Where to Stay in Livingston, Scotland

What is Livingston known for?

Designation in 1962 made Livingston the fourth post-war new town in Scotland, and the plan drew the old villages of the River Almond into a single West Lothian town. Shale oil came before that. The Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry and the Almond Valley Heritage Centre hold that record, and the Almond Valley Light Railway carries the same theme.

Five Sisters Zoo pulls the family traffic. Mid Calder keeps the older frontages on Bank Street.

What are the main landmarks in Livingston?

Five Sisters Zoo and the Almond Valley Heritage Centre are the two day-out addresses, and the Almond Valley Light Railway belongs with them. Older ground belongs to the kirks. Mid Calder Parish Church, Livingston Parish Church on Kirk Lane and St Andrew's Church divide it between them, while Calder House and the Calder witch memorial plaque sit at the Mid Calder end.

Houses fill the rest: Linhouse, Murieston House, Alderston House, Limefield House and Newpark, with Brewery House and Main Point on the Mid Calder streets. The Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry closes it.

What is the history of Livingston?

Mid Calder came long before the plan. Calder House, Mid Calder Parish Church and the frontages along Bank Street, Main Street and Pumpherston Road belong to that older settlement, and the Calder witch memorial plaque marks a darker part of its record. Linhouse, Murieston House, Alderston House, Limefield House and Newpark stand from the same country period, and Livingston Parish Church on Kirk Lane still marks Livingston Village.

Shale oil followed. The Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry keeps that chapter, and the Almond Valley Heritage Centre and Almond Valley Light Railway carry the same valley name. Designation came in 1962.

Livingston was the fourth post-war new town built in Scotland, laid out from 1963 across ground that then lay in Midlothian as well as West Lothian, and it took its name from the village it absorbed. St Andrew's Church is on that list too. The town grew to be the largest in West Lothian, with Broxburn and Bathgate near neighbours and Edinburgh and Glasgow both within reach on either side.

The River Almond kept its line through all of it, and the older names on Bank Street and Kirk Lane survived the plan rather than being cleared for it.

Where is Livingston?

The River Almond runs through it, and the new town was laid out along its banks in what were then the counties of Midlothian and West Lothian. Edinburgh lies about fifteen miles east. Glasgow sits roughly thirty miles the other way, with Broxburn close to the north-east and Bathgate to the north-west, so Livingston sits inside a ring of West Lothian towns.

Mid Calder and Livingston Village hold the older ground.

What is the climate of Livingston?

The River Almond sets the pattern. Air settling along the valley holds frost on the low ground at Mid Calder and Livingston Village while the open country toward Bathgate and Broxburn clears sooner. Summers run temperate rather than hot, and rain is spread across the year, which is why the Almond Valley Heritage Centre and the Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry earn their keep.

Five Sisters Zoo wants a dry day.

How do you get to Livingston?

Edinburgh and Glasgow sit on either side, about fifteen miles east and thirty miles west, which puts Livingston within an easy run of both and on the road between them. Broxburn lies north-east. Bathgate lies north-west of the town, so the West Lothian neighbours are closer than either city.

Once inside, Livingston Village and Mid Calder are the two old centres worth aiming for, and the Almond Valley Heritage Centre takes its name from the same river. Five Sisters Zoo is the other stop.