A Sea Loft in Cellardyke

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In October we spent a lovely week in Cellardyke in the East Neuk of Fife. Our self-catering accommodation was called Sea Loft, which you can see in the picture below, taken from across the harbour. It’s in the larger building next to the pale yellow one, although our entrance was in the street behind. Each side of the house had a different address!

The streets in Cellardyke are very narrow – this was ours, and our apartment was accessed via the red door and up one flight of stairs.

Dove Street
Dove Street

From our front windows, we had good views over the harbour, including watching someone jump in and have a swim! He was wearing a wetsuit and only stayed in the water a couple of minutes, but he must still have been very cold.

Cellardyke Harbour from Sea Loft
Sunrise from Sea Loft
Cellardyke Harbour from Sea Loft
Cellardyke swimmer
Cellardyke swimmer

Inside, Sea Loft was a cosy refuge with retro styling and some interesting artwork. Perfect for two!

Sea Loft living area
Sea Loft kitchen area
Sea Loft kitchen area
Sea Loft art
Sea Loft bedroom

Callardyke Harbour, originally known as Skinfast Haven, has evolved from a basic breakwater built in 1452. I’m not sure how far back the tradition of using it to hang out washing is – we were told which poles we could use, but didn’t make use of them. Our laundry might have ended up taking flight some days!

The Haven
The Haven
Hung out to dry
Cellardyke Harbour
Cellardyke Harbour

The streets in Cellardyke might be very narrow, but they are also very picturesque.

Narrow streets
Narrow streets
Narrow streets
Narrow streets
Colourful door
Colourful door
Wendy House
Wendy House
Window dated 1801
House dated 1723
Puffin
Red doors
Red windows
Former cooperage
Backyard view
Narrow streets

The old Town Hall (1883) has the Mercat Cross (1642) securely fixed to its wall.

Town Hall
Mercat Cross

And the War Memorial is on Toon’s Green on the edge of town.

Cellardyke War Memorial
Cellardyke War Memorial
Cellardyke War Memorial
Cellardyke War Memorial

The sharp eyed might have noticed that the opening shot of the town’s welcome board referred to Cellardyke as part of the Royal Burgh of Kilrenny. Kilrenny is a village a little inland from Cellardyke, and one sunny morning we took a walk up there. It was pretty too, with an interesting church and graveyard, and a woodland walk.

Kilrenny Church
Kilrenny Church
Graveyard
Graveyard
Routine Row
Doocot
Innergellie Woodland
Farmland

So this was our home base for a week. We had six days of coastal walking to look forward to – more about that soon(ish).

Scotland, UK , , ,

60 Comments »

  3. Not having heard of the Mercat Cross, I looked it up and found that the word is the Scots version of the Latin mercātus that became market in standard English. Coincidentally, mercat is also the way the word ended up in the Catalan language.

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  5. It must have been great to get away for a week.I find I appreciate even little excursions ever so much more now, after being restricted to home so much. And what a picturesque destination!

    Jude

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  7. Hi Anabel – looks like a wonderful selection of place to stay – how interesting …and fascinating to do a tour around. The churchyard looks full of presumably some interesting history and peoples. Looking forward to your walks out – but this village sounds ideal. Take care – Hilary

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  10. Great photos. Coastal Fife is an amazing place and unlike the west coast they still have a real autumn harvest scene there with golden fields of corn every year gathered into hundreds of square or round bundles, something I dimly remember happening in the fields around Glasgow as well so it must have been drier summers back in the 1960s period..First time I used a wet suit I was shocked the cold water just rushed straight inside it from the start as it relies on your body heat to warm up that inside thin layer. It helps but it’s still freezing if the water is near zero temperature from the start..Aptly named it is.

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  13. Looks so beautiful, your pictures remind me of robin hood’s bay and staithes on the Yorkshire coast. Just lovely. Having coast withdrawal right now! X

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  16. What a cute town, and loft, Anabel! I love how the welcome sign said it in Dutch as well. I wonder whether Cellardyke has some Dutch roots. A beautiful place to chill and walk for a week. Hopefully, the weather was alright.

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  18. As a Fifer who knows the East Neuk pretty well, I should be embarrassed to admit that I did not know (or at least had completely forgotten) that Cellardyke’s harbour was ever known as Skinfast Haven. I love Cellardyke’s narrow streets and the red pan tiles of the rooves. I look forward to reading about your further explorations.

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  19. How lovely! But a nightmare trying to park I imagine, a lot like St Ives! I’m not sure I would ever want to hang my washing out in such a public place. You do find some extremely charming places to stay in. And the sunny walk to the churchyard looks good. It seems a long time since we had a truly sunny day in which to take a walk.

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    • It was lovely, but I would not like to live there with a car! None of the streets were one-way either which led to some interesting scenes with much reversing. As for the washing, I might risk managing out jeans or shirts, but would draw the line at underwear. Or at least, not unless I invested heavily in some glamorous new sets!

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  21. Looks great! I remember in the film Local Hero, Stella hung her washging up on the sea wall too. Maybe they got the idea from Cellardyke, or maybe it’s common in small harbour villages.

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  24. What a cozy place to stay and a charming village. How nice to see some sunshine in your photos as well, on that pretty little walk to Kilrenny. Sounds wonderful to have had six days of walking! 🙂

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  27. Excellent. Cellardyke is a cool place. I’ve entertained notions of retiring there but we’ll see. The views to the May and beyond to East Lothian are great, especially the sunrise picture!

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