Rusacks St Andrews

This is an eminently loungeable hotel where lunch at the Bridge, an afternoon in One Under and dinner at 18 would represent a day well spent. But it would be remiss of us not to mention the world famous Old Course right outside the window; the very birthplace of golf itself. You'll need some golfing prowess to play on it (a maximum handicap of 36) but a public ballot means securing a tee time is easier than you may think. Full details are online, but there'll need to be two of you and you'll need to enter your names before 2pm two days before you want to play (although the course is closed on Sundays, so there's no Friday ballot). Results are announced at 4.30pm that same day. Failing that, the hotel will happily arrange tee times at a number of other renowned local courses. But there's more to St Andrews than 18 holes, and there's no better way to get your bearings than to follow the Fife coastal path along the length of the town. You'll pass the ruins of the castle (birthplace of a king, fought over with the English, site of some intense religious squabbles) and the cathedral (ransacked, abandoned and left to ruin in the Reformation) which give good glimpses into the town's (and indeed Scotland's) past, before finding the lobster-pot-dotted harbour. Take a detour inland and you can stroll through the picturesque university cloisters. If you're feeling a little more energetic, follow the path along the cliffs and past the Fairmont Hotel – the views are spectacular and there are a few secluded beaches along the way. Talking of beaches, you'll find East Sands beach just beyond the harbour (good for watersports) and the sweeping West Sands beach just beyond the golf course outside the hotel (good for a bracing morning stroll). For more cultural pursuits, there's the bijou 1930s-built New Picture House cinema and the brilliant Topping & Company bookshop which regularly hosts billboard names from literature and academia for enlightening talks. Further afield, Dundee's riverside V&A museum is about 25 minutes away by car and a stop-off en route for a walk through Tentsmuir Forest showcases Scottish nature at its best.

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