
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Edinburgh Trail: The Childhood Years
Walking Tour
About the Tour
This walking tour shows you Edinburgh’s New Town through the eyes of Scotland’s greatest author, Robert Louis Stevenson. We’ll take a journey back through the first 16 years of his unusual life.
We’ll turn our back on the Castle and Old Town, to explore parts of the New Town that had so recently been completed. We’ll end the tour at the house where he was born.
Your guide is one of Scotland’s legends of the stage and screen, John Shedden, and the multi-talented Vincent Guy is the voice of Stevenson reading snippets from his writing.
Stevenson eventually left Edinburgh, never to return. But he was forever inspired by his memories of home, and of his childhood.
On this tour you can look forward to hearing about:
• A number of the up-and-coming Stevenson family’s homes
• The inspiration for The Child’s Garden of Verses
• The inspiration for some of its best loved poems: The Lamplighter, Keepsake Mill and Windy Nights
• The schools he went to and the unusual patchwork of education that fed his fertile young mind and set him on the path to being an author
• Some of his early writing and thoughts about being an author
This tour is part of a series of walks around Edinburgh dedicated to the life of the celebrated author. You can find the others by searching under Edinburgh or by selecting my author profile and seeing all my tours there.
Tour Producer

Martin White
Major Landmarks
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Princes Street Gardens
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Edinburgh Castle
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Heriot Row/New Town
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Edinburgh Academy
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Cannonmills
Directions to Starting Point
Enter West Princes Street gardens and towards of the West of them, and west of the bandstand, you will readily see the prominent fountain. The start of the trail is just to its south east. Note: At the end of the tour a short bus journey up to the top of the Mound takes you very close to the start of the University Years tour
Tips
Places to stop along the way
Princes Street Gardens, Cannonmills
Best time of day
West Princes Street Gardens need to be open. They usually open early until late; but please check. They are occasionally closed for special events.
Precautions
The area is safe. Be careful when crossing roads.
A wonderful walk through Edinburgh’s new town with fascinated details of RLS’s early life and places of education.