At Edinburgh College of Art we believe product design is about enriching the quality of life whether in the home, the workplace or in the public domain. Our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Product Design explore new methods of discovering unique, genuine problems and opportunities for the design of original and useful products. They embrace the generation of ideas and the creation of product prototypes in response to social, physical, psychological or economic needs and opportunities discovered through research.

The course philosophy is guided by a questioning stance on the role of product design in the 21st century, one which considers the creation of a sustainable future through critical and creative exploration of a range of approaches to product design. These approaches explore problems in society; problems people experience using products; opportunities to either create or re-appropriate materials; opportunities to use technology in new ways; business opportunities and the opportunity to promote ethical debate through speculative design. These approaches enable our students to determine their own area of interest, direction and identity within this broad discipline, producing tangible concepts that challenge current thinking.

We encourage diverse, individual and collaborative approaches to student projects and through project based learning and face-to-face teaching our Product Design programmes teach students how to discover and tackle genuine issues and generate unique ideas that respond to real needs – in short, to design to make a difference. We teach students how to respond to change, to be flexible and adaptable in their approach, to be able to identify problems and form synergies with people working in other disciplines to creatively generate and clearly communicate design solutions. Our students are thinkers, aware of issues, problems and developments in the world around them, of current challenges facing people and the planet and are able to use their initiative to generate individual, innovative, sustainable and commercially viable design solutions.

Experience working on live projects with a range of companies including some of the world’s leading design-led product and furniture brands such as Philips, NCR, Herman Miller and Salcomp amongst others, equips our graduates with the ability to generate thoughtful and original product designs that challenge the status quo whilst meeting the needs of people and providing a competitive advantage for businesses. The professional skills and abilities developed on the course prepare our graduates for a rewarding career path in the creative industries in which many of our alumni are leading practitioners.

If you’re thinking of studying product design in a leading creative institution, are interested in furthering your learning on our postgraduate course together with a talented international group of students from across the UK and all over the world, or are a company seeking motivated students for placements and other opportunities for collaboration, we very much look forward to hearing from you.

Year One |

You will be introduced to interdisciplinary working from the outset, requiring you to work alongside students in both the School of Art and the School of Design. Set project briefs are designed to enable a highly experimental and open approach to your project work. You will meet year 1 students from across all the disciplines within the Schools of both Art and Design. As the year progresses, projects become increasingly specialised and focused initially on Design and then on Product Design in semester 2. You will be introduced to methods of research and idea development from a broad and varied range of practitioners, enabling you to understand a wide breadth of creative approaches to project work.

Subjects taught as part of year 1 modules include; art and design research, creative thinking, idea development, critical thinking, presentation, drawing, model making and communication.

Year Two |

A series of projects enable you to understand the product design process and to experience different approaches to product design. Each project places different emphasis on one or more parts of the product design process, enabling you to gain in-depth understanding.

You will be introduced to methods of research and how to use research to discover problems and unique opportunities for new design. You will be introduced to creative, playful, effective methods of idea generation to enable you to fully explore a design brief. You will be guided through different methods of furniture fabrication and product model making, enabling you to realise your designed objects in three dimensions. You will learn techniques to communicate your research and design concepts. Collaborative workshops, industrial visits, lectures, design sketching classes, and digital, computer-aided design studies will support your projects.

Subjects taught as part of year 2 modules include; design process, product design research methods, research analysis, problem identification and definition, user needs, idea generation techniques, lateral thinking, critical thinking, design sketching, technical drawing materials, CAD modeling, making techniques in wood, plastics and metals, digital software for presentation and communication, effective design communication, presentation graphics, sustainable design, speculative design, team working, prototyping. processes, product costing, branding, 19th and 20th Century design and society.

Each year we have a number of places available for direct entry to Year Two of the programme. If you are undertaking an Art and Design Degree Foundation course, a first year of a Degree level programme or a course at an equivalent level to this, you will be eligible to apply for direct entry to stage 2.

Year Three |

A series of ‘live’ industry-led competition projects unique to Product Design at Edinburgh College of Art in partnership with both local and global consumer product manufacturing companies will introduce you to working on commercial design briefs. You will gain a substantial understanding of different ways in which product design is used by and can benefit business. Projects with local companies involve visits to their manufacturing facilities. Prize winners are provided with the opportunity to work with sponsoring companies to develop winning designs for manufacture and production. Substantial prizes and work placement opportunities are attached to each project.

