“Dean Village” ~ Walk through a beautiful “hidden” village in Edinburgh Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Hi all 👋🏻

With this post I’m joining in at the Wednesday Walk challenge and Make me Smile challenge. That are hosted by Hive account@tattoodjay and Hive account@elizacheng every week on Wednesday.

‼️Have a look: Here in the Wednesday Walk Community if you want to join in! or at Hive account@tattoodjay ’s Post here: A walk in the Knowles Reserve!
It tells you also the rules of joining 😁

Today is a special little day… I’M 6 MONTHS ON HIVE 🥳🥳🥳 so what’s not better than to share one of my favourite posts: A WEDNESDAY WALK 🎉🎉🎉
(I know it’s not a year but still it’s great 😉😎)

So here it is;
I will guide you through my photographs and my walk through Dean Village, Edinburgh Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 today. It’s a little “hidden gem” actually as not many know about it 😉 So let’s spread the word 😎

I will follow the time stamps of my photographs.
So you can walk along the village with me and look at all the stunning surroundings I show you 😎 as if you would be right there with me taking it all in. 😉

Photos are all taken with my iPhone on the 14 April 2022 not that long ago.

Located on Google maps with the yellow star ⭐️ :

A close up of the area from Dean Village and the walk we had after that through the park next to the river water of Leith:

(See the highlighted path)

More information about Dean Village can be found here: In this website!

It states (partly, so read more about it on the website):
”Dean Village (from dene, meaning 'deep valley') is a former village immediately northwest of the city centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was known as the "Water of Leith Village" and was a successful grain milling area for more than 800 years. At one time there were no fewer than eleven working mills there, driven by the strong currents of the Water of Leith.

The mills of Dene were first mentioned in King David I's founding charter of Holyrood Abbey, usually dated c. 1145, in which he granted one of his mills of Dene to the Abbey.

The area remained a separate village until the 19th century. In 1826, John Learmonth, a future Lord Provost of Edinburgh, purchased the Dean Estate from the Nisbets of Dean.

Due to the development of much larger and more modern flour mills at Leith, Dean Village's trade diminished. For many years, the village became associated with decay and poverty, and it reached a low point by around 1960.

From the mid-1970s onwards it became recognised as a tranquil oasis, very close to the city centre, and redevelopment and restoration began, converting workers' cottages, warehouses and mill buildings.

Lets start our walk!

The first road we see when we enter Dean village.

We see a bridge going over the Water of Leith.

On the bridge to the left we have this stunning view 🤩

The view towards the right gives you this view.

Let’s look a bit more on the other side. As you can see it was a moody day and it made my photographs a bit more atmospherically interesting. 😎

Viewing in the corner of the bridge…

Yes… let’s explore a bit more. I like what I see. Do you too?

As we wander around through the streets we see these very large buildings with ceramic piping on the outside. It looks very industrial. I like it 😎

A little further we find a small footbridge that gives us the view towards the bridge we were just standing. Around the far corner…
Just from the other side. 😊

Look at that architecture and details. Stunning…

The building with towers on the left, is: ”Well Court, the most iconic building in the village. This building was built in the 1880s and housed local workers who worked at the water mills.” Source.

View on the other side of this little bridge.

The opposite side from a different angle.

I see we can get down to the water, where that gentleman is standing with his puppy dog.

Let’s go there… and walk past the river a bit.

View from that exact spot.

We walk now under the little footbridge… the opposite side.

I find some interesting flowers I haven’t seen before… after I tried Google I still don’t know what it is. It looks kind like a lily species but… also not. As it has more parts going out of more parts hahaha no idea how to describe it. 😉

Let’s walk further…

The water next to us and a log.

After I heard a sound we find this waterfall.

I see a bird and try to capture it… but who am I kidding. I’m on my phone… no way I can get a clear zoom of it. Missing my camera here 🤓

We find out we can’t go further as the path was blocked. So we walk back to the footbridge and explore more streets. (There are not many as you could see on the map) let’s go into some courtyards…

One has some nice views of the architecture. The designs are beautiful. And we find this clock tower.

Let’s look around us:

Still part of this courtyard.

I especially like the corners with it’s layers…

Again the black pipes. I know it is necessary but with painting them black it looks very cool and industrial 😎 it fits this mill village perfectly.

Going out of the courtyard, I snap this photo.

Tried to avoid other tourists… not always succeeded 😉

As we walk out over the first bridge we came… I capture one more shot of these old buildings and their stonework. They sure did a great job restoring them all.

We walk out of the village and will follow a walking path next to the Water of Leith.

The last houses of the village have a garden… look at that bench and it’s views… very cute. I can imagine sitting there, watching the world go by 🥰

A waterfall to go along with it.

A little bit further we see this large bridge.

Dean Bridge:
”The four-arched Dean Bridge spans a width of over 400 feet and is 106 feet above the water level. It carries the Queensferry Road over the Dean Gorge, and was built at the joint expense of John Learmonth and the Cramond Road Trustees. The contractors were John Gibb & Son, from Aberdeen.” Source.

A large walking group is in front of us, let’s wait a little until they walk on. So we can take pretty pictures 😉
I see next to me these details. Moss on the stone balustrade. Very soft… let’s run our fingers through it… 😁

Our view through the trees… we see this building.

I’m the patient person, but this group just didn’t move… ok let’s just walk past them 🤓
I see the building next to the bridge.

We are closer to the bridge now. See how high it is.

We follow a smaller path now along the river. I see this gate. Hhhmmm hidden gardens maybe?

View of the bridge looking up.

And looking down.

Some vegetation on the wall next to me 🥰

I always add some flowers and plants 🌱

Walking further… let’s look back. We see:

And next to us the Water of Leith.

A little bit further I see this tree took over the iron fence.

It just kept growing and growing…

So cool to see… but somehow sad. Yes, eventually nature will take over again 😁 good on you Mother Nature.

A little building we see next.

From the other side. No idea what it is.

Suddenly I see 2 crows… picking on the large heron.

They are truly bullying him.

Shu shu go away… leave him alone.

Fly off heron… come off you go. Find another spot for lunch.

We see the following statue appearing.

Google maps says it’s St. Bernard's Well.

More information you can find here: In this website!

It states:
”SITUATED ON THE BANKS OF the Water of Leith on the edge of Edinburgh stands an 18th-century structure so beautiful it’s almost hard to believe it was built for a well. Legend states it was discovered by a group of schoolboys who were out fishing sometime around 1760. But this became no ordinary well. In the latter part of the 18th century, locals believed the waters of this natural spring had medicinal healing properties.

The ornate structure, designed by Scottish painter Alexander Nasmyth in 1789, displays how the city had embraced the Scottish Enlightenment. The building takes the style of a Greco-Roman temple, complete with Doric columns, a dome topped with a golden pineapple, and a statue of Hygieia, the Greek and Roman goddess of health. Over the doorway is the inscription “Bibendo Valeris”, meaning ; drink and you will be well.

BUT: It was eventually closed in the 1940s because the water contained arsenic and other impurities.”
😳

The structure is beautiful… let’s look closer.

Beautiful.

Moments after this historical landmark we are at the end of this path. We did see so much on our walk today!

And so…… I want to end my post today too.
Don’t miss out this truly hidden gem when visiting Edinburgh. It’s worth the walk to it.
Until next time 😎
Hope you enjoyed my photos of this walk and going along with me. Thank you for looking and reading 😊 🙏🏻 Really much appreciated!

Any questions or comments, let me know. Always happy to help.
Have a great Wednesday all 😎
Grtz Jackie

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