The streets worth walking
Take the Water of Leith Walkway in both directions: north-east and you reach the Colonies, eleven parallel terraces of artisan cottages built for working families in the 1860s, then on towards Canonmills; south-west and you follow the river to Dean Village in fifteen minutes, past St Bernard's Well and its little domed temple. St Stephen Street is the antiques and vintage run, with basement shops and a couple of good bars. Circus Lane, a cobbled mews behind Royal Circus with window boxes and a church spire at the end, is the most photographed street in Edinburgh and takes about four minutes to find.
Eating and drinking
The Scran & Scallie, the pub end of Tom Kitchin's group, does the Sunday roast most locals default to. Purslane is the small, serious kitchen for a two-hour dinner. For provisions, IJ Mellis for cheese, George Bower for meat, Herbie for a deli lunch and Falko for Austrian pastry — with a kitchen in the flat you can put together a very good dinner without a restaurant at all. Stockbridge Market runs on Sundays from ten until five by the bridge: street food, bread, flowers and a queue for the paella.
Green space
The Royal Botanic Garden is a ten-minute walk north and free to enter — seventy acres, a rock garden, and a view of the Old Town skyline from the top lawn that catches everyone by surprise. Inverleith Park next door has the pond, the playing fields and a farmers' market on Saturdays. Between the Botanics, the Water of Leith and the Dean Village path you can spend a whole day here without touching a main road.
Getting around
Princes Street is a fifteen-minute walk uphill, or five minutes on the 24, 29 or 42 bus. The tram at St Andrew Square is twenty minutes on foot for the airport run. Stockbridge is one of the easier neighbourhoods for arriving by car — residents' parking still applies on weekdays, but the streets are wider and we can advise on the nearest permit bays.