A collaborative team-based project with year 3 students from another department enables you to experience working with and learning from a different design discipline and the Year 3 Mid-Year Exhibition enables you to exhibit work within the College alongside year 3 students from the eleven disciplines within the School of Design.

You have the opportunity to undertake an academic exchange semester enabling you to experience studying on a product design course abroad should you wish to. Exchange agreements are in place with high-quality product design courses in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and the USA. Students often undertake summer work placements. Recent placements have seen students working with design teams at Established and Sons in London and IKEA in Sweden and Mike Stoane Lighting in Scotland.
Through these experiences and responding to a range of different design briefs, towards the end of the year you will be able to begin to form your choice of approach to your year 4 major project.

Subjects taught as part of year 3 modules include; design research methods, concept generation techniques, critical thinking, manufacturing processes, design for manufacture, electronics for product designers, team working, learning styles, design ergonomics, information ergonomics, advanced computer aided design & computer aided model making, 3D scanning, 3D visualization, virtual product animation, professional presentation, speculative design, intellectual property, the business of design, marketing, design retail, consumer culture, design in context, website design, project approach selection.

If you are in your second year of a Degree level programme, are studying a related subject and are considering changing course or are considering changing institution, it is possible to apply for direct entry to Year 3 of the programme.

Year Four |

Aligned with your thorough understanding of the discipline and your planned future within it, you will define your approach to your own self-generated major project. Through input and guidance from staff you will undertake a substantial body of original research leading to unique insights and identification of problems and opportunities for new product design. You will establish your own design brief and respond to this through the generation of ideas, sketch concepts, concept models, computer models, multiple iterative working and appearance prototypes, refining and improving your product design(s) at each stage. Through this process of development you will design no more than one or two products; this enables you to resolve your designs to a high standard ready for internal exhibition at the College's Degree Show and external exhibition in London.

Subjects taught as part of year 4 modules include; design approaches, project planning, advanced research methods, research analysis, brief writing, product design specification, advanced CAD, advanced visualization, iterative prototyping, design for manufacture, product deployment and user testing, professional portfolio design, exhibition design, design writing, entrepreneurship and professional practice.

Product Design student | Helen Fisher

My greatest achievement on the course to date is designing and making a prototype product for an Edinburgh based manufacturing company. Our year group worked in pairs to design and make prototypes, my partner and I had a great time working together and ended up winning the competition. We won 2 iPod Touches, a trip to London and the possibility of the product being put into production. This is my greatest achievement and a brilliant opportunity for us. Second year was great for learning the core skills of design, from fun and innovative research methods to fine woodwork prototyping. This set me up for third year where we have had numerous live briefs working with a whole range of outside companies, the experience we have gained within just three months has been excellent.

The tutors have all had different design backgrounds which allows us to get feedback from a range of experienced people. Its also extremely useful when we collaborate with different disciplines and get feedback from say, Interior Design or Jewellery and Silversmithing tutors. We have a really big bright studio which is quite inspirational to work in as we interact with all the year groups in the Product Design department. I feel that the college has everything we need, the wood workshop, the metal workshop, print workshops, computer labs etc. I also like that we can collaborate with the other disciplines and get inducted to their workshop facilities.

The best thing about the College is that there are so many different disciplines and we are inspired by all of these. I love that fact that Edinburgh feels so relaxed. Although the city is the capital I feel that everything is within walking distance.

Product Design graduate | Beth Jackson

“My greatest achievement so far after being accepted into Edinburgh College of Art, was being awarded Student Lighting Designer of the Year 2009. I won £2000 and the opportunity to exhibit my light at the Home Interiors Show in Birmingham. The experience this competition gave me, and the opportunities that it has led to, have been fantastic. It has hopefully set me up well for my future career in lighting design.

Product Design graduate | Anna Pretty

“It was a wonderful experience - and one I am more grateful for now than when I left. Firstly, in a day and age of massive classes on creative university courses, the small size of each year was very valuable, and taught me and my fellow-students a lot about working in a team. Added to this, I now appreciate that the course did not mould students into a particular style or ‘type’ of student.”

Our sensitive, thoughtful and logical approach places emphasis on teaching you advanced methods of research, analytical thinking, lateral thinking, idea generation techniques, critical thinking, design for manufacture, virtual and physical prototyping and user testing within an intellectually stimulating environment. Through a hands-on approach, we provide you with a professional understanding and confidence in these crucial elements of the product development process enabling you to design highly original, useful and successful products.

