The picture postcard shown above was published by Young, Stationer & Newsagent, Lundin Links. It features Victoria House, which was built by local contractor Walter Horne around 1907 as a boarding establishment. This photograph likely dates to the late 1920s (when the business was known as Swan's Victoria) or the early 1930s when Agnes Peebles Watters (nee Greig) ran the 'private hotel'. By the time that this image was captured, the open verandas originally at ground and first floor level on the right hand side had been closed in to form bay windows.
During Mrs Watters time, the advert further below for the hotel appeared in the tourist guide for Largo area. Within the grounds of the hotel itself, visitors had access to a 9-hole putting course, clock golf and a quoit tennis court. Notice that in the photograph detail below, there is a well-dressed chap with a golf club. He is either having a go at the putting course or a game of clock golf. A tall flag pole can also been seen behind the man, by the fence.
Clock golf or clock putting, was a Victorian garden game that involved a circular arrangement of twelve cast iron numbered markers, resembling the numbers on a clock face. The game was set up with the numbers (often Roman numerals) placed in a circle, to represent each hour of the clock. A hole (target) is placed a few feet off centre, in order to vary the distance from each figure to the hole.
Players take turns putting from each of the twelve positions, starting at 1 o’clock and moving sequentially around the circle (which would ideally measure around 40 feet in diameter). The objective was to get the ball into the hole with the fewest strokes possible from each position. After completing a full round, the player with the fewest total strokes wins. Clock golf was popular as it required minimal space and could be enjoyed by people of all ages.
Quoit tennis was another garden game for 2 or 4 players (singles or doubles) where a court is marked out on the grass and a net put up in the centre. The rules of the game were similar to those of tennis but a rope quoit replaced the tennis ball and hands were used rather than racquets. Quoits were served and returned across the net and points lost for quoits hitting the net or going out of the court.
When guests at the Victoria were not enjoying such garden-based games, they were only a stone's throw away from the beach (with access to the boarding house's private bathing boxes) and from Lundin golf course. In the evening there might be a dance, a whist drive or indoor sports. Entertainment for all the family - happy days!
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