Bruntsfield Links
Bruntsfield Links is one of Edinburgh's most beloved open green spaces, a historic stretch of common land lying in the south side of the city between the neighbourhoods of Bruntsfield and Morningside. It forms part of a broader green corridor that runs from the Meadows southward, and has been cherished by Edinburgh residents for centuries as a place for recreation, leisure, and community life. What makes the Links particularly special is its rare dual identity: it is simultaneously one of the oldest golf courses in the world and an everyday public park where dog walkers, picnickers, families, and fitness enthusiasts come and go freely throughout the day. Managed by the City of Edinburgh Council, the space remains free and open to all, maintaining a democratic, community spirit that has defined it across the generations.
The history of Bruntsfield Links as a place of golf is extraordinary. Golfers have been playing on this ground since at least the fifteenth century, making it one of a small handful of sites globally where the origins of the modern game of golf can genuinely be traced. Records suggest that golf was played here as far back as 1456, and the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society, founded in 1761, is one of the oldest golf clubs in existence. For centuries the Links served as a full course, but as the city of Edinburgh expanded and the ground became more intensively used as a public space, the full course eventually migrated — first to Musselburgh and ultimately to Barnton — while the Links itself was reduced to a short-hole course of six holes, which still operates today. The short-hole course is a wonderful and whimsical survival, allowing anyone to turn up, hire clubs and balls from a small hut on the green, and play a round on ground with genuine golfing antiquity beneath their feet.
In person, Bruntsfield Links has an immediately relaxing and welcoming atmosphere. The ground is gently undulating, with shallow rises and dips that give a sense of topographical interest without being dramatic. The turf is well-worn in the most romantic way — smooth from generations of use, dotted with the small flags of the short-hole course and crossed by informal footpaths where locals take their habitual routes. In summer the Links is bathed in afternoon light, and the air carries the gentle percussion of golf balls being struck alongside the chatter of children, the barking of dogs, and the sound of distant traffic kept at a pleasant remove. In winter, mist settles low across the grass in the mornings, and the Links takes on a quieter, almost contemplative quality.
The surrounding neighbourhood reinforces the sense that this is a place well embedded in Edinburgh life. To the north, the Links blends into the Meadows, a larger park connecting the area to the Old Town and the university district. Bruntsfield Place itself, running along the western edge, is lined with independent cafés, delicatessens, and local shops that make a visit to the Links easy to combine with a relaxed morning or afternoon out. The tenement buildings of the surrounding streets — handsome Victorian and Edwardian sandstone — frame the green agreeably. Nearby attractions include the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary's former grounds, George Watson's College, and within walking distance, the Blackford Hill nature reserve and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
Getting to Bruntsfield Links is straightforward whether on foot, by bike, or by public transport. It lies roughly two kilometres south of Edinburgh's city centre, well within walking distance of Princes Street or the Royal Mile for those who enjoy a gentle stroll. Several Lothian Buses routes serve Bruntsfield Place directly, and the area is popular with cyclists. There is no entry fee or ticket required — the green is open at all times. The short-hole golf course typically operates during daylight hours in the warmer months and a small fee is charged to hire equipment. The best time to visit is arguably a sunny weekend morning in late spring or summer, when the Links is at its most animated and the light across the grass is at its finest, though the park has its own austere charm on crisp autumn afternoons as well.
One of the more fascinating historical footnotes associated with Bruntsfield Links is its role during periods of plague in Edinburgh's history. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when outbreaks of bubonic plague periodically struck the city, the Links served as a place of quarantine and, in some accounts, as a site where victims were buried. The land outside the city walls was used to isolate those infected, and it is said that the open ground of the Links absorbed some of the darker chapters of Edinburgh's past. This lends the place an added layer of historical weight that sits quietly beneath its cheerful, recreational surface — a reminder that Edinburgh's public spaces have served as witnesses to the full spectrum of city life across many centuries.