We've had a lovely weekend here in Edinburgh. We took a trip to Saughton Park, which is around a mile from where we live.
The park has some lovely gardens and a hot house, although the hot house was closed when we were there. We've been having some lovely weather, and the flowers are really out in bloom, making for some lovely views around the gardens.
It was quite nice wandering around checking out all the flowers - there are so many out in bloom at the moment.
At the centre of the park is this lovely old Victorian Band Stand. I've never seen it used for bands - but its still pretty impressive to see.
One of the gardeners has certainly been having fun with the hedges - sorry about the pic quality. I must have moved while taking it.
The gardens and hot house are sort of hidden from view in the Park. We passed it numerous times when we first moved back to Edinburgh, not realising that these lovely gardens were here !
A river also runs around one side of the park, and I've known that its a place to see Kingfishers - which I'd never seen before. As we were walking back to the car I decided to have one last look to see if there was one there on the river - and there was ! I was amazed - they are stunning birds. It moved so fast that I had no chance of getting a pic of it. They have a stunning golden orange breast and are then bright blue everywhere else - such beautiful birds !
We certainly enjoyed the park, but its not huge, so we decided to go and see the Colinton Tunnel as well.
The tunnel is from an old dis-used city commuter rail line that was probably abolished in the 1960s. It is part of a walking and cycle path now.
The tunnel was turned over to artists for decoration as part of a community project. The artworks inside are quite amazing !
Its takes a few minutes to walk through and so there is a decent amount to see.
Quite a lot of the pictures are showing Scottish themes like the Highland Cow and Clydesdale Horse above.
And of course there is a Piper in full highland dress !
Considering how good many of the pics in the tunnel are I was quite surprised to find this face in one of the larger scenes - I could have done that !
The tunnel is really impressive, and I think its a lovely idea and really does brighten up the route. It attracts quite a lot of visitors, which isnt a surprise.
It really was lovely to get out and see both the park and the tunnel. We also topped the weekend off by going to see the musical 'Sunshine on Leith' this evening. Its a musical set in Edinburgh to the music of the Proclaimers. It was the first time we had seen it, and it was awesome - I cant recommend it enough.
That was a great way to round of the weekend, and now we are settling down and getting ready for monday.
All the best from Scotland - I hope you've had a great weekend too !
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Quite a refreshing tour of the garden mate...
The artwork is phenomenal 🔥🔥🔥
Seems like a lot of fun ✨
Many thanks - it was lovely to visit both places !
I loved your pictures the unicorn amazed me Thank you for sharing.
Many thanks - the artwork in the tunnel was awesome !
Wow seriously sensational gardens but the artwork in the tunnel was brilliant!
So much talent and time went into creating those masterpieces- even the one that even looks far more professional that what I could do! 🤣
Aye - the gardens and tunnel are both great. Its brilliant that they are right here in the city where we live !
Yeah definitely.
My old friend from many ears ago was a prison guard at Saughton...
Never went there myself when I was there- Saughton, not the prison...🤣
Lol - the prison is just a few blocks up the road from the park. I've never been in the prison - I'm glad to report !
Well glad to hear thats 2 of us then!
So I imagine that the prison would be pretty old too..?
Maybe one day you could do a drive by with your camera shooting out the window- for Hive purposes ofcourse...🤣
There is actually a river path that goes around the back of the prison, so its pretty easy to get pictures of it from there. Its huge - way bigger than you can see from the front.
Must be pretty creep to be able to get that close to it in a secluded woody area....if you know what I mean...Thats if it still operating?
I wonder how old it is?
The architecture must be pretty awesome too.
I would love to have a park like this a mile from where I live. All the parks in my area are just carbon copies of each other with no character.
We are quite lucky where we live - we have a good few around us - all different.