The Edinburgh Insider Blog

The weekly Edinburgh Farmers' Market is staging a pre-Christmas special on Tuesday, December 22 to give shoppers a chance to stock up on last-minute festive goodies. Even though the market nestles on top of a multi-storey carpark entered via King's Stables Road, it's a taste (if you'll forgive the pun) of the Scottish countryside in the heart of the city.

One of Scotland's top visitor attractions, the cotton mills of New Lanark were built over 200 years ago in a dramatic gorge in southern Scotland, close to the famous Falls of Clyde. The village became famous all over the world under the enlightened management of the social pioneer, Robert Owen.

There's something disconcerting about seeing toys I remember from my own childhood on display in Edinburgh's Museum of Childhood. It's an uncomfortable reminder of getting older, when you see a 1970's Raleigh Chopper on an exhibition stand. It just doesn't square with my memories of riding around the Edinburgh suburbs on the back of one.

If you're walking through the Old Town, you can't help but notice that the National Museum of Scotland is shrouded in scaffolding. But fear not: even though half the museum , has closed to the public due to a £46m renovation project, there's still lots to do and see.

Next week sees the start of a great new exhibition at the Scottish Parliament about the influence of Scots abroad. This Is Who We Are is an exploration of the links between Scotland and Canada. Organisers paired a dozen towns in each country and set up a photographic project between them. More than a thousand Canadian towns are named after ones in Scotland, so there was no shortage of material to inspire people taking part in the project. 

Want to know how to get free entry into Edinburgh's leading attractions? Well, St Andrew's Day, the annual celebration of Scotland's patron saint, is your answer. The end of November event is your once-a-year opportunity to wander in and out of sites including Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Zoo, Craigmillar Castle and a host of other places - all without paying a penny.

Next Wednesday, October 28, begins Edinburgh's official count-down to Christmas. That's when the city flicks the switch on Edinburgh's most distinctive Christmas feature; the giant Christmas Ferris Wheel in the city centre. Standing next to the Gothic Victorian Scott Monument, just outside Waverly Station, Edinburgh's main train station, the wheel is a prominent fixture in city life and dominates the city skyline around this time of year. Forget about 'shopping days' to Christmas; personally, it's when the Edinburgh wheel starts turning that I know December 25 can't be far away.