Doors Open Days - East Lothian
Scotland's annual Doors Open Days festival gives you free access to lots of fascinating buildings across East Lothian! This year's event will be held on 27th & 28th September!
About Doors Open Days - East Lothian
Doors Open Days is Scotland’s largest free festival that celebrates heritage and the built environment, new and old. Every September, you can explore hundreds of fascinating buildings across Scotland for free. Some open up once a year, some just once in a lifetime.
Doors Open Days is a national event run by the Scottish Civic Trust. Information about the national programme, including event listings, can be found at www.doorsopendays.org.uk.
Programme Highlights:
Amisfield Walled Garden
27 September 2025
28 September 2025
Amisfield Walled Garden is one of the largest walled kitchen gardens in Scotland. Enclosed by 16 foot high stone walls, and with an ornamental circular pavilion in each corner, the garden was built to impress visitors to the estate as well as delivering a steady supply of fresh fruit and vegetables to the house.
Dunbar Town House Museum and Gallery
27 September 2025
28 September 2025
With its distinctive witch's hat tower and its bell, clock and sun dials, Dunbar Town House has been the focus of town life since the 16th century. The building is home to a museum and gallery on the ground floor with changing historical and art exhibitions as well as a local history display area and research room managed by Dunbar and District History Society. Our staff are always on hand to chat about the town and the history of the building.
National Museum of Flight
27 September 2025
Visit the museum for free over Doors Open Days East Lothian weekend and learn about the history of aviation from the First World War to the present day. Immerse yourself in interactive galleries, supersonic experiences and our historic hangars and airfield. Get on board Concorde to discover what transatlantic flight was like for its passengers and crew and learn more about its supersonic legacy.
Newhailes House and Gardens, National Trust for Scotland
new
27 September 2025
28 September 2025
Newhailes is a beautiful 18th-century villa set in the outskirts of Edinburgh. It was the home of the Dalrymple family for several centuries, and has been in the care of the National Trust for Scotland since 1997. Careful conservation techniques have frozen the property in time, preserving the house as it was when it was acquired by the Trust.
Prestongrange Museum
27 September 2025
28 September 2025
For over 400 years Prestongrange was a focus of industry. A harbour, glass works, pottery, colliery and brickworks have all left their marks on the landscape including winding gear, a vast brick kiln and a Cornish beam engine. The site Visitor Centre is open in the summer months (current opening hours are noted below). There is an exhibition about the site and a free audio tour available using headsets borrowed from the Visitor Centre or on your mobile phone.
St Mary's Parish Church, Haddington
27 September 2025
28 September 2025
14th century St Mary’s, has cathedral proportions and is 206 feet long. By 1549, it was roofless and ruined with pock-marked walls from musket/ cannon fire during the Siege of Haddington. The town could only afford to repair the west end which was reroofed and repaired to allow services to be held. A huge barrier wall hid the ruined, forlorn east end.It stayed that way for over 400 years until a huge scheme allowed a complete restoration; by 1973, the church was again whole!
Thorntree 1038 Masonic Lodge
27 September 2025
28 September 2025
Set in the heart of Prestonpans, Lodge Thorntree 1038 has been present in the local area since 1908 as a Masonic lodge in various places around the town. Since the 1950s in our current building, just off the high street.
Where possible we will update our listings to notify of cancelled, postponed and rescheduled events, however we STRONGLY ADVISE that you check with the venue/organiser in the first instance for updates.
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