The tourist information brochure describes Dysart in Fife as “a picturesque village on the shores of the Forth”. That may well depend on where you stand. One of the highlights of Dysart is the 16th century Tolbooth, pictured below.

Dysart Tolbooth

However this is the other side of the square in which the Tolbooth stands.

I just think it’s a bit too much of a contrast. It gets even worse if you walk a bit further down the street and there is a whole block of boarded up flats.

It night be wise to keep visitors down by the shoreline where there are the pretty restored white houses of Pan Ha’.

There’s also “Sea Beams” by Donald Urquhart, at the sea front, with 9 vertical oak beams painted to reflect the varying colours of the sea, part of the Dysart Artworks Initiative.

Perhaps the local authority should spend more money on home improvement initiatives and less on art and glossy brochures. I know that every town and city has its less salubrious side and everywhere can’t be picture postcard perfect but it may be advisable not to mention the Tolbooth until the area around that location is given a facelift.