Visitor Centre

Our visitor centre, the Fair Maid's House, is in the city centre of Perth next to our headquarters. It is the Geographical Heart of Scotland and everyone is welcome to visit. Our 2020 opening hours are as follows:

Summer Opening Suspended Due to Coronavirus.

Please check back here for updates. Many thanks for your understanding.

Groups can request a special visit at other times. Admission is by donation to RSGS.

The centre is manned entirely by volunteers, so if you are planning a special journey you may wish to check in advance that it will be open. Email us or phone us on 01738 455050 for further information about visiting, or to ask about being a volunteer guide.

The renovation of the Fair Maid’s House to create a centre of excellence for geography in Scotland would not have been possible without the generous support of the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Regeneration Fund, Perth & Kinross Council, Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust, Perth Common Good Fund, The Gannochy Trust, The Forteviot Charitable Trust, Thomson Charitable Trust, J K Cairncross Charitable Trust, The Guildry Incorporation of Perth, The Glover Incorporation of Perth, and RSGS members and supporters. We are grateful to them all for helping us to realise this project.

Conserving Heritage Fund

The Conserving Heritage Fund supports the costs of conserving and making accessible items in the RSGS collections.

Latest

Sustainable Perth Conference 2020

Perth has a quality of environment and landscape that few cities can match and makes it one of the healthiest places in the country to live, work and grow up. Being one of the smallest of the seven cities in Scotland, there is a real opportunity to lead and showcase sustainable solutions and become the envy of Europe.
Net Zero: Is Hydrogen Over-Hyped?

"I believe that hydrogen has a limited role in decarbonisation, and that businesses with a vested interest in promoting hydrogen are doing so at the expense of British consumers," writes Tom Baxter, Professor of Chemical Engineering
Litter in Lancashire: How Covid-19 Has Accelerated the UK’s Litter Problem

"Litter has been yet another victim of the Covid-19 pandemic. As more people have ventured out into the great British countryside, their litter has followed," writes Laura Brown, a Geography Student from Lancaster University.
October 2020

October e-newsletter of the RSGS: Jeremy Bowen, Farming for 1.5, Perth Conference, Teach Meet, Climate Emergency Summit on Food, GeoQuizzical, Festival of Politics, Inspiring People At Home

RSGS People

We are associated with some amazing people - explorers, adventurers, travellers, photographers, writers, humanitarians, scientists, journalists...
Public Events

Our Inspiring People talks in 2020 will all be held virtually, via Zoom. Details here.

Departing the Island on 'The Edge of the World’

"Ninety years ago, on August 29, 1930, the last 36 residents of St Kilda were evacuated. Huddled on HMS Harebell they were conveyed from Village Bay on Hirta to mainland Scotland." Writes Collections Volunteer, Kenny Maclean FRSGS.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland: An Interview

After 14 years, Mike Robinson stepped down from the charity coalition he established: Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. In this interview with Jo Woolf, he speaks about his lifelong passion for environmental issues and his hopes for the future.
An Evening with Jeremy Bowen

In his talk, Jeremy will provide riveting anecdotes from a life reporting on the front line, with insight from dictators, fanatics and fundamentalists, as well as ordinary people caught up in their dangerous exploits. Expect Jeremy to cast a welcome light onto some of the most complex areas of the world.
Shackleton at the RSGS: A Sketch

This is an attempt to explain why there are no newspaper cuttings in the RSGS archives from early 1904 until late 1905. This is approximately the length of Shackleton’s tenure as Secretary...
What an Emergency Looks Like

"In the case of coronavirus, despite some amount of confusion, at least we now know what an emergency response looks like," writes Mike Robinson, Chief Executive of RSGS.
COP26 Postponed

"Postponing the relevant UN COPs was inevitable, but we need to see them as essential pre-planning, and re-schedule them as soon as circumstance allows," writes Mike Robinson, RSGS Chief Executive.
Erskine Beveridge: the Dunfermline Geographer

"Beveridge's photographs could be dismissed as a romantic view of Scotland but, as well as castles and mountains, they also capture a historical geography and social history..." writes Bruce Gittings FRSGS
An Interview with Levison Wood

“It’s about showing what a region is really like through the eyes of the people who live there.” Explorer Levison Wood speaks to RSGS Writer-in-Residence, Jo Woolf.
An Interview with Calum Maclean

For our Young Geographer magazine published in 2019, our team of Editors sat down with BBC presenter and wild-swimmer Calum Maclean. The magazine article was published in Gaelic, but we're pleased to share the English version online!
The Climate Emergency: One Year On

"Although coronavirus is quite rightly dominating our thoughts and immediate concerns, the climate emergency hasn't gone away." An interview with Mike Robinson and Professor Dave Reay.