12 hours ago
I hated camping, but a posh clifftop tent in Fife changed my mind
I don't like camping. The thought of shivering under canvas has filled me with dread ever since struggling to pitch a tent in a howling Kilsyth Hills rainstorm as part of a Duke of Edinburgh gold award scheme.
Then I married Claire, who loves camping — a compromise was needed. To the rescue: Catchpenny Safari Lodges, perched on the cliffs between Elie and St Monans, where Alex Nairn and his wife Tara have put the glam into glamping with eight luxurious safari lodges you might expect to find in a five-star African game reserve.
With a setting, decor and facilities beyond the wildest dreams of a camping sceptic, Catchpenny's lodges are the Taj Mahal of glamping. They have everything a happy camper could wish for, from fully equipped kitchens to log-burning stoves and fluffy blankets to hot-water bottles.
Tara's design flair is evident in stylish hand-crafted furniture and artwork in a large open-plan living room and three bedrooms, including a quirky elevated king-size cabin that our six-year-old claims with delight as a hidey-hole playroom.
Throw in big comfy couches, quality bed linen, constant hot water, powerful showers and discreet floor lighting and you have a warm, cosy home from home, powered by small wind turbines and solar panels.
All that's missing is a TV — and that's fine with us, especially once our daughter discovers playmates in the lodge next door. For the next week the racket of TV cartoons is replaced by the laughter of children playing hide and seek, which we contentedly observe from a large front deck with a sofa, chairs and barbecue.
The camp is perched on a small grassy escarpment directly over the Firth of Forth, with sweeping panoramas from the Isle of May to the Pentland Hills. It's a kaleidoscope of changing weather. In sunshine the Firth sparkles happily like a river of jewels, and on dull days the views become misty and mysterious, as if conjuring images from Greek mythology.
And always the endless, soothing sigh of the sea and a profound sense of peace and calm, broken only by a pod of dolphins at one point, leaping and twisting in mid-air close to shore.
The lodges stand alone on farmland, so each morning we wake to the lowing of cattle in a harmonious duet with the sea. One night nature joins the chorus with light rain and the soft pitter-patter of raindrops on the canvas roofs. Our stay dissolves into lazy mornings musing on the hurly-burly roundabout of daily life, and the need to step off it more often.
Time passes with no pressing need to do anything or to go anywhere. The Fife Coastal Path passes right below our lodge, and there are tidal rock pools just below that offer hours of happy pottering. However, I find myself succumbing to the temptation to sit on the deck with a glass of wine and stare at the sea and do nothing.
One day we sample the produce of Bowhouse ( a collective of butchers, bakers and candlestick makers less than one mile up the coast selling everything from jewellery to venison sausages.
• Baern at Bowhouse, East Neuk, Fife, review — a serious foodie destination
Another highlight — and one to check out if you are here between July 12 and 20 — is Largo Arts Week ( where more than 50 artists display in homes, gardens and public buildings. I leave with a print of a lone yacht sailing on a darkening sea that speaks to me of solitude, peace and freedom.
Our final port of call is Cambo gardens ( a magical kingdom of fairyland forests, flowers and fun on a huge coastal estate near Crail that fires children's imaginations with a Lost Elf Village and the biggest, most inventive wooden playpark our wee one has ever seen.
• Five of the best walled gardens in Scotland
There is a maze of woodland paths and a walled garden ablaze with sweet-smelling roses. Banks of wildflowers by a fast-flowing burn are havens for birds, bees and butterflies and we wander here happily for hours, lulled by wind rustling softly in the trees, water tinkling over rocks and joyful birdsong. It could have been the theme song of our glamping Taj nights' self-catering for six at Catchpenny cost from £425 (
