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Edinburgh Leasing

Did You Know?

Every August, Edinburgh, Scotland welcomes Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival. 2015’s festival spanned 25 days and featured 50,459 performances of 3,314 shows in 313 venues

St. Margaret’s Chapel, located within the walls of Edinburgh Castle, is the oldest building in Edinburgh. It was built in memory of Queen Margaret, who is said to have died from a broken heart after the death of her husband.

“You’ll have had your tea?” was once a common Edinburgh greeting and is still used today as a way to avoid putting on a kettle; its believed the phrase originated in the 18th century with a nobleman named Mackintosh of Borlum who didn’t like the sound of tea-slurping at social gatherings.

Much of J K Rowling’s inspiration for the Harry Potter books derived from Edinburgh. In fact, she wrote the majority of Harry Potter books while living in the city and you can visit some of the coffee shops and hotels such as Elephant House and Balmoral Hotel where she spent time writing the novels. 

The city is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie, Scots for Old Smoky, for the views from the country of the smoke-covered Old Town.

The “Stone of Destiny” is the traditional coronation stone of Scottish and English royalty and is kept at Edinburgh Castle with the crown jewels of Scotland; according to legend, the real stone was secretly swapped for a fake one at some point in its history.

Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall has a small window high above the fireplace known as “laird’s lug” which translates into “the Lord’s ear.” The window allowed castle residents to eavesdrop on conversations taking place in the Great Hall.

His name is Sir Nils Olav. The King penguin’s role includes inspecting the Norwegian Guard on their visits to the Scottish capital and since his knighthood in 2008, he’s since been promoted in the ranks to Brigadier. Only in Edinburgh!

The city actually owes the beauty of its landscape to the most recent Ice Age. The obvious tail feature from Castle Rock to Holyrood, the edge of the Royal Mile and the deep valleys on either side of Cowgate and Nor’ Loch were all formed thanks to the miles of moving ice sheets that shaped them.

Human habitation around Edinburgh stretches as far back as 8500BC, while the origins of the Old Town can be traced to the seventh century AD, when the Gododdin established the hillfort of Din Eidyn on or close to Castle Rock, tempted by its proximity to the River Forth and its elevated and highly defensible position.

Edinburgh Castle sits on Castle Rock, a 700 million year old extinct volcano. Make sure you're here at 1pm to see the 'One O'Clock Gun' fires be shot from the castle. This takes place every day in the capital where spectators gather in the park to watch.