Edinburgh’s Christmas is back again this year bigger and brighter than ever and this year Oink are right in right in the middle of it with our newest shop on Hanover Street.

George Street will be alive again with another wonderful display of Christmas lights, the Christmas Markets are extending onto George Street, there is a giant Advent Calendar on Princes Street and The Ice Adventure arrives at the West end of George Street. Returning to the centre of the city are the regular favourites to Edinburgh’s Christmas including Princes Street Christmas markets and the breath-taking ice rink on St Andrew Square. For those thrill seekers, the Big Wheel and the Star Flyer rides are back at East Princes Street Gardens, and the Santa Train chugs back into Santa Land along with a host of riders for younger children to enjoy.   And of course, Santa is back and ready to receive visitors in his magical festive Grotto, in a new home this year on George Street.

Here is just a few of the wonderfully themed Christmas events in the centre of Edinburgh this festive;

Christmas Market – George Street from 17th November – 24th December 2017
The traditional Christmas market spreads to George Street offering a unique, festive shopping experience for everyone with its wonderful display of crafters, artists, gifts and tasty delights.

Christmas Market – East Princes Street Gardens from 18th November – 6th January 2018
The traditional Edinburgh Christmas Market is again returning to East Princes St Gardens with whole host of Christmas ‘things’ for all to enjoy. Located right in the heart of Edinburgh all can enjoy a unique shopping experience with crafters, artists, gift shops and gastronomic surprises. Get into the Christmas spirit!
Open from 10am – 10pm.
Note – close at 8pm on 24 December, are closed 25 December, open 12pm 26 December and 1 January.

Santa Land
Santa Land, in East Princes Street Gardens, features a Christmas Tree Maze, the Santa Train, and family-friendly rides including the Race-a-Rama, Carousel, Helter Skelter, Ice Wall, Reindeer Ride, Crazy Cars and a Rollercoaster.

Edinburgh’s Giant Advent Calendar from 1st – 25th December 2017
2 Princes St, Edinburgh EH1 3YY
New this is Edinburgh’s giant Advent Calendar which will be projected onto General Register House, with 25 glimpses of Edinburgh Winters from years gone-by, one revealed each day throughout advent. Each day an archived image of Edinburgh dating back as far as 1700s will be animated and set to a soundscape reflective of that year. This wonderful new Festive display of Edinburgh’s Giant Advent Calendar will be projected on General Register House at varying times from 5.30pm to 10pm every day.
Free display

The Ice Adventure – A Journey Through Frozen Scotland from 17th November – 24th December 2017
New this year is this year the west end of George Street will transform into a winter wonderland of snow and ice for The Ice Adventure. This is an arctic installation of an immersive walk-through experience filled with spectacular ice and snow sculptures to take your breath away. Take a tour of Scotland with life-like ice sculptures of Vikings, fairies and Kelpies, Highland cows, eagles and Dolly the Sheep, Robert the Bruce, Mary Queen of Scots and Greyfriars Bobby, and of course the Loch Ness Monster! Supported by Shackleton Whisky, this attraction will also feature an ice bar.
With a setting of -10 C, be sure to wrap up!
Tickets from £7.00

Check out the full programme of events, times and dates at Edinburgh’s Christmas.

With our two great locations in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town in Victoria Street and the Canongate on the Royal Mile, the Oink team enjoy celebrity spotting particularly during the Edinburgh Festival but also benefit from being one of the prime locations for the many movies that are filmed in Edinburgh.  Recent movies filmed here have included One Day and Sunshine on Leith where key Edinburgh landmarks such as the Mound (scene of the song 500 miles) were showcased to a worldwide audience.  There is one film though that has been synonymous with Edinburgh for showing the darker side and that is Trainspotting and in the past few weeks the Oink team along with many in Edinburgh have been talking and spotting the filming taking place for the sequel likely to be called Porno (if it’s true to Irvine Welsh’s sequel book) which is due for release on the 27th January 2017.

All this movie talk got us thinking and we decided to take a look at what has been filmed at or near our two outlets.

Arthurs Seat
Edinburgh’s extinct volcano looks down on the city and particularly the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament (not forgetting our Oink Shop just up from the parliament on the Canongate) and is the scene of movies such as One Day, the 2004 version of Greyfriars Bobby, Battle of the Sexes starring Peter Seller and Chariots of Fire.

The Royal Mile
The Royal Mile linking Edinburgh Castle at the top to the Palace of Holyroodhouse at the bottom is a fabulous backdrop for films with the many closes going off the street and its rich history it is arguably a Directors dream location.  Films shot here include Cloud Atlas shot at the City Chambers where Frobisher (Ben Wishaw) escapes down a drainpipe leaving behind Sixsmith (James D’Arcy).  And in Parliament Square Emma, Dex and friends meet up after a long evening in One Day. It is also the Christmas Market scene in the 1996 film Jude.

The Grassmarket
This is the location for many movies and TV shows including Pramface, Complicity, Filth, Book of Blood, Outcast, Mausam and Taggart.  And an old movie but a classic is the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.  The Grassmarket is the scene in the film when Miss Jean Brodie (Maggie Smith) instructs her girls on Mary Queen of Scots and Mussolini two historical characters not often linked.

