One of the reasons I like Edinburgh so much is that it is quite simply beautiful.  And it’s a beauty that, to my mind at least, is never more apparent than at this time of year.  During the late Spring to the very early summer, cherry blossom is sprouting all over the Meadows, the flowers in the many beds around Princes Street are in full bloom and the ‘secret gardens’ (completely obscured from the street by iron rails and thorny bushes, accessible only to the local residents who have keys) of the New Town are, from what I can see by jamming my head through various railings to get a good look, vividly abuzz with bright and chirpy colours.

I spent Bank Holiday Monday jaunting around the place, doing my best to soak up all of this eye-pleasing bounty.  My initial intention had been to locate and explore Stockbridge – an area just north of Princes Street which might, for several reasons, be a good place to live come next year – but it was such a beautiful day that the said exploration was soon ditched in favour of a take-away coffee, a trip to the nearby Botanic Garden and a good spell of impromptu sunbathing.

I really wish I went to the Botanic Garden more often.  Not only is it free to get in (there’s a box for donations on the way out, which I always empty my pockets into) but it’s one of those tiny pockets of self-contained tranquility that many city dwellers frequently crave yet seldom come across.  On stepping inside the gates it suddenly feels like the traffic of the surrounding streets has melted away and you’re being hugged by Mother Nature herself, so completely engulfed do you become by the thick, luscious greenery of thousands of trees and plants.  I’ve never been one to gush over anything remotely horticultural (just ask the shrivelled mess of death on my desk for confirmation of that) but the Botanic Garden renders me awestruck each and every time I go.  It is beautiful, and so interesting.  Various interconnecting paths weave all over the place and the plants are so densely concentrated and so tall that it can be difficult to get any real sense of the direction you’re heading in.  You could easily walk round in a circle two or three times before you realised what you were doing and where you were going.  But it’s such a nice experience that you get the feeling that that would be just fine – there’s something new and pretty to see on every lap.

What I like most about the Garden is its sense of calm.  It absorbs whatever minor irks and qualms I’m fighting that day and I always leave feeling refreshed and inspired – something to do with the power of nature, I suspect.  I sat on the grass for around an hour on Monday, writing, thinking and spying on passers-by.  It’s the kind of experience I think I would benefit from having three or four times a week, so sprightly and ready to take things on do I feel afterwards.  The biggest bonus is that the Garden is completely free (optional donation aside).  Not bad when you consider the price of psychotherapy these days!

More information on the Botanical Garden here.

Image above from Flickr – g.naharro.  The Garden is also home to hordes of cheeky squirrels just like this one.  They are so used to human company that they will actually take nuts from your hand and eat them right before your eyes!