There was a dog splayed out in front of a crackling fire in the Ship Inn in Elie. We were at the seaside – in the quaintly grand Kingdom of Fife, facing Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth – out of season. Landlord Graham Bucknall poured us a generous gin and tonic (with artisan, Fife-based Eden Mill, of course – where doesn’t produce its own gin these days?).
“Sometimes there are more dogs than people in the bar,” he laughed. “You shouldn’t come here unless your name’s Lassie,” a local propping up the bar quipped. You get the gist.
This month, the inn opened six guest bedrooms – the one on the ground floor allows canine friends and has been dubbed the Dog Room. Perched on the window seat in my room, I watched the sun set as dog walkers zigzagged across the empty sand. A couple of Jack Russells streaked through the spray. I was glad mine was at home: she’d have been making her sandy self comfortable on the spotless white linen.
The Ship Inn has far more going for it than dog bowls, of course. A flip-flop from the shore, it’s long been a local institution – but one that had become a little frayed around the edges until Graham and wife Rachel, owners of the Bridge Inn (the AA’s best Scottish pub 2014) in Ratho near Edinburgh, took it on last year. (They also bagged the nearby 19th Hole, a rustic little sports bar overlooking the golf course: two for the price of one.)
Rachel already knew Elie well – her parents had a holiday home in the village, where she spent childhood summers, and she and Graham had their first date here. Together they have transformed the pub, remodelling the bar, creating an upstairs dining area (mismatched chairs, wood-burner – no dogs allowed), with the chic bedrooms the latest addition. The rooms are split into three categories (one Admiral, three Captains, and two as yet unnamed sailors) but all are decent-size doubles. We were in Admiral, with its white-shuttered bay window in the eaves and sweeping view of the bay. All but one of the five upstairs rooms has a sea view and modern touches, such as the odd rolltop bath, monsoon showers and espresso machines.
The inn’s colour scheme is a mix of duck-egg blue and sea green, and the decor is seafaring all the way, with old photos of ships, glass buoys and oars on the walls. Rachel scoured antique and junk shops for sea chests and old suitcases to act as bedside tables, and found the 1855 map of Elie (on the bar’s ceiling) in a library in Edinburgh and had it made into wallpaper.
The inn boasts a cricket pitch, marked out for each match, on the sand. Fixtures are tide-dependent, and games end after the last wicket – or when the tide comes in. Man of the match is awarded in the beer garden, a terrace above the sea wall with chunky wooden tables, where they barbecue in summer. There are also plans for beach volleyball and rugby.
The Ship’s food is not in the same league as the Bridge – it’s more hearty pub grub – but it champions Scottish seafood. Mackerel and pollock are caught off the coast here in summer, while langoustine, lobster and crab are landed in nearby Pittenweem harbour. We’d just missed the special – spaghetti alle vongole loaded with local surf clams – but my friend declared her smoked haddock crepe delicious. I was disappointed, however, with my stodgy and bland fishcake.
A pretty, pastoral county, Fife has plenty to recommend it. The Fife Coastal Path curves along the clifftops from the Forth Bridge in the south to the Tay Bridge in the north, dipping in and out of picture-postcard fishing villages. There’s the medieval university (St Andrews), endless sandy beaches (remember the opening scene of Chariots of Fire?) and almost as many golf greens as green fields. There are big, blowsy US-style golf resorts and Michelin-starred restaurants (the Cellar in Anstruther for the best food in Fife) and posh farm shops such as Balgove Larder, with its rustic steak barn and night markets.
Surprisingly, what this area has lacked is a stylish place to stay to stop you hurrying home. The Ship Inn is somewhere you’d want to linger.
• Accommodation was provided by the Ship Inn, (01333 330246, shipinn.scot, doubles from £90 B&B)
Ask a local
Will Docker founder of Balgove Larder farm shop
• Eat
In St Monans village there is a traditional smokehouse with a rustic restaurant right on the harbour called the East Pier Smokehouse. Try the lightly smoked langoustine with chips and a bottle of rosé.
• Boat trip
The Isle of May, one of Scotland’s national nature reserves, is enchanting. It’s a quick rib ride from Anstruther. Take a picnic and enjoy the birdlife, including puffins, and breathtaking views.
• Walk
A great place for a bracing swim, a dog walk or for relaxing among sand dunes in the sun is blue-flag Kingsbarns beach, a two-mile sweep of sand between Elie and St Andrews.
