A Sunday afternoon in Falklands Estate Fife

This week we decided to venture to the beautiful and diverse county of Fife. I self admittedly have not explored much of Fife and boy was I in for a treat! From the coast to inland hills this area is great if you fancy seeing a different landscape every day.
We headed to the beautiful historic village of Falkland. Driving through the quaint streets lined with oldy world cottages and shops – not to mention the majestic Falkland Palace (now managed by National Trust for Scotland) was lovely. The streets are narrow and very very busy, please take your time traveling through to Falklands Estate. I am reliably told also that if you're partial to a craft shop or tea room this is the place to go!

The Estate Car Park is big enough to accommodate the many visitors the Estate sees on a daily basis. We head out for out walk to Tyndall Bruce Monument following the  directions from the info board at the Estate and also Walk Highlands website.

The directions get a bit muddled as there are many many paths that often link back into one another so please take a photo of the board before you leave the car park.

The path took ran next to the burn, then turned up past the grand Falkland House – through the woods and past the farm. There are some old bridges and a very dark tunnel on route which make the walk not only gorgeous but really interesting too. This is a dog friendly walk although it is very busy with families and their hairy companions. It’s also very popular with mountain bikers as there are bike trails all round the Estate too.
 

We followed the main track up from the farm and into the pine wood, walking up hill eventually getting to the monument. It only took us around half an hour to get there and although it is a bit cloudy we still get a fab view and the monument itself is a grand structure built in 1855. Built to remember Tyndall Bruce who helped to orginally establish the forest around the Lomonds. He and his wife were known and loved in the community for their charitable giving and involvement in politics and society. We decided to keep exploring and continued up and round to eventually came out at the Temple of Decision which was fascinating to look at.

Our route back saw us retracing our original path back to the car enjoying the views and pledging to go back and spend longer exploring (on a sunnier day too)!

My walking buddy this week (Lucy) knows this part of Fife fairly well and while we were travelling down to Falklands she directed us to Pillars of Hercules for a quick pit stop. We decided on the way home that this was the place we would stop and get a tea and a cake! It is a beautiful organic farm shop/cafe. Everything made in the cafe is vegetarian friendly and completely delicious! Their farm shop stocks just about every vegetable/fruit that you could imagine and looks simply beautiful. It is absolutely worth a visit and it is also dog friendly in the outside seated area.

There are many other attractions close by – for the nature lover there is  The Scottish Deer Centre  and RSPB Loch Leven Centre too  There is also The Scottish Off Road Driving Centre for anyone who loves adrenaline. For the food lover as mentioned there is Pillars or the fab Loch Leven’s Larder