Edinburgh’s five-star walking tour company, Mercat Tours, has launched its first experience for children: Ghosts, Gore and Grime.

The daytime tour, which is suitable for all the family, will include ghoulish stories from Edinburgh’s past and a visit to the city’s famous Blair Street Underground Vaults. Running at weekends from Saturday 1 April – and weekdays during school holidays – it will focus on what life was like for families during Edinburgh’s grimy past, especially kids, who were regularly put to work.

With tales of stinking streets, terrible tortures and ghostly goings-on, the tour will thrill young visitors with stories of bodysnatching, infamous witches, horrible murders and Edinburgh’s cry of “Gardyloo”.

Kat Brogan, managing director at Mercat Tours, commented: “We’ve collected all the horrible stories we know kids love to hear in our latest tour! Ghosts, Gore and Grime brings the grisly history of Edinburgh to the younger visitors, with children aged 5 and up all welcome. It brings the sights and smells of our city to life and gives them the chance to interact by handling real, historic objects and belongings, allowing them to experience what family life would have been like in the Blair Street Underground Vaults.”

The new tour will begin on 1 April and will take place every Saturday and Sunday, 10 – 11.15am. The tour will also run weekdays over school holiday periods.

Prices for the tour: Adult £13, Student & Seniors £11, Child £8, Family £34.