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East Lothian Life captures the very essence of this beautiful county – its people, history, towns, villages, and future, in a quarterly glossy independent magazine, combining lifestyle with local interest. With a stimulating choice of diverse articles and features, every issue covers many aspects of life in East Lothian, past and present.

Well-researched and beautifully written, East Lothian Life is an outstanding example of a county magazine with a truly profound understanding of the county it represents. We work with a team of writers who live locally and have a strong local insight, enabling us to bring content for our readers on the people and places that make East Lothian so unique. Whatever your interest, East Lothian Life’s blend of editorial coupled with a strong sense of heritage captures the faces, places, pastimes and pursuits, which make up this wonderful county. Renowned for its wide-ranging, compelling content, the articles very rarely date and can be constantly referred to.

Highly Commended for six years running by the prestigious PPA Scottish Magazines ‘Best Small Publishing Company’.

Current Issue

Issue 135,
Autumn 2026

Letter from the editor

Autumn is more subtle than summer, less insistent in its arrival. I always know it has arrived, though, when I hear the geese honking overhead – a sudden, familiar reminder to look up and realise the season is changing. So although the leaves are turning and the brambles are mostly eaten, we shouldn’t mourn autumn’s arrival. It is full of new beginnings, too. 

So much of the approach to autumn in literature has a dying fall: ‘Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;’ as Emily Brontë wrote – and it is easy to think of the season as an ending. Yet the poem continues: ‘Every leaf speaks bliss to me.’ There is something lovely in that contradiction, and it is a feeling that runs through this issue. Dr James Herring explores the beauty of autumn, weaving together seasonal observations with literary quotations, celebrating the dramatic colours produced by ageing leaves, beautifully captured on our cover.

For me, there is always a slight pang when the swallows leave. As a horse owner, one of the great pleasures of summer is seeing them return to my stables year after year, and watching their fledglings take their first, slightly chaotic flights. But there is something equally wonderful about watching them gather, waiting for the signal to go. And, as Richard English writes, autumn also heralds the arrival on our shores of one of nature’s greatest travellers – the knot.

September always brings that unmistakeable back-to-school feeling. Even for those of us who now have nothing to do with schools, there is a sense of starting again – new books, new clothes, new thoughts. We’ve embraced that feeling of newness in this issue too, with two new regular features.
In Bikes and Bakes, Tom Brownlee explores the finest cycle routes across East Lothian and beyond, where coffee and cake are always part of the journey. And in East Lothian Lives, Gillian Harris celebrates the people behind the county, beginning with King’s Police Medal recipient Rhona Meikle.

Elsewhere, Diana Turner uncovers the best of food and drink in Haddington, while James Hendrie takes us further afield to celebrate the ultimate autumn occasion – Halloween at Disneyland Paris. For those drawn to art and culture, step behind the scenes of Dunbar’s flourishing creative community or discover work by one of the giants of the second generation of postwar American Abstract Expressionists, Jon Schueler, alongside four artists whose practice is equally shaped by the sea and landscape. And, of course, we have all our regular features too – from antiques and interiors to gardening and wine, history and travel to fashion and motoring.

So yes, autumn is here. The swallows are gathering, the leaves are turning, and there is a feeling of something beginning again. And that, I think, is cause for celebration.

Cover:
View across the lake on the Gosford estate © Michael Harvey

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