Hillend is a small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...

, just outside the Scottish capital

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, best known for the

Hillend Ski Centre The Midlothian Snowsports Centre, formerly the Hillend Ski Centre, is the second longest dry ski slope in Europe, situated near Hillend near Edinburgh, South East Scotland. It is a national training centre for Scottish Olympians, with 29 having ...

, an

artificial ski slope A dry ski slope or artificial ski slope is a ski slope that mimics the attributes of snow using materials that are stable at room temperature, to enable people to skiing, ski, snowboarding, snowboard or Tubing (recreation)#Snow, snow tube in pla ...

. It is near the boundary between the area administered by Midlothian and the

City of Edinburgh The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

, and gains its name for being situated on the nub end of the

Pentland Hills The Pentland Hills are a range of hills southwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around in length, and runs southwest from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale. Etymology The name is first recorded for the farm of Pentlan ...

. It was the site of a fort, but all the stone has been removed and the land is now cultivated. There is also Swanston Golf Course and Lothianburn Golf Course. The area is dominated by the

Edinburgh city bypass The Edinburgh City Bypass, designated as A720, is one of the most important trunk roads in Scotland. Circling around the south of Edinburgh, as the equivalent of a ring road for the coastal city, it links together the A1 towards north-east Eng ...

. Hillend is well suited to paragliding and is flyable in NE and SE winds, although care needs to be taken when landing in the relatively small landing field. It is also a very well known camping spot among teenagers in Edinburgh.

References

External links

Villages in Midlothian {{Midlothian-geo-stub