3 to 19 November · Aberdeen
Signature Food Festival
Some of the UK's most celebrated chefs are heading north this November, and you don't need a trip to London to taste their cooking.
Santa Specials at the Royal Deeside Railway
29–20November to December
A steam train, a mince pie and a visit to Santa is a lovely way to start Christmas, and the Royal Deeside Railway at Milton of Crathes does it beautifully. On selected Saturdays and Sundays from 29 November to 20 December, you collect your refreshments on the platform and ride the steam train down the line beside the Dee, with festive singing along the way. Back at the station, the children meet Santa in his grotto and get a present picked for their age. Each train takes no more than 25 children, and the whole trip lasts 30 to 45 minutes. Tickets are only sold online in advance, and there's free parking at the station.
When29 November to 20 December
Crathes, in Aberdeenshire
Also on in November.
4 November · Dundee
David Bowie: On Tour
The V&A holds Bowie's own archive – eighty thousand items of costume, lyric sheets, instruments, photographs and notes – and this is the first big showing of it in Scotland.
Art and exhibitions
4 November · Banchory
Maisie Adam: Whatsherface at The Barn
You'll know Maisie Adam from Taskmaster, A League of Their Own and Last One Laughing, and on Wednesday 4 November you can see her up close at The Barn in Banchory.