Sun Luk

Malleny Garden

Balerno · 1.2 miles

National Trust for Scotland site Malleny Garden

Craiglockhart Castle

Craiglockhart · 3.1 miles

Craiglockhart Castle is a ruined tower house in the Craiglockhart district of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Bavelaw Castle

Balerno · 3.1 miles

Perched above Threipmuir Reservoir in the Pentland Hills, the former hunting lodge lies two miles south of Balerno and four miles west of Penicuik, within the City of Edinburgh council area. The site, recorded as a Category A listed building since 1971, presents a harled rubble tower of three storeys, an adjoining circular turret on the north-eastern corner and a later single-storey wing projecting to the south-east. Vaulted ground-floor chambers and a distinctive lower northern room hint at the original 16th-century L-plan tower erected by Walter Dundas; the first-floor chamber above is known locally as Queen Mary’s Room. Ownership passed from the Braids to the Fairlies, then through marriage to the Forresters of Niddry, and later to the Mowbrays of Barnbougle in the 1500s. King James VI granted Easter and Wester Bavelaw to Laurence Scott of Harperrig in 1628, after which Scott enlarged the house, possibly adding the south-east wing. Following a period of decline, Sir Robert Lorimer restored and extended the structure in 1900, linking outbuildings, enlarging windows, adding a turret to the attic and converting the basement. A further alteration occurred in 1938 under the architectural practice Dick Peddie & McKay. The castle’s historic fabric and its association with Mary, Queen of Scots and James VI provide a tangible link to Scotland’s royal past, while its remote hill-top setting offers a clear view of the surrounding landscape.

Merchiston Tower

Church Hill · 4.3 miles

Birth place of John Napier (Inventor of logarithms)

Carlowrie Castle

Hallyards · 5 miles

Carlowrie Castle was built in the Scottish Baronial style between 1852 and 1855 on the outskirts of Kirkliston, a town approximately 10 miles from Edinburgh, Scotland. It has only ever belonged to two families: the Hutchison family, who built it, and the Marshall family, who acquired it 130 years later.

St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral

West End · 5 miles

Victorian Gothic revival architecture dominates the skyline of Edinburgh’s West End, where a three-spired cathedral rises as the episcopal seat for the diocese covering the Firth of Forth to the English border. Laid on Palmerston Place, the foundation stone was set on 21 May 1874 by the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, and the building was consecrated on 30 October 1879. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the structure achieved Category A listed status and forms part of the Old Town and New Town World Heritage Site. Its central spire reaches 90 metres, making it the tallest edifice in the Edinburgh urban area, while the twin western spires—named “Barbara” and “Mary” after the Walker sisters who funded the project—were completed in 1917. Subsequent additions include a Chapter House (1880) and a Song School (1885), both integral to the cathedral’s complex. The interior supports a continuous programme of choral worship, a practice unique among Scottish cathedrals, with daily services performed by choristers from the attached music school. Notable firsts include the introduction of girls into the treble line in 1978 and the appointment of a female alto in 2005. The Song School, decorated by Phoebe Anna Traquair between 1888 and 1892, contains a second Father Willis organ (1829) and offers guided tours at selected times. Ten original bells hang in the central tower, supplemented by two later additions. Wheelchair users can access the building without steps, ensuring inclusive entry for visitors.