Tentsmuir Forest & Beach

The beach at Tentsmuir sprawls for miles - proper wild and windswept, the sort of place where you can walk for hours and barely see another soul. It's a working forest behind the dunes, managed for timber, so you get the best of both: woodland paths threading through Scots pine and open shoreline where the Firth of Tay stretches out towards the Angus coast.

This is brilliant for walkers and families who want space to breathe. The forest floor is soft underfoot, and you can link different routes depending on how long you've got - anything from a quick thirty-minute loop to a proper half-day expedition. Children won't get bored; there's enough variety between trees and sand, and the beach itself is good for exploring rock pools when the tide's out. Dogs love it too.

Access is free, and there's no timetable nonsense - you just turn up. What you need to know is parking. There's a small car park at the north end near Tayport, though it fills up on decent weekends. The beach can be muddy after rain, so waterproof boots aren't a luxury here.

As a park holiday base, it works well. St Andrews Holiday Park and Craigtoun Meadows are both within striking distance, and this gives you the rough-around-the-edges stuff without driving far from proper tourist infrastructure. It's the sort of place to visit on a grey Scottish morning when the wind's up - that's when it properly comes alive.