A pop-up coffee shop and flower stall are to be set up in the shadow of Culross Abbey.
A former horsebox has been transformed into a mobile cafe to serve refreshments and homemade cakes to visitors to the 800-year-old abbey and its ruins during the summer.
Culross resident Sandra Bannister is behind the new venture which she’ll operate from the grounds of her own home.
She hopes to benefit from the huge influx of tourists and Outlander fans to the historic Fife village.
Thousands of fans of the hit TV drama Outlander flock to Culross every year
Sandra, 60, a retired former lecturer at Stirling University, moved into Kirkbrae House, next door to the abbey ruins two years ago.
Having spent much of the past two years restoring Kirkbrae’s acre-wide gardens back to their former glory, Sandra is now hoping to capitalise on the village’s burgeoning tourist trade.
“Having moved next door to the abbey a couple of years ago, I’ve witnessed just how popular Culross Abbey is,” said Sandra.
“There’s a steady stream of visitors passing my door to the abbey every day during the summer.
“Culross Abbey is hugely popular, both as an attraction in its own right but also because it’s on the Fife Pilgrim Trail.
“Add to that the large influx of fans of the hit TV drama, Outlander, much of which was filmed in Culross, and it adds up to a lot of visitors.
“It’s a pretty steep climb from the bottom of the village up to the abbey yet when they get here there’s no cafe or chance of refreshments.
“So I got the idea of combining my love of flowers with that of opening up a mobile coffee stall.
“I’ve had an old horse trailer painted up and kitted out so we can serve drinks and home baking as a reward to those who have ventured up the hill to the abbey.”
Pop-up cafe and flower stall opening next door to Culross Abbey ruins
Sandra’s new venture, Tea Leaf, begins trading on Saturday and will be open for business Friday to Sunday every week throughout the summer.
And she’s sure the cafe will appeal to locals as well as tourists.
“The feedback and support from friends and neighbours in Culross has already been very encouraging,” Sandra said.
“We open our garden up to the public as part of Scotland’s Garden Scheme so it seemed the perfect location, just outside my own back door.”
Culross has featured extensively in Outlander since doubling as the fictional village Cranesmuir when the show first aired in 2014.
The show’s popularity has seen Culross “over-run” with tourists in recent years.
Only last month, filming of Blood Of My Blood, a prequel series to Outlander, took place over a week at Abbey House, close to the ruins.
Tea Leaf coffee shop opens this Saturday from 11am to 4pm at Kirkbrae House, next to Culross Abbey.
