Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS), the much loved teller of tales, based many of his poems in his ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’ on his boyhood experiences in Colinton.
He often stayed with his grandfather, Dr. Lewis Balfour, the minister of Colinton Parish Church.
So please follow this route and walk in the footsteps of RLS reading his poems and visit his statue and the location of his childhood swing at the church.
From the top of the steps start walking down, taking note of the first RLS information board on your left. This is just for general information.
Carry on walking down the steps and you will then come across the following three boards on your right hand side.
Summer Sun & The Moon
In the poem ‘Summer Sun’, how many words are in the last line of the third verse? = A
The Flowers
How many fairies are on the board? = B
The Gardener
Either side of the Gardener there are flowers. On one side only count the stems. = C
Next go to N55° 54.505 W003° 15.380
Looking-glass River
Add together the amount of otters and birds that are on the board. = D
Next go to N55° 54.515 W003° 15.380
The Statue
There isn’t any information to gather here, but I would be remiss not to bring you to the statue of RLS as a boy. Behind him there is also another board with further information.
Next go to N55° 54.531 W003° 15.351
The Swing
Yet again no information to gather here, but on the window is his poem The Swing.
When open, (Monday to Friday between 10am and 2pm) go into The Swing café and go to the rear window. Here you will find another information board and out of the window you can see the Yew tree which held the swing. The current swing certainly isn’t the original swing that RLS played on, but take note of the metal clamps holding it in place. These most certainly are the original clamps used to hang the swing from.
The swing is in a private garden which is not accessible and can only be viewed from the café window.
Next go to N55° 54.546 W003° 15.388
Keepsake Mill
How many words are in the first line of the third verse? = E
Nest Eggs
How many standing fully grown birds are there? = F
Final Location
The cache can be found at the following co-ordinates N55° 54.ABC W003° 15.DEF
This cache is placed with permission from the Cemeteries Team Leader, Edinburgh City Council and with the knowledge of the Minister of the Colinton Parish Church.