On Wednesday I visited Granton Hub, a volunteer run community project with a real environmental ethos!
There is a wonderful community garden behind the building, with space to grow vegetables and a wildflower nursery. The Hub sells wildflowers and has supplied Butterfly Conservation and others with plants for their projects.
The Hub is based in the original office building of the Maldevic Motor Carriage Company which in 1899 was manufacturing electric cars!
This aspect of the history of the site is reflected in the occasional events held at the hub that focus on the history of cars and alternative transport. The car factory itself is now derelict (see the building in the background of the photo below).
Edinburgh Scrapstore is also based in the garden, though it was shut when I was there. This is a great place to find reusable supplies for art and craft projects. The Scrap Store promotes creativity whilst diverting waste from landfill.
Granton Hub is positioned right next to the cycle-path and they intend to develop direct access between the cycle-path and the Hub garden (currently people need to cycle right round the outside of the garden to access it from the cycle-path as there isn’t a gate or pathway to join the two). We hope that when we start running our guided cycle rides that some of them will stop off at Granton Hub to enjoy a cup of tea, explore the garden and find out more about the fascinating history of the area.
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The Granton Hub Garden is one of three Granton community gardening projects that are involved in the Power of Food Festival, which is happening across Edinburgh on 16 and 17 June. The other local gardens taking part are Granton Community Gardeners (who make and serve vegetarian meals in Granton Parish Church on Tuesday evenings) and Granton Castle Garden.