Living in St Andrews.

Walk up South Street on a clear morning and you understand the appeal — the cathedral ruins at one end, the West Port at the other, sandstone glowing pink, the sea at the bottom of every wynd. There's pace and quiet, depending on the term. The wind off the North Sea is a constant — and a real factor in property care.

Some of the most beautiful — and challenging — properties in Fife. The Old Town has medieval pends, 17th-century townhouses and Georgian terraces. North Street and Hope Street have grand sandstone fronts. Out toward Lade Braes and the Canongate there are Victorian villas with mature gardens. Newer family homes sit around Strathkinness Low Road and the western edge.

• Salt-spray weathering on seaward-facing paint — anything within half a mile of the East or West Sands
• Moss and algae on north-facing roofs and walls — the damp coastal air encourages it everywhere
• Eroded mortar joints in older sandstone — wind-driven rain finds every weakness
• Coastal gardens that struggle with wind burn on tender plants — windbreak hedging changes everything
• Driveways near the Old Course that take heavy use and weather equally hard

• West Sands beach walk — flat, vast, and one of the great walks in Scotland
• Lade Braes — the green spine of the town, follows the burn from the centre to Cockshaugh Park
• Fife Coastal Path north toward Boarhills and south toward Crail
• Craigtoun Country Park — kids, ponds, miniature railway, full day out

St Andrews property care is coastal property care. Every decision — paint choice, render type, hedge species, even mowing schedule — should account for salt, wind and damp. Get it right and a coastal Fife home is a joy for generations. Get it wrong and you're repainting every three years.