We love our city and we are happy to show the best parts of it to our amazing students. One of the groups explored Edinburgh together with their language teacher from ELA. They were really lucky with the weather 🙂

July is one of the best months to walk around the city and enjoy the warmth of Scottish summer.

Just two minutes away from ELA there is a fantastic old place called Dean Village. It is a former village immediately northwest of the city centre of Edinburgh. It was also sometimes known as the “Water of Leith Village” and was a successful grain milling hamlet for more than 800 years. At one time there were no fewer than eleven working mills there, driven by the strong currents of the Water of Leith.

Water of Leith is a small river and if you decide to walk along it, it will lead you as far as Balerno village.

The Water of Leith is perhaps more a green corridor than a park, although it is designated an Urban Wildlife Site. The waterway snakes through the city from the foot of the Pentlands to Leith docks, providing a haven for birds (as much as 80 different species), wildlife, and a peaceful, semi-rural route for pedestrians, cyclists, joggers and pram-pushers. There’s also a variety of historic sites that are linked with this important Edinburgh river.

You can walk and cycle much of the way with the water rushing below you, although the pedestrian-cycle path doesn’t always go directly beside the river and some access points have steep staircases to negotiate. Sections of the Water of Leith make attractive scenic routes for getting around the city, whether it’s going to a restaurant or pub, a rugby match, or an art gallery.