Home > Uniquely Unspoilt Magazine > Issue 11 > Coastal villages

~~Scottish coastal villages~~

Scotland has a wealth of excellent coastal villages, often offering both incredible scenery and excellent visitor attractions.

One of the most famous is Plockton, near Kyle of Lochalsh, thanks to BBC TV series Hamish Macbeth which was filmed there in the mid 1990s. Originally known as Am Ploc, Plockton's main street is lined with palm trees and whitewashed houses, each with a seagull gazing out to sea perched on its chimney stack, and you can also see Highland cattle, flower gardens and pleasure boats.

Otter and seal watching cruises operate regularly from early summer onwards, and you can go on a glass bottomed boat trip at nearby Kyle of Lochalsh, run by Seaprobe Atlantis where you can see underwater wildlife and even a World War II shipwreck, which has been voted one of the best dive experiences in Britain.

Also offering wildlife spotting experiences is Cromarty near Inverness, which is famous for its bottlenose dolphins, although you can sometimes also see seals, porpoises and even Minke whales too on trips that leave by the harbour. The main settlement on the Black Isle, it has sandy beaches, unusual architecture and a multi-award winning museum at the Cromarty Courthouse, which tells the story of the town using audiovisuals and animated figures. 

Another coastal village with a strong history is Culross (pronounced Coorus) in Fife, which is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. Dating back to the fifth century, it has white washed red tile buildings and is said to be the birthplace of St Mungo. 

If you visit the National Trust Visitor Centre you can see where some of the four thousand witches executed in Scotland between 1560 and 1707 were tried and held before being executed, and there's also the ochre coloured Culross Palace with a garden and café.

Fife has a great selection of coastal villages overall, including the East Neuk area, a series of fishing villages (neuk means corner in Scots). It includes Crail, with its picturesque harbour, heritage centre, art gallery and pottery, and Anstruther, home to the Scottish Fisheries Museum, and the Anstruther Fish Bar, one of the best fish and chip shops in the country. 

Two miles away, Pittenweem has a busy harbour, fish market and number of small art galleries, and it merges into St Monans (if you walk between the two you'll find a reconstructed stone windmill) which has the acclaimed Seafood Restaurant. Elie, three miles away, is popular for its sandy beaches, water sports and golf.

Further south, Aberdour deserves a visit: it has a castle, its train station has won countless awards for its flower displays, and the Silver Sands beach has been voted one of the best in the country.

Over on the west coast, Rockcliffe near Dumfries on the Solway Coast (dubbed the 'Scottish Riviera') has excellent views and is set on a rocky, sand and shell cove, and sheltered beneath wooded hills.  The Garden House tearoom (closed Monday and Tues) at the entrance to the village is worth a visit, especially after walking to the Mote of Mark, a hill-top stronghold inhabited by the Celts in the 5th to 7th centuries, and part of the Jubilee Path which was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Jubilee.

Cottages relevant to this article

The following holiday cottages are situated within easy reach of the locations mentioned above: