Dutch Village at Craigtoun Park

The speaker was Club member Henry Paul who, among his many contributions to community life in St Andrews, has worked tirelessly to protect Craigtoun Park for this and future generations. He spoke about the Dutch Village there, an iconic folly built in the 1920s by the Younger family on their Mount Melville estate (of which Craigtoun Park forms a part ), now desperately in need of repair and restoration. The Dutch Village is an extraordinary piece of architectural pastiche proudly showing itself off in the middle of the Park. While certainly not Dutch in any material respects, it does have a consummate European background with Italianate features, bits of a German castle and a replica of the old Dairsie Bridge. It’s roofs are pantile clad which may be the only passing reference to the Low Countries. It is now in a perilous state and Henry would love to see it restored to its former glory with the boating pond back in action and a functioning cafe in the main building. He showed a number of old photographs from its heyday- countless children in rowing boats (not a life jacket in sight!) and families enjoying sumptuous teas- and is sure there must be many more photographs and cine films depicting these scenes. If any reader has any, Henry would love to hear from you. A concept plan for the future of the village has been prepared, but the costs of implementing this are huge -£750k/ £1m to stabilise the existing buildings and perhaps another £3m to see the development of the concept through to completion. Henry said that Fife Council, as owners of these B listed buildings, seem unwilling to engage in any meaningful discussions over the future of the Village, so fundraising through the Lottery and other sources is well nigh impossible. Restoration therefore remains a distant aspiration rather than an immediate prospect. Club members were hugely supportive of the plan to restore the Dutch Village and would encourage any members of the public with ideas as to how this might be done to speak directly with Henry. Colin Brown gave a warm vote of thanks.