Through defining your own self-directed project we provide you with the creative freedom to playfully experiment and take risks and to design, prototype and manufacture products. The course will teach you how to be innovative, whether through traditional making and manufacturing techniques or through more radical explorations of new materials, technologies, sustainable manufacturing techniques and design approaches. Postgraduate students of Product Design at the College continually strive to push boundaries of their own personal or professional approach and are actively encouraged to push the discipline into new and unfamiliar territory.

Product Design graduate | Paul Duddy

ECA offered a 2 year MFA Product Design course that would teach me how to research, design and develop a product. After my initial interview I had made up my mind that I definitely wanted to be part of the course. I have been allowed freedom to experiment, design and develop my ideas while my tutor would encourage me and provide guidance on problem areas as well as inspire me to investigate other areas. The ECA MFA Product Design course has given me a valuable set of tools that I can I use in the future to help progress my career and make exciting new products.

Product Design graduate | Thomas Dykes

There is a very approachable, community feel to the College and its facilities. The library is a good size and the staff are really helpful. Again, the facilities are very flexible depending on what materials you work with or skills you have, especially with creative and helpful technicians. The MA course provides you with the freedom and support to explore you own area or approach to product design. For me it has been a really good opportunity to work out where I belong and what I enjoy doing the most. Everyone on the course has come from a different approach to product design so there are opportunities to learn from them. My tutors have understood what skills I have and directed me in order to make the most of them, as well as suggesting what areas I can improve upon. My greatest achievement to date has been getting in touch with Microsoft, being given a really great electronics kit to use in my work and being awarded an internship with them.

Graduates have a wide range of career opportunities that exploit their knowledge and experience of the product design process and their considerable transferable skills. Graduates typically join a design consultancy, a product development team within a manufacturing company, or establish their own business as a designer or designer/maker. The transferable skills developed on the course enable graduates to work in diverse careers such as product design, furniture design, design research, service design, packaging design, marketing, management, retail, multimedia, graphic design, brand design, retail design, transport design, education, computer-aided design and interaction design.

Our extensive links with industry built through undergraduate industry-led projects and also through our Industrial Advisory Board, in addition to our range of visiting speakers, ensures that graduates are aware of the full range of career possibilities and are provided with a strong footing from which to develop their chosen career.

Our alumni demonstrate this broad output, Rod White is creative Director of Philips Design in the Netherlands, Nick Savage is International Product Development Manager for Herman Miller, Anna Pretty formerly of Starck, Habitat and Wedgwood is now Head of Objects for the Spanish company Zara Home, Will Mickelthwaite is a director for the fine design retailer Viaduct in London; Jon Crawford founded and was managing director of successful contract furniture company Isu and is now part of the design team at Senator and graduates Trent Jennings and Tom Marsh started Blue Marmalade with the aim of creating good quality sustainable products. Jamie McCall, followed his postgraduate course with a period as staff exhibitions designer with Eighteen 51 Exhibitions. He subsequently moved to Northcross Ideas, where he now handles projects for an international range of clients and for whom he opened an office in York. Many of our alumni return to give talks about their experiences in industry since graduating to students currently on the Product Design course.

Recent graduate Margit Millstein worked as a product and graphic designer for Graven Images and now works as a graphic designer for Milkinson Eyre Architects. 2008 graduate Ruairidh McGlynn is a product designer with international lighting products manufacturer Mike Stoane Lighting. 2008 graduate John 0’Leary is a product designer with Millhouse Manufacturing Design, designing high quality wooden products for education and retail. 2009 graduate Emily Greenberg is based in New York as a product designer with interior products and accessories manufacturer Soup Home and Carol Crawford, another 2009 graduate is a product designer at bespoke metal products manufacturer Maxim World. 2010 graduate Erik Hals in a 3D graphic artist at Xvision. 2010 MA graduate Meng-Jung Chuang is a product designer with multinational product design consultancy Nova Design and 2011 MFA graduate Jo-Yun Wang is a product designer at outdoor furniture company Russell Play.

These are just but a few examples of the companies in which our successful, motivated graduates can be found and many go on to establish their own successful design companies

Our talented students are an international group who come to us to study from across the UK and from all over the world. They are open-minded thinkers, aware of issues, problems and developments in the world around them, of current challenges facing people and the planet and combine their inquisitive nature with their considerable initiative to generate individual, innovative, sustainable and commercially viable design solutions.

