Dig out your pencils and come out and play for a weekend celebrating nature and art in our community.
Whether you are a keen artist, or last drew at primary school, all are welcome to come and get stuck in with our art materials and activities. Get arty on Saturday and see the full exhibition of works on Sunday.
Activities include:
• Learning plant identification through sketching (workshop at 11am and 1pm)
• Design your own mythical beast of Granton
• Clay creature sculpting
• Ant’s eye view – get up close to tiny worlds
• Get imaginative with our art materials – stay and make for as long as you like
• Add your nature art to our exhibition
• Teas, coffees and snacks by donation
Click here for free Eventbrite booking.
Find us at Granton Hub, Maldevic House, Granton Park Avenue, EH5 1HS (We are wheelchair accessible).
The Growing Together Course is a new venture of Edible Estates working in partnership with the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, and a range of community gardening and community farming organisations in Edinburgh and the Lothians. It is funded by the Local Growth Fund to support the green transition and employability.
The course will run from the start of September to the end of March 2027, it will be a part‑time (seven hours/week), training programme that combines hands‑on placements with community gardens and farms, with structured learning in working with people and the land.
The course will have places for 24 people who must be resident in Edinburgh. The course is free, and some travel and subsistence costs will be funded.
Participants will spend time in real settings – such as community gardens, market gardens, school farms, therapeutic gardens and community woodlands – while also taking part in seminars and guided self‑directed projects on topics like community garden design, nature restoration, climate adaptation, and working with community groups.
More information about the course below, you can also download the Course Description.
If you are interested in participating in the course, please fill in the Application Form.
We are looking at ways to make the library more accessible for families with additional support needs. As part of this we have put together a social story to make it easier to know what to expect when visiting us at Granton library!
We have a hardcopy available in the library if you want to look at it when you come.
We also have a visual timetable that you can borrow during your visit.
We’re still in the early days of this process so we very much welcome any feedback on what we can do better and what would be helpful to make a library visit more accessible!
We are excited to share a delicious community meal with you. We do our best to have a variety of options, including vegetarian and a delicious pudding.
What’s on the menu today:
Root veg soup
Tuscan bean chicken stew
Veggie haggis pasta
Please check the board or ask our volunteers about allergens. And just a heads-up, our food is served until it runs out!
Today (29th June), homelessness charity Social Bite celebrated the re-opening of its Village at its new location on Granton Waterfront. This move serves as a clear proof-of-concept of the charity’s innovative model which encourages the implementation of modular housing and communities on unused, derelict land as an impactful and cost-effective solution to addressing the UK housing crisis.
The opening marks a re-location and expansion of the previous Edinburgh Social Bite Village, just five minutes away, to a local piece of land surrounded by greenery and a view of the Firth of Forth.
The opening is a landmark moment for the charity. Beyond providing new and refreshed quality homes for its residents, it underlines how uniquely agile, and adaptable, its Village Model concept truly is.
The Village will continue to be run in partnership with Cyrenians, and will benefit from six new pre-built houses, while the existing ten houses will receive a refresh.
The new Granton Waterfront location will become home to 15 people who have been affected by homelessness – whether that be in B&Bs, temporary accommodation, sofa surfing, living on the streets, or one of the many other ‘unseen’ forms of homelessness faced by so many.
The Village is a real-life example of a scalable and adaptable blueprint for making fast and impactful changes to people who are experiencing homelessness. By committing to investing in this concept with Social Bite, policy makers and councils can make great in-roads to improving the housing crisis in their areas and make effective change for the thousands of people who have found themselves struggling for safe and secure housing in the UK.
In the coming months, six new residents will join the welcoming, supportive community. They will each receive a key to their own fully equipped home, complete with a self-contained kitchenette, bathroom, and living space. The remaining ten houses, relocated from the previous Social Bite Village site, will be occupied by residents and volunteers transitioning from the original site.
Social Bite also recently opened Harriet Gardens in partnership with South Lanarkshire Council and The Salvation Army, and has had great success so far with support from the local community and councillors, and 15 residents moving into the beautiful site.
The beneficial impact on residents who live in The Village is evident. Before moving location, the previous Edinburgh Village saw around 100 people enjoying life at the Village, with many moving on to their own homes, gaining employment and thriving within their own networks.
One of those residents was Jayne. Jayne lived in the Granton Village for two years and has since moved out to her own flat. Since leaving, she has kept in good contact with the friends she made during her time there.
She said: “My time at the Edinburgh Village was amazing. I was staying in homeless hostels and B&Bs after my mum died and it was stressful moving each week. There were rules and curfews with no visitors allowed, so it was lonely. I was glad to get a referral to the Village and I moved in quickly.
“I recently left the Village to go to my own flat after two years of bidding for one. It’s been great and I got a cat the same day! The Village helped me in loads of ways – from one-on-ones with a key worker to learning to ride a bike.
“I built a friend group which knows me well and I can count on to support me. The community aspect of the Village is the thing I loved the most.”
Founder of Social Bite, Josh Littlejohn MBE, said: “I couldn’t be more thrilled to open our brand-new Village site, in this stunning waterfront location. The Village model is about more than putting a roof over people’s heads – it’s about building a beautiful, supportive community that restores hope and dignity.
“Our new Granton Waterfront Village is a real flagship for this model, and I think it sets an example of how homelessness accommodation can be done differently. Thanks so much to all of the brilliant partners who helped bring the project to life. Looking ahead, we look forward to working with other councils to create Social Bite Village projects throughout the UK.”
Fellow homelessness charity, Cyrenians, will continue to manage the day-to-day running of the Village, providing on-site, wraparound support for all residents. Cyrenians operates a unique model of residential support where people who have either experienced or have been at risk of homelessness live alongside peer volunteers with support from an experienced professional staff team.
Kate Wallace, Chief Executive at Cyrenians, said: “Today marks a new chapter for Edinburgh’s Social Bite Village as we move to a brand new location, with new buildings and space to help even more people.
“Over the last eight years, Cyrenians has worked with Social Bite to provide support for the residents of the Village – a unique model that doesn’t just house people, but supports them to thrive.
“Taking over from Ewan Aitken as the new Chief Executive of Cyrenians, I am excited to continue our successful partnership, working together to create a world where supported housing like this is available to all those who need it.”
The build of the Granton Waterfront Village was carried out by construction partners including Advance and GSS Developments, whose generosity, expertise and commitment to the movement to end homelessness will ensure residents enjoy a top-quality Village site for years to come.
M&G generously supported the new community hub building through their Empty Spaces coalition with Habitat for Humanity.
Work on the community garden at the bottom of the site will begin with the help of residents once they have moved in. Social Bite is seeking funding to help make this possible. If you would like to donate please visit,Social-Bite.co.uk/donate.
If you are a council member considering a Social Bite Village for your local authority, please get in contact via Social Bite’s website.
