Hard shell bid by home owners

We very much hope she can stay but if the new owners feel they would rather not keep her we would get in touch with Edinburgh Zoo Monica Gibb

An expensive Victorian house has gone on the market in Edinburgh with an unusual additional feature - a tortoise.

The listed property in Morningside is owned by actress Monica Gibb and businessman David Graveson, and has an asking price of £520,000.

Tortie the tortoise has lived in the spacious walled gardens of Nile Grove since WWII.

The couple are leaving 60-year-old Tortie behind because they fear the shock of moving her would be too much to bear.

Ms Gibb, who played Mary Raeburn in the BBC series Two Thousand Acres of Sky, said: "We are not deserting Tortie. We are handing her on because we feel we were just her keepers.

"It's not that we don't want to have Tortie. It is for the tortoise's own good.

"She has lived here for many years in this safe environment and she knows where to hibernate and to take her away would be cruel."

Fruit-eating 'pet'

Ms Gibb, Mr Graveson and their two children Emma and Matthew adopted Tortie when they moved into the house in 1986.

The previous owners looked after her for 14 years. Before that she lived two doors down but was re-housed when the owners moved on.

Ms Gibb said: "She came out of hibernation in the compost heap in spring 1987 and has provided years of enjoyment to our children.

Tortie enjoys a grape in her back garden

"She's really very self-sufficient. She does her own thing and eats the fruit from our plum trees and apple trees as well as the red currants that grow in the garden."

Ms Gibb said the house had already attracted "some interest" although not because of Tortie.

She said: "Nobody knew about her before and now the whole world knows. We can't believe it. It really is unbelievable."

If prospective buyers had a particular aversion to tortoises the couple said they would take her away.

"We very much hope she can stay but if the new owners feel they would rather not keep her we would get in touch with Edinburgh Zoo to advise us about how best we could look after her."