed our two weeks here in Rochester (albeit interspersed with forays into Suffolk and Wales) but tonight we're packing our bags in preparation for the long trek back to St Andrews. At 540 miles it's a bit longer drive than usual as we're traveling via Richmond in Surrey to drop something off at Marion's auntie's. We had hoped to visit some old friends while in Kent but the man fitting the new boiler for Paul took longer than expected so our only time out was a quick visit to Tunbridge Wells on Tuesday and some time at Bluewater yesterday.

If you aren't familiar with Bluewater it's like a southern Trafford Centre; I hate visiting the Trafford Centre but somehow Bluewater didn't have the same effect on me. I'm not sure why as it has the same Disney styling. Perhaps it is not quite as big as its Manchester counterpart, perhaps it was the uncrowded atmosphere or maybe the shops and restaurants seemed a bit more refined but I have to admit that I quite enjoyed the experience with a good look around John Lewis including coffee and cakes in the basement food hall, a few tapas at Tapas Revolution and a visit to their enormous multiplex cinema.

We went to see Anna Karenina. It's an amazingly original production using the setting of an old theatre instead of going on location for the majority of scenes (although there were some sweeping shots of peasants on the vast grasslands) and it works very well indeed. Marion thought that I wouldn't like the film but I did enjoy it very much although Anna and her lover's relationship seemed to be founded entirely upon them falling in lust with each other's incredible good looks. Keira Knightly is a very beautiful actress and Aaron Johnson is dashingly handsome so their love at first sight was credible but the relationship somehow lacked the depth that I understand was portrayed in the book. Jude Law (once a heartthrob himself but now made up as a curmudgeonly old man) portrays the cuckolded husband with a measured performance and Matthew Macfadyen adds charm in his role as Anna's brother.  

In the few days we have in St Andrews we're celebrating my birthday at the wonderful Seafood Restaurant with a long lunch, making a trip to Edinburgh to do some shopping (and to take some of my detecting finds into the museum) and then I'm afraid it's back in the Prius for another journey to Suffolk on 2nd October for a meeting at the kitchen designers and to have a look at progress on the house in Framlingham. You can say what you like about retirement, but ,in our case at least, it's anything but boring.