Brilliant Christmas sparkle at The Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh! This festival of light is truly beautiful, and I so enjoyed my walk through the enchanted forest of this great historical garden.
The Botanics, as we all know this wonderful Garden, has been in my conscience for over fifty years and is known by young and old and not so old in Scotland and overseas visitors. This year is their second Christmas Festival and I sincerely hope it is a fixture for the future.
A one-mile trail weaves through the Botanics, using the Garden’s natural landscape and historic buildings as a backdrop for awe-inspiring visual effects. The lighting is superbly complemented by appropriate music which is Christmassy, spiritual, and light hearted. At one stage I would have loved to waltz to a favourite Strauss Waltz that was playing. We walked through a Cathedral of Light, an immense installation comprising more than 100,000 pea lights. It runs for 70 meters along the very famous Beech Hedge and was possibly the highlight for me individually.
As someone who has adored this Garden since my teens as a student I would like to add that there are three others in the RBGE collection: namely Dawyck Arboretum very near to our own home in Peeblesshire (which is a 30 mile run out from Edinburgh) in beautiful Scottish Borders, and then one in South West Scotland called Logan Botanic Garden, and one in the West of Scotland called Benmore.
As a Friend of The Botanics I am very familiar with Dawyck and the Edinburgh Gardens and delight in them through all four Seasons of the year. My absolute favourite time is in mid Spring when the bluebells, the gorse, the rhododendrons, the azaleas, blue poppies and other floral delights are in abundance. Autumn has its own special beauty in a blaze of colour too, and in early Spring the carpets of snowdrops and aconites bring great cheer when winter is hopefully losing its icy grip.
On a cold clear winter’s day with a carpet of snow, the Garden in Edinburgh takes on an ethereal beauty of its own in silence….and now the Christmas Festival of Light to bring us good cheer. Beautiful Botanics – put this lovely garden on your list of experiences to enjoy when you visit Edinburgh the capital of Scotland in the UK.
A few more links to some fun photos below:
Aline Dobbie is an author of four books on India and a travel writer. She lives in Scotland but travels widely throughout the year with an annual visit to India where she was born & grew up. Aline’s earlier life was in the corporate world but now lives a rural life with emphasis on travel, gardening, cooking, and family. India, South Africa, England, Scotland, Greece and other lovely places are a constant delight to her.
