The Guardians of Scotland's First Eco Park. Interview: Shona Nelson, Friends of Saughton Park

As the redevelopment of the city’s Saughton Park reaches it’s completion, I spoke to Shona Nelson Chairperson of Friends of Saughton Park about the effect the redevelopment has had on the community, the benefits of greenspaces and her pride in her voluntary work.

The £8M redevelopment of Saughton Park is near completion, as one of the final projects - to set up a micro-hydro scheme on the Water of Leith - begins. The park has already received the title of Scotland’s first eco-park, as ground source heating is already used to heat the park’s buildings and glasshouse. In a pioneering scheme it is hoped by early 2020 with the help of a ten tonne ‘Archimedes screw’ mirco-hyrdro energy produced will be able to power lighting and a café set to open later this year.

A sign at the park's entrance

The investment also aimed to ensure the gardens are an inclusive space for the whole community. As part of this, the park has gained communal facilities such as an outdoor gym, play park and community room. Friends of Saughton park run a number of community groups and have been involved in the park’s redevelopment. Some members were even set to the task of tasting over thirty apple varieties to decide which ones were planted in the orchard.

I spoke to Shona Nelson, Chairperson of Friends of Saughton Park, about what the aspects of the redevelopment have benefited the community.

She said: “I definitely think the increased number of people in the park, the nicer facilities and actually more facilities because we have got a community room now. With it looking nicer and reopening it has been a great community place to be”.

Inside the park's glasshouse

She went to explain that she expects visitors’ numbers to increase as the café opens, and that the parks position as a half way point on the Water of Leith walkway as well as its position on the John Muir Way will be an advantage.

I asked her in what ways she thinks the visitors of the park benefit from the greenspace.

“I think just any greenspace can benefit you, health wise or your own mental state. We’ve got a lot of new outdoor gym equipment around the park you notice a lot of more people using that. We have a cycling place ABC cycling for people of different abilities to help them get out and about".

"Just being out in fresh air and in a nice space like this. It’s good for the soul!”.

She went on to urge the importance of preserving greenspaces: “I think it is vital, we talk about environment, biodiversity, the nature within the park. We’ve got otters on the Water of Leith, we’ve got Kingfishers on the Water of Leith that you can see here. The first time I ever saw an otter was on Gorgie Road. Especially with this being an urban park having an area within a built-up space. I think it is just a little oasis for people as well”.

The Winter Garden

I also asked her if she believes Edinburgh utilises its greenspaces effectively.

She said:” I think Edinburgh could do a lot more, environmentally wide, biodiversity wise, just using their greenspaces".

"They do like to even just little greenspaces, but a fence around it”.

To conclude the interview, I asked if her if there is any aspect of the park, she is particularly proud of.

She said: “I am particularly proud of being a volunteer. The areas the volunteers are involved in the physic garden and the orchard. We planned it and we planted it, we researched it and we’re maintaining it. And we’re not expert gardeners, but we’re learning as we go along, googling a lot of things. But we are also doing it together and that’s a nice aspect”.

Lastly, Shona fulfilled my curiosity of the ‘physics garden’, and proudly explained how each raised bed represents a part of the body and contains plants which have medicinal properties for those body parts. Consuming the parks plants may be frowned upon, but a visit to the park certainly has some sort of positive effect on the soul!

Shona Nelson at Physics Garden

You can listen to an audio version of the interview here.