U3A Garden Group 1 Programme 2026
This is a list of our visits for 2026. In order to let our hosts know how many of us are coming PLEASE contact the organiser of the visit (see the membership list for details) if you are ABLE TO COME.
Donations to the host, which may be given to a charity of their choice, will be in cash and are detailed below.
If you are willing to offer lifts to other members in your area, please do so if possible. Details of car owners who are able to offer lifts are shown on the membership list.
Friday 20 February : Lunch at Blonde Restaurant
75 St Leonard’s Street EH8 9QR.
Cost including tip £24.10. Time 12.15pm
Organisers: Jean and Brian Pryde
Travel
Parking: nearby
Bus: 14
Friday 20 March: Presentation by Brightwater Holidays
Napier University Craiglockhart Campus, 219 Colinton Road, Craiglockhart EH14 1DJ. Room 1/06
Cost: free with voluntary donation of £1 to the Student Development Fund. Time 2pm
Organiser: Anne Taylor
Brightwater Holidays is a premier specialist UK-based tour operator founded in 1992. As part of the Specialist Journeys group the company has made it their mission to provide quality garden and special interest tours to individuals, private clubs and societies up and down the country. It has received several awards. Brightwater provides garden holidays both in the UK and many countries abroad.
We will meet in room 1/06.
Garden Group 3 and the Allotment Group have be invited to this meeting.
Travel
Parking: free parking on-site, but monitored. Please send your car make, number and your mobile number to Anne Taylor. Parking is also available on nearby streets.
Buses:4, 10, 27, 45
Refreshments: on-site cafe at own cost
Friday 17 April: Kevock Garden
16 Kevock Road, Lasswade EH18 1HT
Cost: £8 Time 2pm
Organiser Anne Taylor
This hillside garden with lawns and steep slopes creates a range of different habitats with a wide diversity of plants from those requiring hot, sunny conditions to others that prefer cool, damp places near the pond and woodland glades. There are mature specimen trees, rhododendrons, azaleas and unusual shrubs with borders and a rock garden. It has featured in many magazine articles and gardening programmes.
Some paths are steep, and good shoes are recommended. Walking poles are available to assist. There are seats with lovely views for those unwilling to go down the garden.
Travel
Kevock Road is to the south side of the A768, between Lasswade and Loanhead, and is distinguished by a sign to Drummond Grange Nursing Home. Follow the narrow road and park on the drive of number 16, in the gap between numbers 14 and 16, or tight against the wall of number 14 (to allow the passage of horse boxes from the stables at the end of Kevock Road).
Refreshments: included
Friday 15 May: Jock Tamsen’s Gairdon
5 Old Church Lane, Duddingston EH15 3PX
Cost:£5 Time 2pm
Organiser: Morag King
The Church of Scotland offered grants for projects which encouraged creative ways of working which develop the life and mission of the local church and are transformative for communities and congregations. The garden was created to allow people to enjoy the peace that the space offered and to explore their faith in God. The land would grow organic fruit and vegetables to promote organic gardening for the folk who live in the parish, with a centre of excellence and teaching facility, and the produce benefiting the local food co-op in a neighbouring Priority Area.
The garden shares a message of sustainability in how we produce our food and how we resource it. A tour will be led by Liz Spence who is in charge of the garden. The garden slopes gently downwards towards Duddingston Loch. The paths are good and access shouldn’t be a problem. There are plenty of seats dotted around.
Meet in the car park.
The u3a allotment is located here too. A member of the u3a Allotment Group will show us the allotment, and tell us how the group operates.
Travel
Parking: Duddingston Kirk’s car park (free) on Duddingston Road West opposite Holyrood High School, a few yards short of Old Church Lane.
Buses: 12 Holyrood High School stop
Refreshments: at the cafe within Dr Neil’s garden at own expense
Friday 19 June: Green House, Eskhill.
15A Inveresk Village, Musselburgh EH21 7TD
Cost: £5 Time 2pm
Organiser: Anne Taylor
The 1-acre garden is part of a mediation and coaching consultancy in an eco-friendly new building.
