Much of the picture-book burgh of Culross (6mi/9.6km west of Dunfermline) is now in the hands of the National Trust for Scotland. It is a popular spot with tourists as it is probably Scotland's best surviving example of how the middle classes lived between 1600 and 1800. At that time the settlement was a busy center where the inhabitants earned
their living from coal, salt and the manufacture of cast-iron plates on which the famous Scottish scones were baked. Work on restoring the village started in the 1950s. Distinctive features include the cobbled alleys, whitewashed houses, red pantile roofs, stepped gables and outside stairways leading to first-floor entrances.