I visited Dr Neil’ s Garden and felt like I escaped the city
At the Evening News, uncovering secrets is a part of our job.
And we're convinced we've stumbled upon one of Edinburgh's best-kept ones after paying a visit to Dr Neil's Garden, recently named the UK's “most peaceful place”.
Unknown to many, the green space lies next to the historic Duddingston Kirk and offers an oasis from the noisy city life we're so accustomed to in the Capital.
Even if you've walked past the 12th century church before, it's possible you haven't been acquainted with Dr Neil's. Perhaps it's the sense that the beauty spot's relative obscurity is by design that prompted Lonely Planet to dub it the city's 'quintessential secret garden'.
Founded in 1963, it was merely a “scrappy piece of wilderness” before being transformed by community GP Andrew Neil. His changes made such an impact that
Earth.fm has now declared it the best place to escape the hustle and bustle of a city deemed the UK's noisiest.
Save for a few others strolling around the grounds, we were left alone to enjoy the views of the Duddingston Loch, stunning water fountain and ancient church this morning. The area has ample benches from which to take in the panorama or feed the ducks and there is also plenty of space to take a walk and enjoy the fresh air.
Packed with plants and trees, anyone landing in the place without knowing where it was would scarcely believe they were in a capital city.
Visitors described the space as “quiet”, “relaxing”, “tranquil”, “calm” and “peaceful” in reviews cited by the nature sounds streaming platform. As well as coming out top on the country's 'most peaceful' list, it also ranked second globally – beating out more than 3,300 places across the US and Europe.
So while good journalists like us hate to spill the beans, this one was way too good not to share with our readers.
To find out more about other cities and parks that appeared in the analysis, plus the methodology, you can look at the research in full by visiting https://earth. fm/the-quietest-places-inthe-worlds-loudest-cities.