Going to Edinburgh with a toddler... Part 1

I have to admit something here, at home we actually refer to Baby Wild as "The Terrorist", due to the tantrums as mentioned previously.  So from now on, or at least until she matures into a more mature and calm child again, I shall abbreviate this to TT for blogging here.

I wanted to meet up for lunch with one of my bestest friends in Edinburgh.  As said 'Terrorist' can be a bit of a handful if things aren't going her way I played it safe by driving us through rather than getting the train.  So entailed the beginning of the usual military precision planning for such a major feat......

First off where would we go for lunch? Where was toddler friendly? Lets be clear here- this is completely different from child friendly.  Babies tend to keep themselves to themselves, and children above the age of 3 should be well enough behaved to be allowed in public places occasionally.  But who and where is happy to put up with a tiny tearaway who is referred to by her parents as the terrorist?

A google search pretty much came up with soft plays, pubs with soft plays (Like Brewers Fayre etc), really expensive tourist attractions.  The websites such as Tripadvisor and Babycentre etc only had ideas for babies or older children.  Yawn.  What about us?!  After some furry at the uselessness of babyfriendly.com and many facebook messages with my friend, we decided to have a picnic.  Is this a gap in the market?

Anyway, so ever hopeful of the weather we arranged to meet at the Meadows, so should the sun be in our favour we could let TT run riot whilst we were suitable close to coffee/toilets/toys/shelter all available at The Pavillion Cafe.  The sun wasn't shining, and the ground was soaking, so we abandoned the picnic to the car and ordered lunch in the cafe.  Totally recommend it for kids of all ages, maybe not babies though as there's no baby changing and it is tiny inside.  Only downside for toddlers is that there is no lock on the toilet door - so I spent lunch concerned that TT could storm any poor punter whilst on the loo! The staff were really friendly, trying to get TT to dance with them.  There are toy trucks and scooters outside and jigsaws & books inside for kids to help themselves to.  Now, I wouldn't recommend this to you unless like us you went to art college, or have a quiet hippy living inside your heart.  It's not a conventional cafe, it's independent and a spin off from the former successful Scott's Deli near Morningside.  So TT's generous slab of homemade pizza was amazing, with a wholemeal and cheese base.  I think TT's favourite part though, was charging through the puddles outside, destroying everything she was wearing!  What can you do, puddles are the bomb!