Ceres, Fife
Welcome to my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Ceres is a village in central Fife, a few miles south east of Cupar. It’s a lovely village with a stream running through it. The village is very well cared for with flower tubs beside “The Provost”, a 19th century carved stone depiction of the last church provost, Thomas Buchanan.
The Provost
The Griselda Hill Pottery in the village produces the famous Wemyss Ware, hand painted giftware, best known for its cats. There’s a visitor centre where you can watch a DVD about the pottery and observe the potters and painters at work through a glass door. It’s a very interesting story as Wemyss ware was originally made in Wemyss on Fife coast between the 1880s and 1930s. One of the painters, Karel Nekola, came from Eastern Europe and his son, Joseph, followed in his Father’s footsteps. When the Wemyss pottery closed and the trademark was sold to the Bovey Pottery in Devon, Joseph moved to Devon. where he trained Esther Weeks, who became the Head Decorator when Joseph died in 1952. The production of Wemyss Ware returned to Fife in the 1980s when the trade mark was purchased by Griselda Hill. However Esther Weeks has visited the Ceres pottery and passed on the secret painting techniques.
Display cabinet at the pottery
Ceres in also home to the Fife Folk Museum, which portrays the history of everyday rural life in the area.
Fife Folk Museum
I was intrigued by the Bannockburn Memorial in Ceres as the Battle of Bannockburn was fought near Stirling, some 50 miles from Ceres. However several men from Ceres did march to take part in the Battle in 1314. The Memorial was erected in 1914 to mark the 600th anniversary of the Battle. The Ceres Highland Games, the oldest free to attend Games in Scotland were established in 1314, to mark victory against the English at Bannockburn, are held on the last Saturday in June. I wonder how those involved in the creation of the Memorial would have felt if they had known of the bloodbath that was to follow in the First World War, starting in the same year?
Bannockburn Memorial
I decided to finish my visit to Ceres with a walk at Craighall Den, a small wooded gorge, just east of the village down the road towards Largo. I’d read an information board at the car park at the start of the walk which showed a circular walk taking in an old limekiln and thought I’d follow that. The walk started well with a path along the stream. It was after a farm that I couldn’t find markers for the walk and ended up in a very overgrown section, fenced off between two fields. It was akin to hacking through the jungle with nettles and bramble bushes almost my height.
You can easily spend a very pleasant few hours in Ceres, as long as you stick to a stroll around Craighall Den itself and forget the circular walk. I noticed several people having lunch al fresco close the stream in the patio of the Ceres Inn.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Hello. Just a note to say that it is very encouraging to see our museum on your blog. I am surprised that the website did not appear as it is online, though under development. Please check that you did linked to the site address given above as the first on the Google list is indeed down; our old site.
Best wishes,
Helen
Curator
Fife Folk Museum
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
I think that Ceres is a very pretty village where you can easily spend a few enjoyable hours. I’ll insert the link to the museum in this post and in the guide to Fife.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:52 am
I have spent many a time in craighall den, with a delightful range of native and naturlised trees and a variety of woodand groud flora that would suggest it to be of ancient origin. It is also one of the most reliable places in Fife that i am aware of to see spotted flycatcher, i don’t think there has been a time during a summer visit where i have not seen atleast one.
All the best, woody.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:43 am
Yes, Woody, I did have a lovely walk (for at least part of the way) in Craighall Den, it is a beautiful spot. I didn’t notice any unusual birds but I suppose you’d have to be looking out for them.