
Craigmillar Castle
Craigmillar Castle
The summer holidays from school is a perfect time to take the mini Spotlight members on trips around town and one of their favourite places is
Craigmillar Castle.
Owned, by Historic Scotland, a child’s admission is only £2.50 which makes it a very reasonable day out. We’re all members of Historic Scotland, so can take advantage of visiting as many times as we wish without an additional cost.
This is one our favourite castles in the whole of Scotland as you are allowed to clamber all over the ruins, climb the tree inside the entrance and generally let your hair down in the grounds – or shout “I’m the queen of the castle” to anyone who’ll listen, as our youngest member did today. We were extremely lucky in that we had a gorgeous day to explore the nooks and crannies of this 14th century castle and had we known the weather would have held, we would have been sure to pack some food with us to have a picnic on the lawn.
There are also benches dotted around the castle and grounds, that you can take a seat on and absorb the wonderful 360 degree view from the castle. You can see the Pentlands, over to the Firth of Forth and right down the coast to East Lothian, as well as great views of Edinburgh skyline.

Views over Edinburgh from the top of the castle
The castle is easy to get to – just head on any bus destined for the Royal Infirmary Hospital and follow the footpath to the castle (800m). If you’re taking your car, there is parking on site, with one accessible space.

Looking down over the castle from the fourth floor
You can buy a castle guide to learn about the history of the place and there are also information boards in the grounds.
We spent about an hour exploring the castle and the grounds today, playing hide and seek and a small break for a drink. It’s not the first time we have all been, so it wasn’t new to explore to our reviewers, but you could easily spend a couple of hours here, more if you bring food or a book.

Magnificent doorway
Map of this location
Tags: children, Craigmillar Castle, Edinburgh, review
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on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 08:00 by Miss Edinburgh and is filed under Edinburgh for kids, Things to do.
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OK nice to see- interesting comments are always helpful!