The diversity of our students’ backgrounds and their ability and ready willingness to work with others creates a melting pot of creative thinking and ideas and a unique studio atmosphere. It is no surprise then that our students go on to forge successful careers in industry with many of them using their considerable initiative and entrepreneurial skills to start their own businesses.

Student Work

Our students follow a people focused, research-led design process to find issues affecting quality of life and opportunities for the design of original and useful products. Ideation is the next step in the process, playfully experimenting and creatively exploring alternative solutions to discovered issues / frustrations / opportunities. Design development and design refinement follows in the form of design sketches, mock-up models, CAD models, prototypes and internal evaluation and external testing. The creation of final design prototypes, presentations and exhibitions enable the communication of design concepts. Below you will find a selection of recent work from across all year groups in the department highlighting these various stages of the design process.

Exhibitions

Each year in order to communicate their product designs to the their friends, family, the public and to potential employers, all graduating students in the department have the opportunity to participate in two exhibitions; one at ECA and another in London. Both these exhibitions attract thousands of visitors and are a great opportunity to both let off steam at the end of a period of intense work and to network with other design students and industry visitors.

Douglas Bryden | Product Design Programme Director

Douglas established his own product design business in 1996 which he ran for eight years, exhibiting his work extensively at major trade exhibitions including 100% Design, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair New York, the International San Francisco Furniture Fair and Trade International Paris. His products were sold globally and have been published in key texts including New British Design and Contemporary Lighting. He then moved into the higher education sector, originally at Edinburgh Napier University and then joining the staff at Edinburgh College of Art in 2004.

During his work as a professional designer, Douglas developed an interest in emerging computer software, rapid prototyping technologies and their application in the product development process. Computer-aided design and rapid prototyping have now become Douglas’s primary research focus, with a view to exploring possible implications for the product design discipline and the manufacturing industry. As a result of this research focus, Douglas is currently writing a book for a leading UK publisher on CAD and RP for Product Design aimed at students and design professionals.

As Programme Director for Product Design, Douglas encourages a culture of creative and innovative student research investigation leading to original insights, excellent problem identification and unique opportunity creation, resulting in the design of original, forward thinking and useful products.

He works alongside staff in the Product Design team to encourage and enable the freedom for students to take risks, make mistakes and learn in an open and challenging environment. The team promotes a developing recognition of the wider moral and social purpose of design within the student body, and an awareness of the benefits design can bring to people and society as well as to business and the economy.

Douglas’s overall aim is to ensure students gain the necessary understanding, professional skills and competencies for them to confidently create unique, substantial and sustainable design projects, and develop the foundations for successful careers in product design.

Arno Verhoeven | Product Design Lecturer

Arno suspects he is a naïve person at heart, and his research is approached as such. Craft as a technology, an ethos, a method of doing things, allows him to witness what happens when two disparate things or ideas are brought together, in order to investigate the intersection. Heidegger’s notions of zuhandenheit (readiness-to-hand) and vorhandenheit (presence-at-hand) are key concepts in his approach.

How can the techniques and processes of traditional craft that are ready-to-hand develop design objects that communicate a presence-to-hand that permits these objects to go beyond their tool-like state? What and where is the value in an object when it no longer fits into a cleanly constructed schema? Are there other ways in which we can define the world that we construct and share?

Ingo Aurin | Product Design Lecturer

Ingo graduated in Industrial Design from the Muthesius Academy of Art in 2003 and started his early career working for npk design. After working for npk he worked independently for a variety of clients like Beiersdorf, B Braun, Eppendorf and Testo and received a variety of international awards for his work including Red Dot and IF awards. His work is published in Product Design Now and he has exhibited at the Design Mai international design exhibition. He has a strong background in the design of sport equipment, medical and consumer products and interfaces.

Ingo taught Product Design until recently at Berlin University of Art, the biggest Art University in Europe and conducted live projects with VW and IKEA before he moved to Scotland to conduct his current field research. He is active in academic research and has been invited to present papers at several key design conferences promoting new approaches on user-centredness, diversity and inclusion. In his current research he is interested in empathic design, trace analysis and innovation proposing new research methods in design practise andeducation as part of his P.h.D. thesis at the Bauhaus Universitaet Weimar.

