Starbank Park Edinburgh
Gardens with a view
Starbank Park is on a steep slope facing the Firth of Forth, from the top of which you get a cracking view across to the Kingdom of Fife. With the Starbank Pub at its lower corner and Trinity, full of balconied houses with gorgeous gardens abutting its back, it’s a local gem.
Railings separate the park from the busy Edinburgh Lower Granton Road which connects Wardie Bay and Newhaven Harbour. In the middle of the two, Starbank Park has a floral star resembling a ship’s compass in case you forget its name! Formally laid out with varied flower beds and box hedges, there’s a flag pole in the middle of the sitting area surrounded by fragrant lavender bushes. A circular Japanese-style garden is resplendent with standing stones, and there’s a recent sculpture inside the bottom railings made from found materials gathered on the foreshore.
A house built in 1815 lies in the top half of the garden where the cherry trees are spectacular in Spring. The Children’s Nature Trail is popular and the Little Libraries, one for kids and the other adults, where you can leave and take away reading books for free, are in most attractive wee houses. A pretty birdbath complements the beautiful flower and herb borders and there’s composting too. Home to Easter Egg hunts, snow sledging and Volunteer Gardening on Wednesday and Saturday mornings (10-11.30 am), it’s such a peaceful place to sit and sun yourself in the sea air!
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