2016 East Neuk Festival

Neuk Hoose, Fife's best holiday cottage is proud to endorse the 2016 East Neuk Festival.

"Wide open to the world, rooted in Fife."

What better way to describe the magical and romantic East Neuk Festival. Celebrating music from around the world from Mendelssohn, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, to the golden age of Jazz and Nizam Rohana's Oud all to be enjoyed from our wee neuk of East Fife.

Starting on Saturday 25th June in Crail there will be the opening night suitable for all ages celebrating music from around the world ending with some classical Jazz.

Sunday 3rd July sees the finale of the festival in Crail and Cambo with Comedy, tragedy and fairytales and ending with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra playing Schumann, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich.

This promises to be a spectacularly magical week long event with something special for all music lovers and although our accommodation in Crail is already booked it is so worth a visit.

Essentials for your summer holiday.

What do I pack, what do we need? Will the kitchen sink even fit in the back of the car.......!
A wee handy guide to packing your holiday essentials from Fife's best self catering holiday cottage.

All linen and towels are provided however beach towels are a really good idea to pack if you are planing on hitting the beach. The Beehive store sells buckets, spades and the all important crabbing nets.

There is nothing worse than arriving at your holiday cottage to find no cooking equipment in the kitchen. We have all the pots and pans you need as well as some baking equipment, cafitiere, egg cups, sharp knives and baking trays. You don't even need to buy up the supermarket on your way either as Crail boasts its own butcher, fishmonger, fruit and veg shop, whole foods/organics shop, bakery as well as the trusty Coop.

Sturdy shoes! Even if you are not much of a walker normally, Crail draws you in to exploring its charming winding back streets. For the seasoned walkers the Fife Costal Path combined with the number 95 bus is an absolute winner. Have a goal in mind or just walk for as far as your legs can manage then  hop on the bus to take you back to Crail,  it's a Scotland walking holiday dream.

And finally a good book, our wee bench outside the house is the perfect spot to sit in the sun, watching the world go by or to forget the rest of the world is even there, page after page.

The Fabulous Crail Food Festival 2016

Well the weather wasn't great but it didn't stop a good turn out for the 2016 Crail Food Fest. We started at the chocolate tent, well where else would you start? Delicious macaroons, sumptious brownies and hot chocolate all went down well.

The harbour was the place to be for lunch and although I am in love with Puddledub pork it was the pulled venison bun that won the day for me. Others voted for the arbroath smokies and the queue spoke for itself.

We still have a couple of weeks free at the beginning of July if anyone is still looking to book their
self catering holiday in Fife, our holiday cottage in Crail sleeps up to 4 and is the perfect place to
holiday in the East Neuk

Post Office reopens in Crail

Happy days for the residents of Crail and lovely guests at Neuk Hoose. The post office has reopened in the Beehive shop. 

Aptly nicknamed "the pocket money shop"'in our house, the Beehive is a treasure trove of penny sweets, kids toys for under a fiver, Luvians ice cream, cards and lightbulbs etc. 

Now when you're staying in our holiday cottage in Crail you can post a wee postcard and share the fun.

Fun and frolics at the Crail Festival

With 2015's Crail Festival underway there is plenty to satisfy the appetite of any culture vulture out there. There is singing, dancing, story telling, art exhibitions and even a frozen singalong.
Coinciding with the Glasgow fair fortnight the Crail Festival punches well above its weight in terms of quality, accessibility and most of all fun.
If you come on holiday on the East Coast of Scotland a visit to the Crail Festival is not to be missed. Sadly Neuk Hoose the best self catering holiday cottage in Fife is fully booked for this year, but if you can manage a day trip the festival is well worth a visit.
You can always get in early to book your holiday rental in Scotland for next year, bookings being taken at www.neukhoose.co.uk
For more information about the Crail Festival, follow the link.......

Excitement is brewing for the 2015 Open Golf at St Andrews

With only a few weeks to go before the start of the 2015 Open Golf championships, Neuk Hoose is getting ready to cheer on the stars of the golfing world.
Here at Fife's best holiday rental we are mad about golf,
and love having accommodation near the Golf Open in St Andrews.

We have been watching the 18th Grandstand being erected, it is the largest ever arena in Open history.

We can hardly contain our excitement, will Speith get his grand slam or will local boy Greig Marchbank get through the next round of qualifiers to take his place in the starting line up.

21 year old Jordan Speith is the youngest man to capture two majors after winning the US open and the masters.
Ever ones to support the underdog Neuk Hoose Self Catering Holidays in Fife are cheering on a talented local boy Greig Marchbank a 20 year old from Thornhill. Marchbank scored four-under-par 68 at Northumberland to make it through to next weeks 36 hole final qualifying, watch this space to find out if he makes it.
Come on Greig Fife's best holiday cottage is behind you!

Green's is Go!

The garden shed is no more and Green's the Grocers is in his smart new shop!

Further cementing Crail's place as a foodie destination we were thrilled when Clem Green bought the fruit and veg shop.

First Fruits had been somewhat of a Crail institution  and it seemed such a shame when it was to be sold, the only alternative for fresh fruit and veg was the Coop which is perfectly passable but here in Crail we are used to buying local fruit and veg grown within a 10 mile radius. I particularly loved being able to buy class 2 strawberries and raspberries. Equally as delicious as their class 1 siblings but not uniform in shape or size therefore cheaper and perfect for making jams and jellies.It was with a collective sigh of relief when we found out that the shop would continue to be run as a grocers, selling locally grown fruit and vegetables plus all the most delicious seasonal produce from around the world.

Clem Green ran the shop as it was for a while, endlessly talking to his customers to find out exactly what they wanted to see and what was important to them. A fish counter was added, stocked with whatever had been landed by the local fishermen that day. However the new shopkeeper and joiner by  trade had bigger ideas......

Clem bought himself a large garden shed and we all watched in wonder as he started to stock the shelves with his delicious produce. The shop needed to be shut to do the refurb and Clem didn't want his customers to have to go without so he set up an honesty shop from the shed! Only in Crail would an honesty shop work! There was a large blackboard for you to "show your working" and a calculator  for those like myself who got carried away with the veg shopping and ran out of fingers to count on!

So the shop is complete and the produce back on the shelves. The fresh fish counter has pride of place, teeming with local fish, crab and lobster. Dressed crab for £4, I'll have 6 please!!!

Crail seriously punches above its weight in terms of food producers and retailers. Soft fruit and veggies, cheese, chocolate, oatcakes, fish and shellfish and now even beer and whisky, now wonder the "fife diet"was so successful.

Here at Neuk Hoose with all our foodie connections we couldn't be more pleased to see how the village has evolved over the past few years, a lot of the old established institutions  have even bought or refurbished whilst still staying independently run.

If food is your passion look no further that a food break in the East Neuk of Fife. We still have some availability left at Neuk Hoose over the summer so if you are looking for self catered holiday accommodation, get in touch for details.