The house and garden were created on the site of an old glasshouse in the Eskhill House kitchen garden. The house was awarded the Musselburgh Conservation Society Design Award in 2015. The garden includes a Dovecot (circa 1700) and has retained the integrity of the original kitchen garden with four quadrants and central sundial, a well and old orchard. New features include a pond, a raised vegetable garden incorporating photovoltaic cells and geodesic dome within a fruit garden.
The garden has level hard surfacing, mainly flags, with some gravel.
Travel
Parking: there is free parking on site
Buses: 26, 44 or 124 to Musselburgh High Street. Then a 140, 141, 46 or 48 (Penicuik direction) for 2 stops. Walk a short distance past the Conservation Village sign to the Green House Eskhill on the left.
Refreshments: included
Friday 17 July: Jean Knox’ Garden
95 Oxgangs Road EH10 7BA
Cost: £8 Time 2pm
Organiser: Anne Taylor
The garden is a well stocked mature town garden with herbaceous and shrub beds, a lawn with seating, fruit trees and a water feature. It has featured on tv’s ‘Beechgrove’ and ‘The Instant Gardener’.
Travel
Parking: on-street
Buses: 4, 5, 18, 27 Hunter’s Tryst stop
Refreshments: included
Friday 21 August: Redhall Walled Garden (SAMH)
97 Lanark Road, EH14 2LZ
Cost: free, but donations are welcome Time 2pm
Organiser: Jean Pryde
This 18th c. walled garden, run by Scottish Action for Mental Health, is a successful therapeutic project, managed by people recovering from mental health problems. It is a 2-acre site subdivided into a number of different gardens accessed via gravel, with dust and grass paths, some slightly uneven.
The garden might be wheelchair friendly, but only if the ground is very dry. There is a formal herb garden, shrub border, rose garden and a naturalised woodland garden, as well as vegetable and fruit growing. There are 3 ponds, and it is a working garden, so always work in progress in some areas.
Travel
Bus 44: get off at Redhall View. Walk back and take the signed road as below. If too steep, walk back to Redhall View Street, and follow path as below.
Car: drive up the hill from Slateford, past sign Army Reserve Centre, take next left tarred road at Redhall Garden sign. A very steep hill, then parking for about 6 cars. Alternatively there is some off-street parking in Redhall View – signed Army Reserve Centre – then off left there is a signed gate, walk down a short sloping path to the entrance. There is no parking at this part of A70 Lanark Road.
Refreshments: an indoor area with space for tea and coffee-making facilities
Thursday 17th September: Viridis Plant and Tree Nursery
Gilmerton Road, Lasswade EH18 1AZ (adjacent to Dobbies Garden Centre) please note the date
Cost: free Time 2pm
Organiser: Anne Taylor
Viridis Plants Trade Centre provides plants and trees for garden designers and domestic landscapers. The site is extensively stocked with a wide selection of trees, hedging, specimens, topiary, shrubs and herbaceous perennials with expert advice on hand, and all backed by its multiple production sites and extensive supply chain making it the number one choice for garden designers.
The nursery is a working site. The production area has slippery surfaces, slopes and loose gravel. There are potential trip hazards associated with irrigation. This area is not suitable for wheelchairs and walking frames. The trade centre however is totally accessible.
Travel
Parking: on site
Buses: 3 and 29
Refreshments: at own cost at Dobbies Garden Centre next door
Friday 16 October: Talk by Simon Jones entitled 'Pioneering Women in Horticulture - Past, Present and Future'
Napier University Craiglockhart Campus, 219 Colinton Road, Craiglockhart EH14 1DJ - Room to be confirmed
Cost: £6 including voluntary donation of £1 to the Student Development Fund
Organiser: Sally Heron Time 2pm
Simon Jones has worked for the National Trust for Scotland as Regional Gardens and Designed Landscapes Manager. He runs a zoo horticultural consultancy, is horticultural advisor to Kinghorn Community Land Association and has designed Fife’s first eco-cemetery, amongst other things. He is a sustainability advocate and certified practitioner from the Institute of the Environmental Management Association.
We will meet in room - number to be confirmed.
Garden Group 3 and the Allotment Group have been invited to this meeting.
Travel
Parking: free parking on site but monitored. Please send your car make, number and your mobile number to Anne Taylor. Parking is also available on nearby streets.
Buses: 4, 10, 27, 45
Refreshments: on site cafe at own cost
Page last updated on 1st March 2026