Most Friday afternoons, while my teenage daughter is volunteering at Muirfield Riding Therapy at West Fenton, I go with her two younger siblings, and our dog Ceilidh, on a walk. For the past eight months, we have taken the same woodland path.

I hadn’t intended for us to go on the same walk every week, but my younger kids feel it has become part of a tradition, and it is conveniently not too far from the riding centre.

So, with a few exceptions, every Friday afternoon since October last year, we have ventured along Bickerton’s Walk and Postman’s Walk near Aberlady.

On the juncture of these walks, there is a ruined 13th-century Carmelite friary.

It’s a hidden historic gem, for a medieval knight’s tomb is part of the ruins. It’s not in great condition, but it is over 700 years old.

Mystery surrounds the identity of the knight laid to rest here; is it John Bickerton, who held Luffness Castle in the late 13th century, or is it someone else?

Local tradition has leant towards it being Bickerton’s tomb, but there have been suggestions it’s the resting place of Sir David Lindsay.

Who was he? Well, if you are intrigued you should seek out the very informative article written by Damien Noonan on the subject which you can find at awesomeaberlady.com

As Damien suggests, we may never know the answer for sure. But for me, that adds to the atmosphere of the ruins. A mystery always adds to the intrigue of a place.

It’s hard to make out the layout of what was once there, but it would have been a place of busy activity in its heyday.

The ruins have a tranquil setting now, surrounded by towering oak and sycamore trees. Despite this, the tomb is often lit by the sun.

Last year, when we first established this walking ‘tradition’, the kids initially felt the ruins had an eerie atmosphere.

It was autumn and perhaps the feelings were created by the dying light of late autumn days.

In winter, dead leaves covered the ruins and bare branches arched over them, like sinister giant skeletons, casting long shadows in the twilight. Yes, it was a bit eerie.

But despite this, the children were still drawn to this place, for they said it also had a mysterious fairy tale atmosphere and, as my eight-year-old son pointed out, most fairy tales need an element of eerie sinisterness.

The mystery surrounding the tomb prompted their imagination and we have told many a story while sitting there, on medieval stones which hold their secrets tightly.

As the weeks and months went by, winter slowly gave way to spring and the afternoons got brighter, and the wood came alive.

Spring colour replaced winter grey, the trees were no longer skeletal but adorned with their summer canopy and full of singing birds. Eeriness gave way to enchantment.

I soon realised our traditional Friday walk was a perfect way to experience nature’s cycle and the transformation it brings.

We’d stop at the same places and try to find what had grown or changed.

Soon, the kids were noticing when different wildflowers arrived, the first butterfly, the first time an elder tree flowered, and how the yew trees which had given colour and company in winter seemed now to be less dominant.

When the hawthorn bloomed, covering the fringes of the wood with bright colour, it brought a new magic to the walk. The flowers seemed to literally glisten in the summer sunshine.

The wood’s enchantment has hooked my kids. When I wondered if they’d like to go on a different walk last week, I was met with immediate howls of protest.

“We will miss the changes in the wood!” I was told.

“It’s our Friday tradition! We want to see the ruins and the fishponds!”

The fishponds have become an attraction too. They are now clogged up with rank grass and weeds, but the kids like the way the sun casts shadows on their green surface.

In medieval times, they would have supplied the friars with fresh fish to eat on religious meat-free days such as Fridays.

When I explained this to my youngest daughter Skye, she wanted to know the reason for eating fish on Fridays.

After I explained the religious tradition, her eyes sparkled with an idea.

“Well dad, we always go on this walk on Fridays, and that is our tradition, so maybe we should have fish and chips after we pick up our sister?”

And she added: “I mean, it is a Friday, isn’t it, and eating fish on Fridays is a tradition too?”

She doesn’t miss a trick.