Today, we decided to cross the River Forth to the Kingdom of Fife. The village of Culross was having a local market and we thought it would be worth a look. Always nice to be in such a picturesque village but after the market we decided to drive a little further along the coast and ended up here at the Ship Inn at Limekilns. It’s on the Promenade, but amazingly, we were able to park directly outside. All terribly civilised.  Certainly a lot more civilised than David Balfour’s arrival here in 1752.

Escape

Having been falsely accused of murdering Colin “the Red Fox” Campbell, he had been chased all over the Highlands by the dastardly redcoats. It wasn’t until he reached the Ship Inn that he finally made his escape in a rowing boat. Phew! There’s no record of whether he had time for a scone, but who knows?

There was no sign of scones anywhere, so we didn’t really expect to get a scone here either. We just ordered a couple of coffees. When the coffees arrived, however, we tentatively asked and were surprised to be told that the kitchen made scones every day. Today, it was caramel scones. What? There was no choice, so a caramel scone to share was the order. We sat outside in the Spring sunshine, where we could watch the Limekilns world go by.

These scones were made simply by adding little cubes of caramel to the mix. Pat had her half with butter and reported very favourably on a lovely crunchy exterior. I went all in with butter and jam and perhaps predictably found the combination a tad on the sweet side. Still, it was our first ever caramel scone, so we gave it a topweird award.

If the scones were a bit weird, then so was the whole village. It turned out that we had arrived in the middle of the Limekilns Scarecrow Festival. It’s to raise funds for a new playpark.

They were very kind and explained how the whole scarecrow festival worked. They even gave us a map showing where to find them all.

Unintended consequences

Sitting here on the Promenade watching the eider ducks in the water we could reflect on the Donald’s first 100 days in office. His approval ratings have dropped through the floor at home, though he still seems to have the support of his evangelical followers. In places like Canada, however, he has magically managed to unite the entire country behind Mark Carney with his daft pronouncements. You really couldn’t make it up! Perhaps it’s appropriate to celebrate the first 100 days with a weird scone.

KY11 3HJ                tel: 01383 872247                Ship Inn

///egging.confused.resurgent