My Garden and St Andrews, Fife

Spring has definitely sprung in Fife, not that you would kow it from this photo, I think a new camera is required, or maybe it would be better if I used my phone. Anyway there are various primulas, snowdrops, heathers in flower, but they look very ‘peely wally’ in the photo, that’s a Scottish phrase meaning pale.

my Garden

Since these photos were taken the garden has had a good ‘redd up’ that’s another Scottish phrase meaning tidied up. There was a whole winter’s worth of dead leaves and broken branches.

my Garden , crocuses

There are a lot of primroses around, I think I only had one plant to begin with, they’re great at self-seeding in this garden.

my Garden.primroses

The one thing that does really well in my garden is moss, it grows abundantly on the soil and the grass. Looking on the bright side – I won’t have to buy any sphagnum moss to line hanging baskets!

Garden , garden in Fife

The Belfast/butler’s sink in the background is a fairly new acquisition which is needing work done on its surroundings. I plan to entice birds into it, it should make a good big bird bath. In my previous garden I had a bigger one and I put some water plants in it, it was very popular with the blackbirds but I’ve only seen a couple of magpies in this one so far. Luckily they were together so it was two for joy!

my Garden

I’ve been hard at work in the garden digging up more turf and I’m waiting for a delivery of gravel to arrive. Jack is very happy to have less grass to cut.

What else have I been doing apart from gardening and reading a lot? Well, last Friday we drove to St Andrews, it was really quite exciting to travel more than five miles, just lovely to see some different scenery for a change. It started out so bright but it got duller as we reached the coast. Below is a photo I took of one of the beaches in St Andrews. It was very quiet by the time we walked back towards the town. The wee cottage on the left hand side of the photo is the lifeguard centre and the ruins of the cathedral are almost in the centre in the distance.

St Andrews beach, Fife

The town itself was very quiet too, the only shops open in Scotland are shops selling food so it was only the ice cream shops and a posh whisky shop which were open. I’m presuming that as the whisky shop also sells shortbread that was the reason it was allowed to open!

I could only stand and gaze at the secondhand bookshop, my nose wasn’t quite pressed against the window, but it wasn’t far off. I think it might be open again in about five weeks from now – one person in at a time – or two from the one household no doubt.

Bouquiniste Bookshop, St Andrews

12 thoughts on “My Garden and St Andrews, Fife

  1. Judging the books by their covers, it looks like there might be some worthwhile discoveries in there.
    My father visited St Andrews some 75 years ago, when on leave. It’s always interesting to me to see these places with which I feel a connection across time and distance.
    That cathedral must have been a stupendous building five hundred years ago.

    • Valerie,
      St Andrews Cathedral was well and truly trashed by a mob who had been encouraged to do so when John Knox preached to them – an anti Catholic rant I suppose. As with all those places the locals then re-used the stone in their DIY projects, so there’s not a lot left of it now but most of the footprint is there so you can imagine what it would have been like.
      I’ve bought some lovely books from that shop in the past.

  2. How lovely to read about spring and about St. Andrews. I live in California, but I was born in Broughty Ferry and my mother’s friend, Janet Macaulay, was headmistress at St. Leonard’s, so we visited St. Andrews often. I recall many different “weathers”–the storms, the winds, and then the soft spring breeze.

    • Aline,
      We walked past St Leonard’s to get to the beach. I believe that they now take male pupils! St Andrews is my favourite town in Fife but the house prices are crazy now, the university has expanded such a lot – as have the golf courses. I’ve been told there are now ten around the town. One thing about Scotland is that the weather seems to change so quickly, the last time we were up in Skye we had hot sunshine followed by a hailstorm then a howling gale so fierce I had to hold on to a wall to stop myself from being blown into traffic – all within five minutes. We’ll be going to Broughty Ferry soonish as there’s a great place for afternoon tea there. They should be open by April 26th, if the business has survived.

  3. I love seeing the promise and potential of things to come in your garden! Since I live in a warmer climate, the signs of spring are very subtle, but they are there if you know what to look for.
    Re buying used books, I was thrilled to find out that our local library which has a used bookstore has just reopened for limited hours. I’ve already been once, and I am happy with my finds.

    • Paula,
      Spring is so late this year, the trees aren’t even showing a haze of green so it’s good that the flowers have got going.
      Your local library sounds great, they just have one shelf of withdrawn library books in my local library so you have to be really lucky to find something you want to buy there.

  4. Your garden is springing up! Nothing here yet but swelling buds on trees and shrubs. Are you expanding some garden beds or do you have other plans for the place you’ve dug up the turf? Also, I miss browsing in a bookstore so much!

    • Stefanie,
      We’ve bought another ‘shed’ and we’re putting gravel around it and also having space for a bench outside it. It’s quite a shady area so not great for growing much in the way of veggies which is what I tried before. I’m growing salad greens in tubs this year – fingers crossed! I hope that the bookshops are ready for us when they open!

    • tracybham,

      My garden is really quite small although is large by modern house standards, some only have enough space for a washing ‘whirly’, so I feel quite lucky.

  5. As always, your hard work and skill in the garden have paid off. It’s lovely. The daffodils on your walk are so cheery. Peering into the bookstore must have been frustrating. You must go back!

    • Joan,
      Thanks, I’m really looking forwrd to everything beginning to grow again and most of the earth being covered with plants, it keeps the weeds down, or maybe I just don’t notice them then! I think I have to wait another month before I can actually get into the bookshop.

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