Edinburgh

Stockbridge on a Sunday – Galleries, a Market and the Botanics

A day on foot, from West End tram stop to Stockbridge.

The route

This Sunday walk follows the Water of Leith through Edinburgh's old riverside villages, from the mill village at Dean to the Botanic Garden at Inverleith.

It starts among the old mill houses of Dean Village and climbs to the two free galleries of modern art on Belford Road. A gate behind them leads into Dean Cemetery and back down to the river, past St Bernard's Well to Circus Lane and Stockbridge's Sunday market for lunch. The Rocheid Path takes you on past the Colonies to the Botanics and the restored Palm Houses for the afternoon, and the day ends by the pond in Inverleith Park, with the Castle on the skyline. It's about 5 miles on foot from the West End to Stockbridge, mostly level, with a few steep cobbled lanes.

Before you go

Book a slot in the Botanics' Palm Houses
The garden is free and needs no ticket, but its two restored Palm Houses are entered by timed slot, from 10.15am to 4.15pm, and numbers are limited, so book one online for about 3pm.
Book a bed near Stockbridge or the West End
Stay near Stockbridge or the West End and the start is a short walk and the bus home a short ride. Nothing else on this day needs a ticket: Dean Village, the galleries, the cemetery, the market and the Botanic Garden are all free.
The nearest of ours is West End Muse. Sleeps 4.
Book Sunday dinner in Stockbridge
The Scran & Scallie on Comely Bank Road, a few minutes' walk from the pond, and Novapizza Vegan Kitchen on Howe Street, a little nearer town, both serve dinner on Sundays and take bookings: book a table for about 6pm.

The day

Stockbridge

A Sunday on foot down the Water of Leith, from the old mill houses of Dean Village, quiet first thing, to the galleries, the Sunday market in Stockbridge and the Botanic Garden for the afternoon. It ends by the pond in Inverleith Park, looking over the water to the Castle, with dinner a few minutes away. Set off from the West End tram stop at about 8.45am.

Dean Village
An attraction
It's a 13-minute walk from the West End tram stop along Queensferry Street and down Bell's Brae, a steep cobbled lane, into Dean Village. Be there by 9am, before the crowds. For more than 800 years, mills here ground grain for the city's bakers. Cross the river on the little footbridge for the view everyone comes for, the old houses along the water with the clock tower of Well Court behind. Its courtyard is private homes, so enjoy it from the bridge.
More about Dean Village
13 min on foot
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
An attraction
Walk 13 minutes up from Damside to Belford Road and along it over Belford Bridge, a steady climb with a few steps, to the two free galleries of modern art, facing across the road. The grounds are open from 7am, so walk round Charles Jencks's Landform, grass terraces round three crescent pools, before the doors open at 10. Modern Two has Eduardo Paolozzi's giant Vulcan in its café, and his rebuilt studio, shown if you ask at the desk. Give the two about an hour and a half.
More about Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
7 min on foot
Dean Cemetery
It's a 7-minute walk from Modern One, back across the road and round Modern Two, to a small iron gate into Dean Cemetery. Laid out in 1846, it's a quiet, green place of grand Victorian monuments. Find the pioneer photographer David Octavius Hill, with a bronze bust by his wife Amelia on his grave, and Joseph Bell, the surgeon Arthur Conan Doyle said he owed Sherlock Holmes to. Twenty minutes is plenty. Your phone's map has no paths inside, so leave by the main gate on Dean Path.
11 min on foot
St Bernard's Well
An attraction
Leave by the cemetery's main gate and walk 11 minutes down steep Dean Path, cobbled at its foot, back into Dean Village, busy by now. Then follow the river path downstream under Thomas Telford's Dean Bridge, its four arches 106 feet above the water. St Bernard's Well is the little round temple on the bank, built in 1789 over a mineral spring to Alexander Nasmyth's design, with Hygieia, the goddess of health, standing under its dome. The door is almost always locked, so admire it from the path.
More about St Bernard's Well
10 min on foot
Circus Lane
An attraction
It's a 10-minute walk on along the river and up the steps at St Bernard's Bridge. Without crossing the river, go up India Place and walk the length of Circus Lane, a cobbled mews built for the carriages and horses of the grand houses on Royal Circus. As it curves, the clock tower of St Stephen's rises over the rooftops ahead of you. William Playfair designed it as a church in 1827. The little mews houses are people's homes, so take your photograph quietly and move on.
More about Circus Lane
7 min on foot
Stockbridge Market
An attraction
Head back to the river by St Stephen Street, 7 minutes' walk, past little shops down steps in the basements and Golden Hare Books, open on Sundays too. Stockbridge Market is on Saunders Street, and it runs on Sundays only, from 10am to 4pm. It's small and mostly lunch, with hot food and bakers' stalls and a few for fruit, veg and handmade things. It's at its busiest from about 1pm, when the paella queue grows long, so buy lunch now and eat it by the river.
More about Stockbridge Market
20 min on foot
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
An attraction
Allow 20 minutes to walk by Arboretum Avenue and the Rocheid Path along the river, with the Stockbridge Colonies, workers' homes built by a co-operative from 1861, across the water. Go up Inverleith Row to the East Gate. The garden is free, with the Rock Garden, the Chinese Hillside and May's rhododendrons. Of its glasshouses only the two restored Palm Houses are open, by timed slot: book one ahead for about 3pm. Then have tea at the Terrace Café, last orders 4.15pm, with the skyline beyond the lawn.
More about Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
17 min on foot
Inverleith Park
From the East Gate it's a 17-minute walk right across the garden, and about 9 from the Terrace Café. Leave by the West Gate as it closes at 5pm and cross Arboretum Place into Inverleith Park, which the city bought in 1889. Walk down past the sundial garden to the boating pond for the view over the water to the Castle and the Old Town. From the pond it's a 7-minute walk into Stockbridge for dinner and the 24 or 29 bus to Princes Street, each half-hourly on a Sunday.

If it rains

In rain, give the morning to the galleries: Modern One and Modern Two are free and warm, each with a café, so stay until lunch. The river path under the trees is at its muddiest after rain, so reach them by Belford Road. Keep Dean Village, the cemetery and Circus Lane short, and buy lunch at the market and move on, as it's all gazebos and wet cobbles. The Palm Houses are the afternoon's shelter, on your booked slot. In high wind the Botanics can close, so check their website that morning. Leave out Inverleith Park and take the 23 or 27 into town from Inverleith Row by the East Gate, each about every 20 minutes on a Sunday.

Golden Hare Books

Worth a detour

Golden Hare Books
On St Stephen Street, on the walk from Circus Lane to the market, Golden Hare Books is a small independent bookshop, open every day from 10am to 6pm, Sundays included.