A Slow Living Edinburgh Guide to Celebrate Lùnastal

Celebrating harvest (festival) season with a recipe for lavender shortbread and a guide to the Scottish capital 🌾

1st August marked Lùnastal (Scottish Gaelic, pronounced “loo-nas-til”) or Lughnasadh (in Irish Gaelic): the halfway point between the Summer Solstice (Litha) and Autumn Equinox (Mabon), and the beginning of the harvest seasons in the Celtic wheel of the year. The festival corresponds with other European celebrations such as the English harvest festival Lammas. To me, this is the start of a seasonal shift: the landscape turns increasingly golden, late Summer flowers such as dahlias and rudbeckias bloom, and the nights are starting to lose the endless quality of Midsummer.

Lùnastal celebrates abundance as the harvest reaches its peak. Crops ripen on farms and the first blackberries appear, ready for picking and making the first crumbles. The hills are filling with heather and wildflowers line fields and verges. There’s so much seasonal goodness to enjoy during this glorious in‑between time as late Summer gives way to the earliest hints of Autumn. The Lùnastal chapter of my book, Slow Seasons, is packed with seasonal projects including recipes for greengage loaf cake, three blackberry recipes (the chocolate, blackberry and cardamom cake is my favourite) and crafts including napkin rings and a Summer memory bank, along with lots of seasonal activities, foraging tips, nature notes and more.

Lùnastal has long been a time of celebrating creativity, and aptly coincides with the start of the Edinburgh Fringe, and the Edinburgh International Festival just a few days after that. In fact, many festivals take place in the capital during August, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and the city’s population more than doubles in size with all the tourists arriving in Edinburgh to see shows and entertainers, or just to soak up the atmosphere. There is a feeling of creative possibility in the air, and as one of the most common requests I receive here, via email and over on Instagram is for my Edinburgh recommendations and tips for visitors, I thought I would do so in today’s newsletter! If you’re just here for my monthly recipe, scroll down for my recipe for lavender shortbread to celebrate harvest.

Slow Living Edinburgh Guide

I don’t need the excuse to rave about my city and will happily enthuse about my favourite cafés, places to eat and things to do until the cows come home. That said, the last thing I want to do is contribute to overtourism, so in the spirit of the slow living focus of my newsletter, I thought I’d share my own slow living guide to Edinburgh. I hope it will encourage you to take the city at a different pace if you’re visiting, inspire you to plan a trip or just indulge in a little armchair travel.

Time it Right, or Go Off the Beaten Track

If you want to visit any of the - deserved - local favourites such as Mary’s Milk Bar (which, unbelievably, I first blogged about 12 years ago when they opened!) and Lannan Bakery, be prepared to queue and get there early on a weekday! It’s worth noting that wherever you’re headed, if it’s in town at the weekend places are even busier so you could try exploring further afield for your sweet treats, for instance Ciccetta’s in Bruntsfield for inventive gelato flavours (and gluten free cones) or Project Canelé for beautiful French baking (try the cheese bun and chouquettes). Check out other locations run by city stalwarts too, for instance a great alternative to Michelin-starred Edinburgh institution Timberyard is their sister restaurant Montrose in the quieter Abbeyhill, which has a great fixed lunch menu on some days; think seasonal and foraged ingredients in an old 19th Century Inn with Midcentury touches.

Seek out Green Spaces (and a Little Treat)

Edinburgh truly spoils us with green spaces that offer those much-needed micro-doses of nature. The Meadows is a huge park just South of the city centre and great if you’re in need of a green space near the centre of things. Grab a coffee and cake at Beatnik (their cakes are by local bakery The Pastry Section - try their take on a Nanaimo bar), brunch at Argyle Place (their seasonal changing menu is one of the best in the city IMO) or lunch at Mara’s Picklery before a walk (yes, everything has a seasonal pickled or preserved element! Try the pickle plate or burrata and their amazing house made softs). Be warned, though - on sunny days you can barely see the grass for barbecues in the Meadows. There are other, much quieter parks if you head further afield though, such as Victoria Park in Leith (make sure you stop for brunch or lunch at the delicious, family-run Punjabi street food restaurant Sabzi) or Inverleith Park (grab a coffee at Café Milk’s Coffee Shack). If you want a bigger walk, head to the Braids or the Hermitage in the South of the city.

