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Discover the region's best-kept secrets - including a Cold War bunker, wild walk and tasty local treats

- MORAG LINDSAY

Taste Of The Neuk

If you're a passionate food-lover, Bowhouse is the place to be

BOWHOUSE FARM is famous among foodies for its weekend markets.

They're why many of Scotland's leading food and drink producers and thousands of visitors converge on this quiet corner of Fife every month.

But it is also home to an expanding food hub, offering some of the best produce from the region all year round.

It's a proper homegrown success story and an essential pit stop for anyone hungering after a true taste of Fife.

Bowhouse is the brainchild of Toby Anstruther, a founding director of the Fife Food Network, whose family have farmed the land between St Monans and Elie for centuries.

 It was launched with one intention - to put more of the East Neuk's local produce on to the plates of local people.

Toby hit upon the idea some years ago after speaking to a chef who told him he would love to use more local ingredients, but had to source veg from the Glasgow markets, or even Holland.

Something had clearly gone awry.

The East Neuk produces some of the finest food in the whole of the UK. While it's best known for fishing villages, the lush agricultural land supports farms rearing an abundance of beef, lamb and game, as well as fruit, vegetables and grains.

And yet the bulk of this produce was leaving the East Neuk to be processed and sold in the Central Belt and beyond.

There's less leakage now that Bowhouse has become the missing link. It's provided a place to reconnect local suppliers with local people.

Here, seasonal eating and sustainability are key. And at its heart, above all these lofty ideals, it has become a gathering place for people who just really love good food.