Sales and Marketing Director, Kirsten Laing, headed over to Edinburgh for the day, taking a wander away from the hustle and bustle of the city’s well-known centre of Princes Street and the Royal Mile, instead opting to enjoy a walk along the Water of Leith, only a few minutes away from the East End of Princes Street. The reward; some beautiful scenery and a Gin Distillery experience at the end!
After walking along Princes Street, cutting through to George Street from Waverley Train Station, we headed down towards Dean Village via Bells Brae. The historic centre for milling, this picturesque ‘village’ transforms you away to cobbled streets and pretty houses perched along the Water of Leith. We picked up the Water of Leith walkway (all well signposted) and headed North along the river enjoying the views of the Edinburgh New Town architecture heading towards Stockbridge.
Here we came off the pathway to wander around this area of Edinburgh full of fabulous independent shops, cafes, and restaurants. Due to having had a hearty breakfast there wasn’t any room for coffee and cake, unfortunately, (and hence the walk!) but we would have had our pick of places to enjoy. Wandering along St Stephen Street, again we were met with a range of independent shops, a mixture of both contemporary and vintage, including Mr Purves where treasures could possibly be unearthed.
Continuing through Stockbridge we headed back South towards the city centre, along Queen Street heading to George Square where we picked up the newly opened Tram link to head North, to Leith. Heading along Leith Walk we hopped off at the Port of Leith and enjoyed a walk through the streets where a selection of galleries, shops, cafes and restaurants, many with great views of the water, leaves you spoilt for choice. We did head to Mimi’s Bakehouse for a quick coffee and delicious scone, deserved by this point, and in preparation for our next activity.
If you were enjoying the walk you can continue along the Water of Leith walkway all the way to Leith, taking around 40 – 50 minutes, where the path brings you out 2 minutes’ walk to the excellent Lind and Lime Gin Distillery for a tour. This distillery is sister to the recently opened Porth of Leith Distillery – Scotland’s first vertical distillery.
Our tour guide Georgia was superb, sharing with us the history of Gin and how Lind and Lime came to be, all while sipping on our own G&T’s. Due to the (relative!) ease of distilling gin the actual tour of this element is a small part of the overall visit. However, this is due to the participation elements including bottling your own miniature (which leads to healthy competition over who can get the labels in precisely the right places!) and the fun of cocktail making. All topped off by the fact that their gin is First Class. A tour we would thoroughly recommend.
After making a few purchases in the gift shop, we decided to hop back on the tram back to the city centre, although it is easy enough to walk back via Leith Walk taking around 20 – 30 mins depending on how many stops you have. Back on Princes Street and a short walk back to Waverley Train Station and home, having had a thoroughly enjoyable day.