The Kelpie Shoot: Scouting Lasswade and My New Google Maps Finds
Updated: Oct 7
Scouting the Kelpie shoot location in Lasswade — filmed by Sharon McMenemy Khan.
A good local guide’s recommendations are part of the welcome. This week my Google Maps profile has grown from 320 to 333 photos, with more than 3.3 million views. I’m still a Level 6+ Local Guide, and I love sharing the little details that help people choose where to spend their time.
Recent places showing on my profile include The Conan Doyle (a local bar that serves great pies) and Renroc (a local breakfast spot) in Edinburgh, and The Paper Mill in Lasswade. Each is a reminder that a thoughtful visit is about more than finding a pin on a map: it’s the atmosphere, the setting and the experience you can look forward to.
That’s useful inspiration for anyone welcoming guests. I like to keep local recommendations personal and practical, so visitors can find a spot that fits the kind of day they want, whether that’s a relaxed stop or somewhere with a bit of character.
Why I Was in Lasswade: The Kelpie Shoot
The Paper Mill isn't the only reason I was down the North Esk. I'm scouting locations for a Kelpie couture dress shoot — the dress is on the homepage right now — somewhere outside, with a real kelpie story attached. Lasswade has one, and it's the version I love: the woman who takes the kelpie's bridle and turns the tables. A charming tale of women's empowerment, and part of my Fringe show.
The location itself is a charmer. There's the beautiful old bridge over the North Esk — and near it an enormous stone viaduct, arches so vast they look as if the Romans could have built it. You can't walk on it, and you reach it through a housing estate that gives no hint of what's behind it — my mother was sure we'd taken a wrong turn. Then suddenly you're standing underneath it, in the middle of nowhere. A really charming little part of town.
The viaduct at Lasswade — photograph by Sharon McMenemy Khan.
If you love bridges, this is your place — and it's easy by bike. Coming from Edinburgh, cross the city bypass at Straiton and you'll find the Loanhead Railway Path on the other side: a traffic-free tarmac route that follows the old Edinburgh, Loanhead and Roslin branch line, past Straiton Pond and down to Loanhead.
From Loanhead, Lasswade is no distance at all. And there's a lovely symmetry to arriving this way — you cycle in along a Victorian railway line, and at Lasswade a piece of the same railway age still strides across the valley: the viaduct was built in 1867 by Thomas Bouch, the engineer who went on to build the first Tay Bridge, and once carried the Polton branch's trains over the North Esk. The old bridge, the viaduct, and The Paper Mill for afterwards.
See the Kelpie in a Rig exhibition on the homepage.
See my Google Maps contributions and latest photos here: https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/110901189836150962567
Written by Koda, Edited by Sharon McMenemy Khan
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