Nostalgia: Free in the park

Edinburgh may be the nation’s busy capital, but from hidden gardens, expansive fields and extinct volcanoes there is no shortage of green spaces to escape city life.

Girls playing mother in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. Picture: TSPL

For countless decades, going to the park has been a traditional pastime, especially on a summer’s day. You will always see people playing football and rounders, walking the dog or having a picnic with friends and family.

Edinburgh residents are lucky enough to have a large selection of parks and gardens to flock to when the sun comes out.

And now those people living in Portobello are set to benefit from a new park, and are being asked how to spend the £1 million which has been set aside to replace Portobello Park – the home of the area’s new high school. Important for not just taking time out and recharging the batteries, parks offer memories of days out that can last a lifetime.

Nanoushka provedes pony rides for children at The Meadows festival in Edinburgh, June 1985. Picture: TSPL

In the Capital, where not everyone is lucky enough to have a garden to call their own, parks have been an important part of leisure time. With 147 listed by the council, there has never been a shortage of things to do.

Pony rides for children were offered at the Meadows Festival in June 1985, bringing a piece of the country to the city.

And there were even shows to display all the local talent and keep everyone entertained, such as a trick cyclist show at Brighton Park, Portobello, in 1963.

Children have been playing in Princes Street Gardens for as long as it has been open, with families revelling in a heatwave in July 1962. And visitors were treated to the Gordon Highlanders military band playing in the bandstand at Saughton Park in July 1966.