James McAvoy filming ‘Filth’ outside Oink on Victoria Street in Edinburgh

Victoria Street
Finally in Victoria Street we have seen quite a few films and TV filmed including James McAvoyy in Filth which was filmed just outside Oink allowing us to take the photo we have included in this article.  Other films shot here include One Day, Case Histories (which again gave viewers a clear shot of our Victoria Street Oink Shop) Driving Lessons starring Julie Walters and Cloud Atlas starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry.  Before our time but the 1986 Scottish Film Restless Natives was filmed here with a motorbike chase sequence right above Oink at Victoria Terrace.

We hope we have given you a flavour of some of the movies shot in Edinburgh.  If you would like more information VisitScotland in association with Film Edinburgh, This is Edinburgh and Transport Edinburgh have produced a Edinburgh Film Map so you can see Edinburgh through the lens of the Movie Camera as you travel around the city.

And if you do decide to do the Edinburgh Movie Trail and find yourself popping by our Canongate and Victoria Street Shops, then you have a great excuse to enjoy an Oink or a Grunter.  You might even spot a famous face while you are enjoying your roll.

It goes without saying that we are passionate about our delicious hog roasts and we know from feedback from you, our customers,  that you do too.  Our aim is to bring a quality natural product from the countryside to the city.  We love what we do at Oink and we do like to have fun while we are working.  So we thought we would write a wee blog piece with five fun facts about pork and an added bonus is that facts one and two also highlight the health benefits of eating pork too.

1.    Iron is a mineral often lacking in infants, teenagers and women. The iron in pork is easy for the body to absorb and also aids the absorption of iron from bread and vegetables.

2.    Pigs are the world’s most consumed animal and a third of that in the UK is made up of our favourite breakfast dish the bacon sandwich.

3.    The work “barbeque” originated with French-speaking pirates who called their Caribbean pork feast “de barbe et queue”. It translates to “from beard to tail,” reflecting the versatility of the hog.

4.    Pork has a high protein content (around 20%). Protein is important for muscle building and for keeping organs healthy.

5.    Finally pulled pork has its origins in the deep south of the United States, in places like North Carolina and Tennessee though at Oink like to think that we have made it our own here in the beautiful city of Edinburgh.  As a recent reviewer from Singapore recently said about Oink.

“Heavenly. This is a place that you have to visit if you are in Edinburgh. We walked pass Oink while walking up to the Edinburgh Castle and I told my wife that I have to eat here. So we did after visiting the castle. My oh my the Pull Pork Sandwiches are heavenly and I had mine with Haggis. It was one of my greatest meals while in UK. I am already dreaming of having it again.”

Summer in Edinburgh is always an exciting time as we rush towards August and the Edinburgh Festivals and of course the magnificent Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle.  Whether you are a resident of the City or like to visit on a day trip or are lucky enough to holiday here we thought it would be useful for you to have a handy guide to some of the highlights of this year’s summer events in Scotland’s Capital.

Exhibitions

National Museum Scotland
Fully Fashioned: The Pringle of Scotland Story
10th April – 16th August
As many of you know we live and farm in the Scottish Borders an area of rich farmland but also with a history of textiles and known for its cashmere production so it is great to see this being celebrated in this exhibition looking at one of the famous Border Textile Companies.

Photography: A Victorian Sensation
19th June – 22nd November
We love photos at Oink and benefit from the many customers who take photos of our Oink rolls.  In 2015 we tend to believe we own the selfie and the photo yet it was actually the Victorians who were arguably more photo mad than us thought they didn’t benefit from an Oink rolls.

National Galleries of Scotland
Have two main exhibitions on.  One “Lee Miller and Picasso” she photographed him over 1,000 times and he drew 6 painting of him.  You can decide if that was a fair swap.  There is also the Roy Lichtenstein exhibition who was one of the most radical and influential artists of the twentieth century and you are bound to recognise his work.

Edinburgh Festivals

Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival
17th – 26th July
It’s the one which gets our party started with some jazz which like the others attracts international talent.

Edinburgh Art Festival
30th July to 30th August
Celebrating visual art across the city.

Edinburgh International Festival
7th – 31st August
The original and World Class the Edinburgh Festival takes some beating.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival
7th – 31st August
It’s a bucket list must the iconic Edinburgh Fringe with shows and street performances across the City.  We love it and we are proud to say that many of the performers love us too and come back to visit for an Oink year after year.

Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo
7th – 29th August
The bagpipes, Edinburgh Castle and some amazing international acts a hard one to beat.

Edinburgh International Book Festival
15th – 31st August
Listening to your favourite author and then getting their new book then a Oink roll to help the reading process a perfect day perhaps?

Thank you to all who have entered our recent competition on Facebook to name our new mascot which is in our Victoria Street shop.

and the winning name and runner ups are;

(1)    Notorious P.I.G
(2)    Truffles
(3)    Orwell

Oink Mascot in our Victoria Street Shop – can you spot it?

The winners were drawn at our team meeting on Monday the 11 May.

We would like to thank everyone for your suggestions, great names and the selection process will not be easy.

We have excluded no one and all names are in the running.  The competition really is just a bit of fun and other that using our Facebook account to ask for your suggestions, it has nothing to do with Facebook, nor are Facebook involved in anyway.

The winners will be contacted by private message, and here is the prizes that they will receive;

The winner will receive a Oink Hoodie and a voucher for a grunter
2nd prize, Oink T shirt and a Oink voucher
3rd prize Oink Hat and Piglet voucher