War Poets Trail, Craiglockart

I've blogged a few times about how we enjoy walking round the Craiglockart Hills. I also knew about the historical connection between the buildings on the hills with the famous war poets of the First World War. However I hadn't heard about the War Poets Trail until a few days ago when I picked up a leaflet that outlines walks that trace the footsteps of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon on the walks they enjoyed taking while they were recuperating at Craiglockart War Hospital.

If you walk along the trail you can also pop in to view the War Poets Collection that is on permanent display in the Craiglockart Campus Library.

The War Poets trail is being highlighted (and possibly has been formalised this year) to mark the centenary of the First World War.

However we can't let it distract us from the controversial development of the Craighouse Buildings.

The Friends of Craiglockart Woods and Nature Trail have a very optimistic point of view about this development, while Friends of Craignhouse Grounds and Wood - Save Craighouse (a local campaigning group which has fought against three development proposals for the site) has a much more pessimistic view. I have to admit, my view probably falls somewhere in between. I'd like to be optimistic, but I'm afraid that I have little faith currently in the City of Edinburgh Planning Department or in the private developers who are planning to build new houses on this site.

The latest proposals were given the go ahead so the site is to be developed (and let's be honest, it needs to be developed in some way otherwise the historical buildings will fall into decay). Time will only tell what effect the development has on the surrounding Local Nature Reserve. 

As ever, red text contains hyperlinks that take you to other webpages where you can find out more.