Many visitors do not realise that there is an abundance of city centre accommodation available for short-term rentals from as few as 3 days. For the price of a hotel room, you could rent an apartment or even your very own cottage in the city centre.

Craigwell Cottage is situated near to the Royal Mile and has good transport links to both rail and air, making it a great base for a weekend or mid-week break.

Visit our website for full details of last minute offers.

You’ll find it at: http://www.2edinburgh.co.uk

To test out how long it took me to walk from Craigwell Cottage to Edinburgh Castle, I set out this morning to walk up the Royal Mile. Leaving Craigwell Cottage at 10.30 am, I was up at Edinburgh Castle by 11 am. But you see the thing is, it’s just over a mile to walk - which should take less than half an hour, but I had to keep stopping to look at things. There’s just so much to see on the Royal Mile!

Even though I’ve lived in Edinburgh for many years, the sights and sounds of the historic heart of Edinburgh still stop me in my tracks, or pull me to investigate further.

Stepping out from Craigwell Cottage, I crossed Calton Road and headed up Campbell’s Close which leads directly to the Royal Mile.

I had to resist the temptation of stopping at Clarinda’s Tea Rooms because I couldn’t really justify having worked up an appetite in the two minutes it had taken me to reach the Royal Mile.

But once I was on the Royal Mile I started to make notes about things which I thought might be useful for the Craigwell Cottage Blog, and this was the first distraction which started to slow me down.

I noticed that there was a flat for sale by Gibson Kerr at 87/6 Canongate - must check it out on the ESPC Website.  (Did that when I got home - but I must confess that my real interest in the property lies in the possibility of taking a photograph of Craigwell Cottage from its balcony (I know, very rude of me!).  It’s one of the flats however that were designed by Sir Basil Spence, on whom there is a major retrospective running in Edinburgh right now at the Dean Gallery.  I’m surprised that the solicitors didn’t pick up on this in their sales particulars.

Turning right up the Royal Mile, I saw the Victorian Post Box on the opposite side of the road, and remembered that I had some letters to post.  It’s such a pretty place to post them!  When I spotted Starbuck’s a few yards further up I remembered that I’d been looking for Wi-Fi hotspots and Internet Access close to Craigwell Cottage, so I made a note that I should remember to add Starbucks at 116-118 Canongate to my posting about that - there’s a T-mobile Hotspot there.

Opposite Starbuck’s in the Canongate is Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe - somewhere to do your Christmas shopping all year round!

I walk past the Museum of Edinburgh, Canongate Kirk and The People’s Story.  This is of course supposed to be a blog about how long it takes to walk to Edinburgh Castle, so I didn’t dwell on these attractions- I’ll return to them later when I come to write up notes from recent visits there.

More to follow….

http://www.virtualtourist.com/

Businesses and Organisations we need to contact:-

Scottish Parliament need to contact the committees who may bring experts to work with them for projects they’re working on.

The Tun - this complex houses several businesses who might have staff visiting for short-term business stays.

• European Parliament Office in Scotland
• BBC Scotland - need to check who to contact there
• British Council
• Scottish Enterprise
• Mai Thai
• Scottish & Newcastle have a retail outlet at the Tun Bar & Kitchen

However, there are plenty of places nearby where you can either access a Wi-Fi Hotspot if you’ve brought your own PC, or where you can visit an Internet Cafe to use their facilities.

I’ve searched on the website: http://www.trustive.com/hotspots/United_Kingdom/Edinburgh/ and have found a hotspot at Beanscene (a coffee house) at Holyrood which is under 5 minutes walk from Craigwell Cottage.

There are BT Openzone Hotspots nearby - follow the link to see a map.

I know one guest who stayed with us used WiFi access at The Tun - a local bar and restaurant, and I noticed the other day when I was walking up Abbeyhill and over to Easter Road (very close to the cottage also), that there is a new internet cafe on London Road at the junction with Easter Road - so the answer is, there are plenty of places nearby where you will be able to get on to the Net.

Craigwell Cottage is also easily accessible by public transport - being only a few minutes walk or taxi-ride from Waverley Station. The Lothian Buses 35 route services Edinburgh Airport and passes within a few hundred yards/metres of Craigwell Cottage too.

View from the garden of Nether Craigwell.