Better Life In Fife - Glenrothes - Kirkcaldy - Dunfermline - Leven - Cupar - St Andrews

Welcome to Our Fife Photo Gallery

Aberdour Chapel

The Stepped Gardens and Doocot of Aberdour

Ravencraig Castle, Kirkcaldy

The Ring O Stanes, Glenrothes

Lower Largo Harbour Area

The Crusoe Hotel, Lower Largo

Photo Notes

Ravencraig Castle is sometimes alleged to be the place where author John Buchan got his idea for his most famous thriller, 'The 39 Steps' but sadly there are no parts of the castle with exactly 39 steps!

The Ring O Stanes was originally built four thousand years ago on a site where the main Kirkcaldy to Dundee road now runs. Before the road was laid, archaeologists removed many artifacts to museums while organising the movement of the stones and in order to faithfully recreate the site in its present position.

In 1704, a man named Alexander Selkirk and a son of Lower Largo, was sailing aboard a ship called the Cinque Ports and when the ship visited Juan Fernandez island group for water and fruit, he expressed concern about the state of the vessel and asked to be put ashore. The captain, finding him troublesome, agreed to his wish although Selkirk hoped others would come with him, he was left alone to wait for a vessel he hoped would come soon afterwards. He remained alone on that island for four years and four months before being rescued and only then discovered how the Cinque Ports had floundered and sunk soon afterwards claiming the lives of most aboard her. On the island, Selkirk endured problems with sea lions on the beach and rats attacking him while he slept; the latter problem only being resolved when he domesticated several feral cats! Upon his rescue, he returned to Lower Largo where he lived with cats but only stayed a short time. He died aboard HMS Weymouth in 1721, most likely from yellow fever, and was buried at sea. Author Daniel Defoe based his novel, Robinson Crusoe, on this event and hence why the local hotel in Lower Largo is called the Crusoe Hotel. In 1966, the Chilean government renamed one island of the Juan Fernadez group, Alejandro Selkirk Island but this is actually 97 miles away from where he was actually marooned.