History & Botanical Foraging Tours Edinburgh Gin Tour
Explore the quaint historic village of Colinton, forage botanicals in the Pentland Hills and take a moment’s rest – with a gin – by the Water of Leith in the Colinton Dell.
Distillery tours allow you to see & taste the gin production process; a few tours let you close your eyes and feel where the spirit comes from – or learn about the botanicals where they grow.
Our gin is about slowing life down, so we’re welcoming you to enjoy our gin in exactly the place it was intended to be enjoyed.
During our walking tour, we’ll explore the thousands of years of history in Colinton – from its founding in 1095, to today’s more recent happenings.
We’ll walk into the Bonaly Foothills, where we’ll forage for botanicals with views across Edinburgh city and Fife
Finally finding sanctuary within the Colinton Dell, where we taste and feel how all the notes come together.
The history: A remarkable place to call home
Colinton has been inhabited for over a thousand years. Nestled between the Pentland Hills and the tranquil sanctuary of the dells, it shelters the winding waterways of Edinburgh South-West.
When you walk the paths today, you’re stepping across thousands of years of history. Artefacts from the Iron Age have been found downriver at Redhall Gardens – a time before King Malcolm III established the parish church in 1095. Some paths you’re walking in the footsteps of Mary Queen of Scots or those of Oliver Cromwell as he burned Colinton castle to the ground. There are Ruined 300-year-old mills sit tucked into the trees, one of those trees is 600-year-old, and where young Robert Louis Stevenson would swing as a boy.
Colinton’s history is in sight, but it’s story is just waiting to be uncovered.
Our tour will point out some of the most interesting and important parts of Colinton’s History.
Foraging in the Pentland foothills
Our recipe started with experimenting with foraged flora from our landscapes and compounding (infusing the spirit over time) gin with local flora and seasonal fruit. We’d walk the paths of the Bonally foothills, offering stunning views of the city, while foraging local flora.
There is no other gin tour in Edinburgh where you can stand above the city and see where it starts and begins.
We’ll guide through the foothills of the Pentlands, where we will forage our 5 local botanicals and experience Scotland’s nature first hand.
Scottish Gin Tasting
Our walking gin tour is not traditional, in the sense that we will not be visiting the stills. Instead, we will be visiting the landscapes and places that make our gin special.
Along the way, we’ll teach you how to compound gin using natural botanicals and how our philosophy instructs our process.
Accessability
The walking tour takes place in the village of Colinton and Tordruff Reservoir. The route is roughly 4kms long, with some steep inclines and uneven ground. If you have any questions or concerns, speak to us via gin-edinburgh.co.uk.
A remarkable place
to call home