View things Differently

Edinburgh is famous for its seven hills and the views from Arthur’s Seat and Calton Hill are hard to beat (the latter in particular has a healthy effort expended to quality of view ratio) but tend to get very busy at this time of year. Instead, climb Blackford Hill or head to the Pentlands like the locals where – bonus – you can see city panoramas complete with the aforementioned sites in sight! Even better, cross the Firth of Forth to Fife on a day trip (I wrote a guide for this in Hidden Scotland Magazine’s latest issue) and view Edinburgh’s iconic vistas from Black Sands in my beautiful home village of Aberdour.

Arty Spots and Souvenirs

We have some amazing galleries, and I’m not saying you skip them completely – just find something outside the usual guides too! Hidden Door Arts and Coburg House in Leith, Dovecot Studios off South Bridge and Jupiter Artland are all excellent, to name just a few spots. If you visit next June, make sure you see the ECA Degree Show to spot up-and-coming talent too. While you’re at it, make sure you visit local shops such as Stòr, Life Story or Bard for beautiful curated edits of art, interiors and gifts to take home a more original souvenir than a See You Jimmy hat. Or what about local chocolates from Edward and Irwyn in Morningside? The real honey honeycomb is a favourite of mine, but everything is truly delicious.

Head out of Town

Edinburgh is great because it is so compact and walkable, but walking a wee bit beyond the Meadows or even a swift bus ride can take you further off the beaten track where there are some fantastic local spots – foodie and otherwise. For instance, Bits Bake Shop has amazing bakes including chocolate babka (and is handy if you’re exploring Holyrood Park or Dr Neil’s Garden in Duddingston) and 101 Bakery has the best cakes in town in my opinion (try their brown butter toasted almond cakes with seasonal fruit) then explore the beautiful streets of South Edinburgh. In North Edinburgh, try coffee at Mr Eion then head to Newhaven to see the harbour and try breakfast or lunch at newly opened Norah.

…Then Further out of Town!

To me, a large part of Edinburgh’s allure is the close proximity of so many other wonderful places! In nearby East Lothian, walk on the beaches of North Berwick with coffee from Steampunk and pastries at Bostock Bakery or head to Musselburgh’s Inveresk Lodge Garden and grab a picnic at Company Bakery to enjoy outside. Highland Perthshire is accessible and beautiful for day trips (Dunkeld and a stop at Aran Bakery is a must) and the East Neuk of Fife is perfect for coastal lovers (brunch at Baern and a trip to the beach in St Andrews) or maybe a bit of history in Culross on the other side of Fife (lunch at The Mercat comes highly recommended). A day trip to Abbotsford in the Scottish Borders is a lovely way to spend a morning too; leave time for lunch at Twelve Triangles and a wander in Melrose afterwards.

If you’re visiting, I hope you enjoy different sides to my city at a slower and more thoughtful pace.

Lavender Shortbread

Inspired by my Scottish heritage, and for a taste of Edinburgh at home, here’s a suitably seasonal shortbread recipe to celebrate Lùnastal!

You will need:

250g plain flour
75g caster sugar
175g unsalted butter (fridge cold)
2 tsp culinary lavender (I like my shortbread nice and lavender-y!)
Zest of a lemon (optional)
An extra 2 tbsp caster sugar plus 1 tsp culinary lavender, for rolling.

Measure the flour, sugar and lavender into a large bowl and stir to combine. Use a knife to chop the butter through the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Bring the crumbs together into a dough by squeezing them together lightly with your hands. Roll the dough into a rough sausage shape and wrap it in cling film, then chill in the fridge for 30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 160C Fan and line two baking trays with parchment. Mix the remaining 2 tbsp caster sugar with the teaspoon of culinary lavender.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it in the lavender sugar. Chop the shortbread into rounds approximately 5mm thick and place them on the lined trays, spaced a little apart. Bake in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden.

Allow the shortbread to cool on the trays for ten minutes then remove it to cool completely on a wire rack before serving with a pot of tea.

If you enjoy my seasonal newsletters, do consider joining us in my paid subscriber community for more regular posts. Together in this wee corner of the Internet we are creating a beautiful community of like-minded old souls who want to slow down, simplify and connect with the seasons. Here’s a flavour of what I’ve been posting over there this last month:

Slow Decorating: The Finished Bathroom

Midsummer in the Kitchen

Small Summer Joys and a Dried Flower Garland

Apricot, Lavender and Honey Cakes

Sow, Grow, Harvest, Rest Reading Group: July

And if you’ve enjoyed my newsletter I’d love it if you could share it too to help me spread the word:

Thanks so much for being here! See you next month xxx

You can find more seasonal musings, recipes, crafts and lifestyle ideas in my book, ‘Slow Seasons’, which you can order here.