Teacher Tender Comrade Wife: The Life of Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson

Lauriston Castle hosts a talk on the life of Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson on Wednesday 28 October, starting at 10:30am. It's part of the Lauriston Castle Lectures, a series of friendly mornings with guest speakers that look at Victorian and Edwardian life. The talk itself runs for about an hour and fifteen minutes, and both the lecture and the coffee and cake that follow are included in the price.

If you've never been, Lauriston Castle is a 16th-century tower house with Victorian extensions and early 20th-century interiors, set in gardens with views across the Firth of Forth. Inside are collections of fine furniture, ceramics and the personal belongings of its wealthy owners, left to the city by the Reids, the castle's last Edwardian residents. 2026 marks the centenary of the castle being left to the nation, and this year's programme leans heavily on the 1920s — there's even a sitting-room newspaper on display that reports the sinking of the Titanic.

You can go for the lecture alone, or add a tour of the castle to make a full morning of it. The tour takes the total time to around two hours, and both options include coffee and cake. If you're staying on, there's Mimi's café on-site for lunch afterwards. The lecture is £10, and the lecture plus tour is £16. The castle is at 2a Cramond Rd S, Edinburgh EH4 6AD.