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Dunbar's Close's gravel path passes beneath a rose-covered archway, box-hedged flower beds lining either side.
Edinburgh

Dunbar's Close Gardens

A free walled garden at 137 Canongate on the lower Royal Mile, laid out in the manner of a seventeenth-century town house garden and kept by the council.

Welcome

Dunbar's Close Garden is a walled garden at 137 Canongate, on the lower Royal Mile in Edinburgh's Old Town, down a close that thousands of visitors pass in summer without knowing what lies at the end of it.

It is laid out in the manner of the seventeenth-century town house gardens that once lined the backs of the properties along the Royal Mile, although the landscape architect Seamus Filor designed it in the 1970s.

It was made for the Mushroom Trust as a pocket garden, a place where passers-by could slip away from a busy day to sit and draw breath. The trust gave it to the City of Edinburgh Council in 1978, and the council's parks department looks after it today, with the trust meeting the cost of upkeep since 1983. Entry is free, and the Cockburn Association's page has a 360-degree tour if you would like a look before you go.

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The Daily for 4 November, from Scotland with love. A pink sandstone castle bristling with conical turrets and a Union Jack flag rises above a gravel forecourt, autumn-tinged ivy climbing one wing beside cannon displayed on the lawn.
Close byWedgwoodA restaurant on the Canongate run by Paul and Lisa Wedgwood since 2007, cooking Scottish produce with herbs the chef forages himself.2 min by roadSee itWedgwood
Before you go

Entry is free.

The garden is at the end of a close off the Canongate.

Where
137 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8BW, down a close on the lower Royal Mile.
Price
Free.
Looked after by
The City of Edinburgh Council's parks department; the Mushroom Trust has paid for its upkeep since 1983.

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Where it is

At 137 Canongate, down a close on the lower Royal Mile in Edinburgh's Old Town.

Close byThe Canongate.
  1. Canongate Tolbooth's turret and projecting clock rise above Edinburgh's Royal MileThe Tolbooth TavernA tavern in part of the Canongate Tolbooth of 1591, where tolls were once collected, now serving Scottish food and whisky on the Royal Mile.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Painted figure of a newsboy shouting above The People's Story signThe People’s StoryThe city's free museum of Edinburgh's working people, from the 18th century to now, in the Canongate Tolbooth of 1591.Under a mile 1 min by road
  3. Antique plates and framed portraits line the walls of a lace-tabled tea roomClarinda's TearoomA tearoom on the Canongate since 1976, named for Robert Burns's Clarinda, with homemade scones, lace tablecloths and china cups.Under a mile 2 min by road
  4. Roofless nave of Holyrood Abbey, gothic tracery window framing bare stone ruinsHolyrood AbbeyThe roofless nave of the abbey King David founded in 1128, beside the Palace of Holyroodhouse, with one of the finest Gothic fronts in Scotland.Under a mile 1 min by road
  5. Scottish Poetry LibraryScottish Poetry LibraryA free library of poetry in a modern timber-and-glass building off the Canongate, home of the first of Edinburgh's mysterious book sculptures.Under a mile 4 min by road
  6. Bakehouse CloseBakehouse CloseA cobbled close off the Canongate, through a pend behind Huntly House into one of the few corners of 17th-century Canongate to survive.Under a mile 4 min by road
Directions
Wrought-iron gates with sign reading "Palace of Holyroodhouse" and opening timesAttractionsPalace of Holyroodhouse0.2 miles
Cobbled courtyard with trimmed box hedges beneath overhanging trees near stone buildingsAttractionsDunbar's Close Garden0.3 miles
Sandstone mansion with tall chimneys and turret, fronted by a lawnAttractionsLauriston Castle0.3 miles
Green shopfront sign reading Cadenhead's, Scotland's Oldest Independent Bottler, established 1842ShoppingCadenhead's0.3 miles
Illuminated LOUDONS sign above dark glass entrance doors, reflecting nearby buildingsCafeLoudons New Waverley0.3 miles
Scottish Parliament building's angled roof beams with Salisbury Crags behindAttractionsScottish Parliament Building0.3 miles
Twin outdoor staircases lead to a whitewashed courtyard house with crow-stepped gablesAttractionsWhite Horse Close0.3 miles
The front of the Black Grape on the Canongate, its sign over arched windows in a white building.RestaurantsThe Black Grape0.4 miles
Small statue mounted on a stone corner between an arched window and sash windowsAttractionsMorocco Land0.4 miles

Recommend to a friend

Stay nearby

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

A hotel studio room with a beige fitted kitchen unit and stainless sink beside a bed dressed in white and teal cushions, a wall of black-framed pictures above a patterned headboard.Old Town Chambers
  • To stay
  • In Edinburgh
  • Under a mile from Dunbar's Close Garden
Check datesA round table and chairs stand before tall curtained windows looking onto stone buildings, a sofa and mounted television to the right.Moment George IV Bridge
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Edinburgh
  • Under a mile from Dunbar's Close Garden
Check datesA turreted sandstone building with conical spires catches the evening light above rooftops, a large pine tree standing beside it.The Scott Hotel
  • A hotel
  • In Edinburgh
  • A mile from Dunbar's Close Garden
Check datesWest End Muse
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Edinburgh
  • A mile from Dunbar's Close Garden
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay in EdinburghAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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