I’ll fight you for Culross, draw your claymore - Fiona Duff

Now here’s a question – do you believe in love at first sight? You know the sort of thing, like Romeo and Juliet who fell truly, madly deeply as soon as they clapped eyes on each other.

A view from the walled garden over Culross Palace is a great viewpoint over this very ancient village. Bill Bennett

Mind you, it certainly wasn’t a happy ever after for Shakespeare’s star crossed lovers. Within a couple of hours they had both shuffled off their mortal coil.

However, something happened like that to me earlier this week (the first part of the story, don’t worry I do still have a pulse). A friend recently moved from London to Culross. We thought it would be a good idea to meet – she was up for coming to Edinburgh but I explained that I had never visited the Royal Burgh of Culross before and fancied a wee trip to visit.

Well, as soon as I stepped out of the car I was smitten. It is just so darned pretty, these little higglety pigglety houses that all seem to be almost 400 years old. We walked around, me like some besotted teenager saying ‘wow’ at every turn.

Needless to say it has been used as a location for Outlander – in fact my friend’s house was used as a location when the previous owners lived there. So it is a little tourist trap. I daren’t think how busy it gets in the summer months as there weren’t that many spaces left in the car park on a Tuesday morning in September. We even came across a local lad, swathed in tartan, showing some visitors around – I didn’t hear what he was saying although not being a fan of that Scottish fantasy/time travel series it probably wouldn’t meant anything at all to yours truly.

Anyway, there are three cafes and a community owned pub, which did a very delicious bowl of soup. The life sized painting of a man wearing a kilt behind the door of the ladies lavatory almost gave me heart failure, so at least you have been warned.

The one thing missing, apparently, is a village shop. Hmmm, a business opportunity and a reason to move to Culross?