On Monday afternoon we went out for coffee to the Harbour Master’s House in Dysart, Fife. The coffee was very good, but I was a wee bit disappointed by the selection of cakes – there weren’t any! What they did have were all slices of tray bakes, still, I’m not complaining really because they had millionaires shortbread – and it was delicious. Jack had a coconut and lemon slice which of course I had to test out too, it was very tasty.
Jack took a couple of photos out of the two windows which were near our table, as you can see, the windows were a bit dirty, inevitable when you are so close to the North Sea. But they give you an idea of what can be seen from the house which was the one which O. Douglas used for the house which featured in her book The Proper Place. The hills which you can see in the background are the Pentlands, over Edinburgh way.
Sadly the entire building has been modernised to hell, I think the building must have been scraped back to a shell as the walls and ceilings are all new, and the windows of course. The only thing that gives you a clue to the its age is the width of the window sills. Even the staircases are new and very modern in design. It’s all very stylish but if you are hoping for a flavour of the house which O. Douglas wrote about – well it just isn’t there. The only thing which will be the same is the view outside, but of course the boats in the harbour would all have been very different in the 1930s.
You can see photos of the outside of the house here.