Simon Salter | Product Design Lecturer

Simon started his career working within FMCG in London after graduating from Glasgow School of Art, then for various product design consultants in Scotland before establishing Cramasie (www.cramasie.com) – a product design consultancy based in Edinburgh, with his colleague, Colin Crosland.
Over recent years Simon has been involved in medical, consumer, industrial and military markets designing and developing products such as small hand-held consumer electronics, over-the-counter medical, ATMs to kitchen sinks.

Simon feels that it’s important to “give something back” and help prepare students for the commercial world, and Simon is keen to promote and encourage strong industry links within product design and education. 

Alan Ramsay | Product Design Technican

Alan manages the busy Product Design wood and plastics workshop.Previously he has worked as an architectural model and fine art maker for various institutions and contemporary artists.

Sophia Rose Nicholson | Designer in Residence

This year will be a continuation from my undergraduate project, Grow tank, I will be developing my product and continuing to work within the living systems genre.

I will also be developing new concepts and building on my portfolio of work.

Designers in Residence |2009-2011

Emma Deacon, a recent graduate of the course, is currently establishing her own business designing and having produced furniture aimed at the retail and contract furnishing markets. Euan Lind is establishing a number of innovative products within UK retail, including Habitat. Tom Harper, a recent graduate of the course and a recipient of NESTA business start-up funding and is in the process of establishing his own business.

Anna Hammond is working in London design firm and a freelance design researcher and Thomas Payne works in Edinburgh as a freelance designer working with local businesses.

James Auger | http://www.auger-loizeau.com/

James is currently a lecturer and PhD candidate in the Design Interactions department at the Royal College of Art in London. The focus of this study is an exploration into how technology becomes domesticated using the robot as a case study.

Between March 2002 and Jan 2005 James Auger was a research associate at Media Lab Europe. The aim of this research was to explore technology's effect on human culture, behaviour and experience. During this time he collaborated with Jimmy Loizeau on several projects including the Audio Tooth Implant and the Iso-phone.
After Media Lab he moved to Japan to Work for Issey Miyake.

He has an Engineering apprenticeship from Rolls-Royce (aero engines) and an MA in Design Products from the Royal College of Art in London. Prior to the RCA James worked in the field of modelmaking and special effects for film and advertising.

Product Design | Studio

Our facilities include a well-equipped design studio where each student is provided with their own desk and storage space. The studio includes a light workshop for model making and a computer facility for quick computer printer access.

Computer Lab

The college’s dedicated design and visualisation computer lab situated directly beneath our studio in Evolution House comprises high-spec computers with a range of industry standard computer software installed to facilitate the production of; computer generated presentations, engaging research packs, technical drawings, virtual 3D models and product renderings. Computers have 64-bit operating systems, quad core Intel processors, 4GB RAM and high-end graphics cards to enable the production of high quality 3D models, product renders and animations of products.

Software includes the latest versions of; The Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), AutoCAD, Rhinoceros 3D, Flamingo, V-Ray, 3D Studio Max, Mental Ray, SolidWorks, Photo Studio 360, Flash and Dreamweaver.
The College’s Hunter Building houses five further computer labs, two of which are PC based and three of which are Apple based. These labs include software appropriate to a range of disciplines from Graphic Design to Animation to Film and TV.

Workshops

The Product Design department’s workshop is a shared facility with the programmes of Interior Design and Sculpture and is run by two friendly, helpful technicians. This spacious facility houses a large variety of wood working and model making/prototyping equipment suited to the needs of these courses. New state-of-the-art equipment will be added to the existing facility during the academic year 2011-2012 to include three new CNC laser cutters, two rapid prototyping (RP) machines, a 3D scanner, a CNC router/milling machine and a CNC plasma cutter.

Product Design students also have access to a separate metal working and metal fabrication workshop with its own dedicated technician.Undergraduate and new postgraduate students in Product Design are given a thorough induction in these workshops to ensure confidence and a good working knowledge of the equipment and prototyping techniques. This comprehensive induction process ensures students are familiar with the equipment in this workshop before they require to use it within their project work.In addition to these workshop facilities, access is available to a number of other specialist workshops in the College from printmaking to jewellery and glass, each run by a specialist technician.

Study Trips to Europe |

Every year you have the opportunity to travel on a study trip to see two of the world’s largest exhibitions of new product design at both the London Design Festival in late September and at the Milan Furniture Fair in Italy in April. These fun and inspiring trips take in the main exhibitions and a range of satellite exhibitions where you are able to see and ask questions about the latest product designs from leading product designers and design companies from around the globe.
Study trips also include visits to nearby cities, buildings, companies, galleries and exhibitions of note.

