The old Balbirnie Estate had some extensive grounds. About half of these were converted to a golf course. The rest makes up what is now Balbirnie Park.

The back burn runs from the upper part of the former estate – now sold off for housing – between the golf course’s 18^th fairway and green before wending through the wooded area of the Park.

There are some exposed tree roots on the burn’s banks in the upper estate:-

Part of the burn is very shaded:-

We often take a walk through the woods and beside the burn. There are three wooden bridges over the burn after it passes the golf course. This is one of them:-

Close-up. (The wooden superstructure on this has recently been replaced):-

The burn:-

Balbirnie House was the “big” house nearest to Markinch and was home to the Balfour family before being sold off in 1969. It is now a hotel, the Balbirnie House Hotel and the estate grounds are now Balbirnie Park.

Nearly every morning I walk past it and through its grounds (more than half of which is now a golf course) on my way to Markinch to pick up the Guardian.

This is a photo of the hotel from just over a year ago:-

There had been reasonably heavy rain and a pool of water had collected beside the footpath which skirts the estate road leading upo to the hotel. This was followed by a freeze:-

Lower down the estate road, nearer to Markinch, this area of the golf course had also been flooded and frozen:-

On the other side of the estate road this part of Balbirnie Park remained flooded for almost all of 2020:-

This memorial to the five boys from Markinch who died in the Ibrox Disaster on 2/1/1971 lies directly opposite the entrance to Balbirnie Park.