Family Holidays In Scotland

Elie is widely considered to be amongst the top 10 spots in Britain for a family holiday or weekend away in one of the luxury cottages in Scotland; and Fife Cottages are regularly featured in the weekend press. It is beautiful, it is safe, it is small and it is right on the beach. With only a handful of Fife holiday cottages, Elie holiday homes are sought after and those that visit once tend to come back regularly.

Safe enclosed garden, perfect for families,

Families have holidayed in Elie for generations staying in Fife holiday homes, enjoying the favourable East Neuk microclimate throughout the year. More and more Foodies come for relaxing short breaks, drawn by the outstanding local restaurants all within a short walk or drive.

Elie shouts loudest with its beaches and pubs

Digging holes on Elie beach

When staying in Scotland cottages by the sea, there is a lot for everyone to do under their own steam. Kids often take themselves off on foot or bike to the beach, sports club or harbour, while the parents do their own thing. Farther afield there is a host of good family things to do for a day out or if the weather looks a bit unsettled. As you would expect of a boutique seaside cottage, Elie Cottage has full wireless broadband freely available so you can research and plan from the good list below..

Useful Quick Links

• Half Term Dates – UK School Holidays Half term Dates is the easiest way to view all the School Holidays across the entire UK on one website! A handy resource to help you plan your family break!
• Fife Tourist Board – All things Fife!
• Elie Historical Society – The rich history of Elie and Earlsferry.
• Undiscovered Scotland – Good overview of Elie
• Cornish Holiday Guide – Cornwall Hotels, B&Bs, Self Catering & Tourism – Cornish Holiday Guide caters for all your hotel and holiday requirements. It is a guide for all types of Cornwall accommodation and tourist information.
• We have our own page on easybedandbreakfasts.co.uk, which is a Guest Houses guide including a Bed and Breakfast Fife page.

Don’t miss

• East Neuk Music Festival – June 27-July 1, a feast of classical music
• Scotland’s Secret Bunker – the real McCoy, one of Scotland’s best kept secrets
• Puffin Spotting & Isle of May – an exhilarating day on the May Princess
• Robinson Crusoe & Crusoe Hotel – The birthplace of Alexander Selkirk
• Crail Pottery – diverse stoneware and brightly coloured earthenware
• Deep Sea World – The award-winning National Aquarium of Scotland
• Weymss Ware Pottery – revived the most sought after Scottish pottery
• RAF Leuchars – (September) the Annual International Air Show
• St. Andrews Botanic Garden – a ‘hidden gem’ with 8000 species
• Blair Drummond Safari Park – a fantastic family day out
• Scottish Seabird Centre – stunning location at North Berwick

What others say

• The Times “5 perfect mini breaks” – Elie shouts loudest
• The Guardian “Great British Escapes” – The idyllic East Neuk
• The Independent “Great British Days Out – Elie’s golden sands”
• The Independent “Elie one of Britain’s best kept secrets”
• The Scotsman “Cricket stars test the water in Elie”

The Times “5 perfect mini breaks” – Elie shouts loudest

For fishing villages and seaside towns, midgeless summers and snug, sea-dog pubs, the East coast of Scotland beats the West every time. Along the East Neuk coast Elie shouts loudest with its beaches and pubs, coastal walks, water sports and great range of Fife self catering accommodation. Curved around a one-mile crescent of golden, dog-free, Blue Flag sand Elie is a cross between picture-perfect Southwold and water sporty Watergate Bay, an unpretentious, thick-jumpered love child of the two. But what Elie is all about is the beach. All roads seem to lead to it, all the best houses and pubs overlook it, and the local cricket club even plays their matches on it.

The Guardian “Great British Escapes” – The idyllic whitewashed coastal villages of the East Neuk

The historic fishing ports and sandy beaches along the craggy coastline of Fife’s East Neuk lie outside of the world famous home of golf, St Andrews. Fabulous Fife self catering cottages holiday cottages are scattered throughout the idyllic whitewashed coastal villages of Crail, Pittenweem, Anstruther, and Elie. Medieval Dutch-style cottages, tollbooth towers, churches, cobbled lanes and stone harbours lined with art galleries, seafood restaurants, ice-cream parlours and cosy pubs.

The Guardian “The Glorious East Neuk of Fife”

Discover and explore the glorious coast of the East Neuk of Fife and stay in some of the best local self catering accommodation. Lower Largo, Elie, St Monans, Pittenweem, Anstruther, Cellardyke, Crail – people fly thousands of miles to visit small seaside towns no more rewarding than these, while inland there are gems like Kilconquhar and Ceres, where the war memorial commemorates not the usual 1914-18 but the locals who fell at the battle of Bannockburn.

The Independent “Great British Days Out – Elie’s golden sands and local action”

Elie boasts a great combination of award winning golden beaches and plenty of fife holiday cottages. The beach fronts the town presenting a good mile of uninterrupted shoreline. There are great coastal walks, dolphins and seals, with plenty for everyone to do.

The Independent “Elie one of Britain’s best kept secrets”

Elie is a true gem of an under visited resort: you name it; they have it here – golden beaches, golf, water sports, wonderful countryside and the best in fife self catering. A degree of eccentricity too. In the last century, Lady Janet Anstruther, wife of the local landowner, built a tower for poetry readings. Its ruins still stand today – as does the bathing hut for her nude swimming sessions.

The Scotsman “Cricket stars test the water in Elie”

Elie’s award winning Blue Flag beaches have played host to one of cricket’s highest profile teams. Lashings Cricket Club, the Harlem Globetrotters of the sport made their first ever visit to Scotland for a fixture against the all-conquering Elie XI (based at the Ship Inn). Skipper Richie Richardson and celebrated cohorts Henry Olonga and Jimmy Adams will seek to beat the home team at their own rather idiosyncratic game in a match dubbed the International Beach Cricket Challenge.