Luxury Cupar Self Catering St Andrews, Fife, Scotland sleeps 6

Bag End Cottage - Luxury Self Catering beside Cupar and St Andrews in Fife - sleeps 6

Opened in 2009, Bag End Cottage is just nine miles from the Old Course and the British Golf Museum in St Andrews. We are within easy reach of over seventy other local golf courses, including Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, with the recently restored Hickory Golf Course at Hill of Tarvit only a ten-minute walk from our doorstep. For the non-golfer,

Joyce and Mark Richardson were on their way home from visiting friends in Ceres when they spotted the For Sale sign in the hamlet of Chance Inn. They were living in a flat in Dundee and were desperate to move

However, their move into Bag End Cottage was not a quick process. It took 18 months to complete the sale, and three architects and a further 18 months to get their plans passed. Their commitment to this project has been remarkable - it's not everyone who could live in a caravan for five years which is what they have done to build their dream home and start a new business.

Part of the reason the process has taken so long is that Mark took on almost the entire project himself. While Joyce kept the money coming in by working as an occupational therapist, the design, the build, and all the finishing touches are down to Mark, as he explains: "I had specialists erect the timber frame, a plumber to fit the boiler and an electrician to do his magic, but everything else I did myself."

Fair enough, if this had been a typical new-build square box, but Mark's design was quirky to say the least. "I wanted a property that changed height and shape constantly and to be honest, I would have liked to go much bolder but we struggled getting parts of even this design past the planners."

The couple's dream was to create a property that would provide them with a family home and an income. Accordingly, the house is split into two - the front with the main entrance, leads into a four-star, three-bedroom, self-catering holiday home. And at the other side of the property is the Richardsons' living space.

Both benefit from Mark's imagination in exploring differing heights and shapes. Curves and right angles are juxtaposed and every room has something special to offer, but surprisingly nothing jars the eye, much to Mark's delight: "I truly believe you can make a building interesting and comfortable simply by getting the rooms to flow. I love when guests arrive and they feel instantly at home which helps get their holiday off to a great start. I've even ensured the Italian porcelain floors flow from room to room without door treads so as not to create any visual barriers."

It's this level of craftsmanship that explains why this build took as long as it did. "I'm a Virgo and I'm fastidious," says Mark laughing. "I knew if I took on a builder they wouldn't pay the same attention to detail as I would and besides, I couldn't afford to pay a builder to spend a week cladding one curved wall which is what needed to be done."

Nestled in the heart of the Kingdom of Fife, in the hamlet of Chance Inn, Bag End Cottage offers luxury self catering holiday cottage accommodation in the main part of a stylish contemporary timber-clad residence set in an idyllic rural setting. We are one mile from the historic village of Ceres and within easy reach of Cupar, St Andrews and the beautiful medieval fishing villages of the East Neuk of Fife

Luxury Self Catering sleeps 6 people