Going to Edinburgh with a toddler.. Part 2

Gorgie City Farm

After lunch we headed to Gorgie City Farm as an additional quick treat for TT before we headed home.  Fabulous. PERFECT for toddlers. Besides the obvious attractions, it's free, small, has toilets (no baby changing again) , a play park, and a small cafe. There is virtually no parking, but if you're lucky you might manage to get one of the 5 or 6 spaces available on the farm for a donation of £2.  We actually parked at the front entrance to Tynecastle stadium for free and walked the few minutes along Gorgie Rd to the farm.

I've read poor reviews of this place on other forums, saying that it is a bit run down etc. It costs £900 a day to run the farm, and as entry is free the farm really does rely on grants and donations.  Please bear this in mind and leave a donation when you visit because they do an outstanding job and provide a hugely important space in the city for kids to connect with nature and animals.  Whilst we were there we had great fun watching a class of teenagers, each with a special need, try to catch the chickens to take them for check ups.  They were so happy and getting so much from the day.  Sure, a few of the chickens have been fighting and are a bit scraggly looking, but I loved the genuine and unapologetic mess of some of the corners because this place is hard work to look after! There are loads of animal who take a small army to feed and clean out I imagine.  There are fantastic raised beds growing every vegetable you'd imagine and flowers dotted around everywhere they can squeeze in.  There's a stall selling this produce too for great prices to help sustain the farm.  And they offer pet sitting services too.

TT certainly loved it, and all I had to do was follow her running with squeals of delight from one animal enclosure to another, occasionally stepping in to save her fingers being pecked off by the chickens.

In short, don't leave Edinburgh with small kids without paying it a short visit.

Logistics / 10
baby friendly            05
toddler friendly         100
toilets/changing         07 (no babychange)
accessibilty               06
car parking              £2 but only 5 spaces - get the bus!

cost                         Free!!  So please leave a kind and much needed donation

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!