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The window of Far From the Madding Crowd on Linlithgow High Street, lettered Books and Gifts, beside the shop's red sign.
Lothian

Far From the Madding Crowd

An independent bookshop over two floors of a Georgian building on Linlithgow's High Street, with Little Owls, its children's section, downstairs.

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Welcome

Linlithgow's award-winning bookshop fills two floors of a handsome Georgian building on the High Street, a few minutes' walk from the palace.

It takes its name from Thomas Hardy's novel, and it has been part of the High Street for more than a decade. The ground floor holds fiction and the classics, history, travel, cookery, poetry and nature writing, with OS maps, guidebooks and a good shelf of Scottish books, alongside cards and gifts. Downstairs is Little Owls, a cosy children's section of books, toys and games, with storytelling on Fridays. If the book you're after isn't on the shelves, the shop will order it in for you free of charge. It runs a busy programme of events, from evenings in the bookshop to its own Further From Festival, so have a look at what's on before you go. It's open seven days a week, and dogs are welcome.

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The Daily for 1 November, from Scotland with love. A misty lane runs past slate-roofed cottages toward a wooded hillside.
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Before you go

Open seven days, and dogs are welcome.

Books not on the shelves can be ordered in, free.

Where
20 High Street, Linlithgow, EH49 7AE.
Open
Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 5pm (Wednesday to 6pm), Sunday 12pm to 4pm.
Dogs
Welcome.
Access
The entrance has a step, on Google's record.
Phone
01506 845509

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
9.30am–5pm
Tuesday
9.30am–5pm
Wednesday
9.30am–6pm
Thursday
9.30am–5pm
Friday
9.30am–5pm
Saturday
9.30am–5pm
Sunday
noon–4pm

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Where it is

On Linlithgow's High Street, a few minutes' walk from the Cross and the palace, EH49 7AE.

Close byLinlithgow and the shore of the Forth.
  1. The Coffee Neuk shopfront with red hanging baskets and pavement tablesThe Coffee NeukA small family tea room at the Cross in Linlithgow, serving breakfasts, rolls, scones and cakes.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Linlithgow PalaceLinlithgow PalaceThe roofless palace of the Stewart kings above Linlithgow Loch, begun in 1424 and the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots.Under a mile 2 min by road
  3. The farm shop at Grow Wild near Linlithgow, a wooden table heaped with vegetables and fruit.Grow WildAn organic farm shop on a 285-acre family farm near Linlithgow, selling vegetables grown on the farm and good things from other organic growers.Under a mile 2 min by road
  4. Courtyard with Restaurant, Chop House and Reception signs among flower bedsChampany InnA family-owned inn near Linlithgow, famous for forty years for its Scotch beef steaks and its wine, with a chop house, a wine shop and rooms.2 miles 4 min by road
  5. House of the BinnsHouse of the BinnsThe 17th-century home of the Dalyell family near Linlithgow, with plaster ceilings made for Charles the First, parkland over the Forth and a tower on the hill.4 miles 9 min by road
  6. Kinneil House at the end of a red gravel avenue, seen between two stone gate piers topped with stone balls.Kinneil House and EstateThe Hamiltons' house on the edge of Bo'ness, with rare painted rooms, a Roman fortlet on the Antonine Wall and James Watt's cottage in 200 acres of free parkland.4 miles 10 min by road
  7. Shop shelf displaying children's craft kits including Create Your Own Solar System and TheatreInkspot & SilverleafAn independent bookshop in Bo'ness, open since 2008 and twice named one of Britain's top 50 bookshops by The Independent.5 miles 9 min by road
  8. Uniformed ticket clerk hands a ticket through a booth window to a young girlBo'ness and Kinneil RailwayA heritage steam and diesel railway run by volunteers at Bo'ness, with trains to Birkhill and Manuel and Scotland's largest railway museum.5 miles 10 min by road
Directions
White two-storey pub on a corner, black slate roof and tall chimneysRestaurantsCorbie Inn3.9 miles
A stone farm building beside a hedged garden at Muiravonside, under a bright spring sky.AttractionsMuiravonside Country Park4.0 miles
Blackness Castle stands on the Firth of Forth shoreline at low tideAttractionsBlackness Castle4.0 miles
A blue Ford Anglia from the Harry Potter films.AttractionsBo’ness Motor Museum4.4 miles
The Gallery at Culross on its street in the old burgh.ShoppingThe Gallery at Culross5.6 miles as the crow flies
The Cat's Close street sign on an old stone wall.AttractionsCats Close5.6 miles as the crow flies
Ochre gabled houses overlook a walled garden with clipped topiary and gravel pathsAttractionsThe Hanging Gardens Culross5.6 miles as the crow flies
The Culross Town House, a grey stone tolbooth with a tower, facing the Forth.AttractionsCulross Tolbooth5.6 miles as the crow flies
Ochre crow-stepped gabled houses line a cobbled street beside a stone wallAttractionsCulross Palace5.6 miles as the crow flies

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Stay nearby

Places to stay near the bookshop, and when each is next free.

West End Muse
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Lothian
  • 15 miles from Far From the Madding Crowd
Check datesWhite cow parsley blooms in front of a stone cottage with skylightsSteading
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Penicuik
  • 15 miles from Far From the Madding Crowd
Check datesStone cottage courtyard with slate roof, chimney and rolling green hills behindThe Byre
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Penicuik
  • 15 miles from Far From the Madding Crowd
Check datesA black kitchen counter with flowers on the worktop stands before a curved timber slatted screen opening onto a bedroom.Cartshed
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Penicuik
  • 15 miles from Far From the Madding Crowd
Free 9–11 NovPlaces to stayEvery stay in LothianAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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