Location

Craigfoodie House has an outstanding setting in beautiful gardens in the rolling hills of northeast Fife. The views from the property over the surrounding countryside are absolutely superb. From the hill above the house the spires of St Andrews, its links golf courses and the sea can be seen in the distance.

The house is set on a hill between Cupar and St Andrews. St Andrews is only 7 miles away and is renowned worldwide as the Home of Golf. There are now seven golf courses at St Andrews including the Old Course, which was host to the 150th Open Championship in 2022. There are many other golf courses in the area including The Duke's Course, Kingsbarns, Dumbarnie and Ladybank.

St Andrews is also well known for its university which was Scotland's first university and the third oldest in the English-speaking world, founded in 1413. The town provides state schooling at Madras College. There is private schooling at St Leonards in St Andrews and at The High School of Dundee. Glenalmond and Strathallan boarding schools are both near Perth.

Cupar is a market town with Bell Baxter High School, several supermarkets, a range of shops and professional services. Nearby Leuchars and Cupar railway stations are on the main Aberdeen to London line and provide a fast link to Dundee and Edinburgh. Edinburgh Airport, with its wide range of destinations, is 45 miles.

Dairsie Village has an excellent shop, post office and filling station/garage. There is also a local inn, currently closed.

Description

Craigfoodie House originates from the 1680s and was owned by John Bethune who was a notable Jacobite. It is believed that the stone to build the house came from the quarry immediately above. When Bethune lost his lands after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, it was taken over by the Meldrum family who extended it in Georgian style. The Meldrums were major Fife landowners and it remained in their family until the late 1800s when they gifted it to the Free Church of Scotland who let it out. The Lindsays bought the house in the 1950s and it passed to the present owners in 2002.

The present owners have brought the house up to a modern standard, reconfiguring the accommodation with a large kitchen / breakfast room and adding a new back door. They added arches and improved the natural light on the first floor and modernised the basement to enable it to be used as a self contained flat. They also created the wonderful gardens.

The accommodation comprises:

Pillared portico to entrance hall with parquet floor, window seat and recessed shelves. Dining room with curving end wall and fireplace with white marble fireplace. Arch to inner hall with stairs to first floor.

Library/Study with fitted bookcases, brick fireplace with Adam style mantel, shelved cupboard and working window shutters. Drawing room with parquet floor curving inner wall with two deep cupboards, panelled walls, tiled fireplace with Adam style mantel and working window shutters.

Kitchen / breakfast room with arch. Wooden topped units with two oven Aga, De Dietrich induction hob, Siemens combination/microwave oven, Bosch dishwasher, window seat, fridge freezer and larder.

Back hall connecting to dining room with ½ glazed back door. Utility area with shelved cupboards and sink. Toilet with wash basin. Inner hall with coat hooks and stairs down to basement.

First Floor:

Sweeping stairs up to U shaped landing on first floor with roof lights.

Corridor to two bedrooms, one with curving end wall and bathroom. Walk in cupboard with hanging rails.

Principal bedroom with en suite bathroom. Walk through dressing room with hanging rails and shelves connecting to bedroom 5 with wash basin.

Bedroom 4 with shelved cupboard and wash basin. Separate Bathroom. Laundry with sink and shelved airing cupboard and linen store. Miele washing machine and Hotpoint drier. Clothes pulley.

Attic:

Attic landing with low door to two attic rooms. Tank room with access to roof and roof light.

Basement:

Craigfoodie House has a substantial basement which is used as ancillary rooms to the house, but could also serve as a self-contained flat.

There is a back hall / boot room at the back door with a bench and coat hooks. Off this is a coal cellar and two store rooms, one of which contains the Grant central heating boiler and a hot water cylinder.

There is an inner hall with a wine cellar and store room off.

Along the front of the house is a sitting room and two bedrooms. The sitting room has a recessed fireplace with stove. There is a further hall with a bathroom and kitchen off.

Garden:

Craigfoodie House sits within its walled garden which has opened for Scotland's Gardens Scheme and featured on the BBC's Beechgrove Garden series and in several national magazines.

The kitchen opens onto Mediterranean style terraces. The views from the upper terrace stretch beyond the garden into the valley below.

The walled garden is quartered with a clock lawn, malus lawn, parterre and extensive vegetable garden. There are many individual features - the large herbaceous border, dry rill, mixed borders, espalier fruit, pleached lime hedge and much more.

There is a grass tennis court with a stone built lodge house. There are plantings of young trees and shrubs. There is a haha outside the walled garden dividing the parkland beyond. Paths lead around a wooded knoll (abundantly planted with spring flowers) to a magnificent viewpoint. There is an informal woodland garden on the other side of the drive.

The Land and Craiglug Hill
Around the gardens is parkland enclosed within stone walls and smaller paddocks. Above this is grassland which links to woodland with some magnificent broadleaved trees.

Above the woodland is Craiglug Hill from where there are wide ranging views in all directions, including views over the Eden Estuary to St Andrews with its links golf courses and the sea beyond. On the side of the hill are cliff faces which have been used by climbing clubs, and banks of gorse.

The Steading
To the west of the house is a traditional steading built of stone under tiled roofs. The near part of the steading offers garaging for several cars. There is a byre with raised feed troughs, stables, grain stores and kennels. On the side of the steading is an octagonal horse mill.

Hill Cottage
On the edge of the paddock above the steading is Hill Cottage which is currently occupied by the gardener and his family. It is a single storey cottage with a kitchen / living room, 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and shower room. Heating is provided by a wood burning stove and there is an electric storage heater in the hall.

Directions

From St Andrews drive west towards Cupar on the A91. After 7 miles you will reach the small village of Dairsie. At the far end of the village turn right, just before the primary school. Follow this minor road out of the village and fork right in front of a row of cottages.

The private road to Craigfoodie is signposted on the left a short way beyond the cottages. Follow the tarmac road straight ahead and then fork left up the hill. Craigfoodie House is on the right.