Hidden Edinburgh Nature Tour: Myths & Aromatherapy Workshop
Step away from Edinburgh’s busy landmarks and discover the city’s greener, quieter and more magical side with Martina, a Croatian guide who made Edinburgh her home.
This small-group women-led tour follows riverside paths, healing wells, hidden gardens and stories most visitors never notice. Along the way, you’ll uncover women’s knowledge hidden in plants, folklore, food, medicine and everyday life before ending with a hands-on aromatherapy workshop where you create your own personalised blend to take home.
Tour Highlights
- Discover Edinburgh’s hidden green spaces, riverside paths and peaceful corners away from the usual tourist trail
- Hear stories of women, folklore, healing traditions and knowledge hidden in plain sight
- Explore the surprising links between Scottish and Croatian myths, customs and beliefs
- Visit atmospheric places including the Water of Leith, St Bernard’s Well, Dean Village and the Archivists’ Garden
- Create your own personalised aromatherapy blend at Wizardrops to take home as a unique memento
Meeting Point: Meet at the stone archway marked “THE DENE”, beneath St Deans Bridge, beside the Water of Leith Walkway entrance from Saunders Street, Edinburgh EH3 6TQ. Open the exact meeting point in Google Maps. Your guide Martina will be waiting beside the archway, holding a Women in Travel CIC sign.
Important: Do not go to Dean Bridge on Queensferry Road. This is a different bridge.
Detailed Itinerary:
Your tour begins beside the Water of Leith, one of Edinburgh’s most peaceful waterways. Under a sycamore tree, Martina introduces the idea at the heart of the experience: knowledge hidden in plain sight. Through her own story of moving from Croatia to Edinburgh, she shares how rivers, trees and old beliefs helped her feel at home in a new city.
From there, follow the river to St Bernard’s Well and Dean Village, where healing waters, old mills and folklore reveal a quieter side of Edinburgh. You’ll hear stories of natural remedies, women’s everyday knowledge, river spirits and the mill girls whose courage became part of the city’s hidden history.
The walk then climbs back towards the city, where Martina connects women’s knowledge with literature, plants and storytelling. Through the story of Agatha Christie at St Cuthbert’s Church, you’ll discover how expertise in plants, poisons and medicine shaped one of the most famous crime writers in the world.
Next, pause at the Floral Clock before stepping into the Archivists’ Garden, one of Edinburgh’s lesser-known treasures. Surrounded by plants linked to folklore, healing and memory, you’ll discover how rosemary, dog rose, violets, almonds and thistles carry stories across cultures and generations.
The walking part of the tour concludes near Picardy Place, birthplace of Arthur Conan Doyle. But Martina turns the focus to his mother, Mary Foley, whose imagination, resilience and storytelling helped shape the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Her influence, like so much women’s knowledge, was always there — hidden in plain sight.
Tuesdays and Thursdays end with the aromatherapy workshop at Wizardrops; Fridays (and any other date the workshop isn’t available) end instead at The Botanist with its signature Plant Pot Pud — a whimsical edible garden inspired by the plants and stories explored along the way.
Come curious and leave with a new way of seeing Edinburgh: not only as a city of castles and monuments, but as a place shaped by rivers, plants, mothers, storytellers and women’s wisdom hidden in plain sight.
Additional Information
Cancellation policy: Cancellations more than 2 days before departure will receive a full refund. Cancellations within this period attract a 100% cancellation fee.
Accessibility: This tour is mostly flat and step-free, but some venues may have narrow entrances or limited space inside.
Dietary restrictions: We can accommodate vegetarians and other dietary restrictions. Please notify us in advance if you have any dietary requests.
Dress code: Wear whatever feels comfortable for the day. We recommend supportive shoes and weather-appropriate layers.
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