Exchange Study |

Towards the end of their second year, students have the option to choose to study abroad in either the first or second semester of their third year. We currently have exchange study arrangements with leading Product Design courses in the following countries: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany and the US.

Third year students remaining at ECA are joined by several incoming exchange students from abroad.

View fom George Street

About Edinburgh |

The beautiful city of Edinburgh is an enchanting place to live with a wonderful range of things to see and do, from the world famous Edinburgh Castle to numerous Art Galleries and Museums to the Botanical Gardens and the Royal Yacht Britannia to name just a few. For a capital city, Edinburgh is a surprisingly green place and, even in the heart, you are never far from wide open parks where you can take in amazing views, or just relax and enjoy the great outdoors on crisp winter days.

With four Universities, Edinburgh is a city full of students! Students here love the compact and easy to get around centre, the buzz of the festivals, and the endless supply of bars and restaurants catering for all tastes making for a great social scene and plenty of places offering part-time work. With streets steeped in history and a thriving cultural scene, the City of Edinburgh offers the perfect balance between all things traditional and contemporary.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site at the heart of the city combines the mysterious winding streets of the medieval Old Town, the elegant terraces of the Georgian New Town and award winning modern architecture.

History of Edinburgh

Until the late 18th century, Edinburgh consisted, almost exclusively, of what is now known as the Old Town (the area where you'll find the Castle, Royal Mile and Grassmarket).

The world famous University was founded in 1583, setting in motion the city's educational and professional development. The Bank of Scotland was founded in 1695, the first of many new ventures that would see Edinburgh established as a leading financial capital by the end of the 20th century.

1707 saw the Act of Union, which joined Scotland and England together politically, and moved power from Edinburgh's old parliament to London's Westminster.

By the late 18th century, Edinburgh was home to a rapidly expanding population of 35,000. The rich lived right on top of the poor, often quite literally, as housing was in the form of tenements which were several storeys high, with the poor living on the lower floors and the rich on the more desirable upper and middle floors. These conditions led to many rich people leaving the city for London. In 1752 a leaflet was printed to try to encourage the wealthy to stay in the city. Over ten years later the competition to design a New Town, to attract the wealthy back to Edinburgh, was launched. The winner was James Craig, whose design inspired the New Town's grid like system of streets (including Princes Street and Queen Street, named to celebrate the Act of Union). Building began in 1767 and, what was then the world's largest planned city development, was completed in 1810.

In 1822 King George IV made his historic visit to the city. By then, Edinburgh was already Britain's most important financial city outside London, and, due to its neo-classical architecture, was known as `the Athens of the North'.

Edinburgh Castle is a castle fortress which dominates the skyline of the city from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. The castle site includes St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, dating from the early 12th century.
As one of the most important fortresses in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle has been involved in many historical conflicts, from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century, up to the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and has been besieged, both successfully and unsuccessfully, on several occasions. From the later 17th century, the castle became a military base, with a large garrison. Its importance as a historic monument was recognised from the 19th century, and various restoration programmes have been carried out since. The castle houses the Scottish National War Memorial, and National War Museum of Scotland.

Edinburgh Festival

Edinburgh FestivalsFestivals are what Edinburgh does best. The Edinburgh Festival is a generic term used to describe the cultural explosion which takes place in the city in August each year. It is in fact made up of a variety of festivals and events including the International Festival, Edinburgh Book Festival, Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Mela and the largest arts festival in the world, The Fringe Festival.Later in the year, the city comes alive during the winter festivals which feature the month-long Edinburgh's Christmas and culminates with the world famous Hogmanay (New Year) celebrations.Spring time sees Ceilidh (Scottish dancing) Culture, the Science Festival and the Edinburgh Film Festival providing the entertainment while the Children's Festival starts the summer with playful exuberance.

Surrounding Area

The Lothians region consists of East Lothian, Midlothian (in which Edinburgh is located) and West Lothian. In these regions you can discover tales of Scotland’s past. Stately homes, dramatic castles and medieval chapels all provide a sense of Scotland’s impressive history. The surrounding coast and countryside is also perfect for beach walks in Gullane or Yellowcraigs or hill walks in the nearby Pentland Hills.