Saturday 3 September 2011

Edinburgh Break


I have had a bit of a summer blogging break and have just returned from a holiday in Scotland. The first part of the holiday was spent staying with family and then we had a few nights in Edinburgh. I have only ever spent a few hours in Edinburgh before and I have always wanted to go back and explore properly.



We seemed to spend rather a lot of time in the numerous little cafes. This was the famous Elephant House cafe reputedly the cafe where JK Rowling penned the first Harry Potter books at the table overlooking the castle. It is a lovely quirky little place with great views from the windows, it appears in a number of Ian Rankin's novels too.



Just down the road is Grey Friars famous for the story of Grey Friars Bobby.

The statue was smaller than I expected but very sweet.

The Fringe Festival was drawing to a close but there were still plenty of street performers to be seen and we had a good wander around the Edinburgh International Book Festival.


There was plenty to see at every turn with lots of narrow, hilly, cobbled streets to explore. The walking is certainly good for your leg muscles ! We also went on a city tour on a vintage open top bus that was a little chilly but good fun.

There are some wonderful vintage clothes shops but not much in the way of other vintage shops or fairs. Antique shops clearly cater for tourists with
things priced accordingly.



There were some lovely little independent shops and cafes. Eteaket was a gorgeous little cafe which sold every sort of tea you could imagine with scrummy home made cakes and all served on vintage china.

Edinburgh is certainly a beautiful, historic city full of character and a great place to spend a few days. Coming home was lovely too , I always love arriving home after a holiday and this time it was nice to find the weather was actually warmer than where we
had come from !

The Summer seems to be over so quickly, I can't believe we are back to the routine of school and work on Monday. The next Northampton Vintage Fair is fast approaching on 17th Sept so the next few weeks will be hectic with last minute preparations and advertising. Hopefully I will see some of you there.

7 comments:

Hesta Nesta said...

Glad you had a lovely break. Edinburgh looks a beautiful place. I have been to most places in Scotland but not Edinburgh, but it certainly looks worth a visit. See you soon.
Jo xx

Shortbread and Ginger said...

Edinburgh is lovely to visit. Glad you had a good time.
Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

Unknown said...

Hello and welcome back ;-) Looks like you had a wonderful time lovely photo's. I can't believe the summer holidays are over also the time has flown. dee x

*Susycottage* said...

Oh Annie! How I would like
come to the fair, we'd come with a foot!
Sigh ... I already miss England!
Beautiful photos of Edinburgh,
Who knows, maybe one day I,
unable to go. Thank you for the appointed
your previous post, is a love.
a hug
Suzy x

VintageWantsNotNeeds said...

Looks like you both had a great time, I know what you mean about exercising those leg muscles, the hills in Endiburgh are killers....

Wend said...

I didn't find much to bring back from Edinburgh and it looks as if I found the same places as you although I missed both of the cafes you mentioned so they will go on the list for next year. I did manage to find a cashmere cardigan at Armstrongs though so I wasn't empty handed!

blueberry hill said...

Lovely pics of Edinburgh and of your fairs. The stalls look really great.