Visit St Monans
We must admit that when we visit St Monans, we are usually going to see our friendly cousins and local joiner (carpenter), Sandy Syme - also known (by our children) as 'Uncle Sandy, bang-bang hammer' due to the amount of work he's done for us while our kids were small. However, during the Easter holidays in 2006, my 3-year old son and I found ourselves heading along to Elie and decided to stop on the way to take a look at the windmill at St Monans. It's an easy walk from the car park (signposted from the harbour) along the Coastal Path to the windmill, and for a 3-year old there was the added distraction of swings on the way. We found when we got there that we could have borrowed keys for the windmill and taken our own private tour.
Keys are available during the months of September - June from the Post Office and shop on payment of a deposit. In the summer months the windmill is open. There are display boards at the site telling the story of the salt pans and the windmill, and there's a picnic table if you want to make an occasion of your visit there.
Further reading
Read what other visitors to the St Monans Windmill have said about it:
BBC Guide to Walking the Coast - St Monans Salt Mill
A view of the St Monans Windmill at sunset
Historical details on about the St Monans Windmill
Wandering Willie's Travel Notes about St Monans Windmill
Culinary highlights of St Monans
There is a fabulous restaurant in St Monans. Sandy and I have eaten there a few times over the years. We fondly remember one evening being in the restaurant when one of our fellow-diners was leaving. He opened the door to the kitchen and shouted in, "bloody good meal Chef", then turned to the diners in the restaurant and said, "well I think if you've had a good meal you should tell the man who cooked it!"
The restaurant is The Seafood Restaurant, and is owned by the same people who have The Seafood Restaurant in St Andrews. We like it better because we felt that it was where people came to eat rather than to be seen - and the 'glass box' in St Andrews is definitely a place to be seen (although the food there was superb too).
Menu has a definite seafood bias, but there were meaty options too. Lovely views out to sea, and we'd go there again lots more if we could.
Susan McNaughton - October 2006