We will be travelling to Scotland this summer with our kids ages 9, 12. We are going to be in Edinburgh for 2 days, Inverness for 3 days, then down to Glasgow for 1 night then spending 2 days in York and flying out of Manchester. We will be driving most of the trip. It seems like there are dozens of castles we could see, but I'd like to narrow it down to a few "must-see" castles that the kids would really enjoy. I don't want to overwhelm them with castle tours! My son is really into historical weaponry, if that helps.
Posted by
Yorkshire
1342 posts
Also might also want to check the museumn in Leeds
http://www.royalarmouries.org/
Depending on your glasgow-york route
Maybe the Hermitage in the Borders, or Bolton Castle in the Dales
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
What Richard said about the Leeds museum. It's one of the really good ones.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
What a great trip!
Start with Edinburgh Castle. It's the biggest and has lots of great exhibits include the honors of Scotland.
My second Castle would be Stirling Castle. This castle is very large an has interesting exhibits as well. When I was there one time, there actors who were soldiers and some kids got to try to put on a kilt. Also, the Kitchen is quite good. Here's the link to the Castle's site. http://www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk/ You should check it out to see what's going on. They are doing a lot of renovation, but there is plenty to see. You might want to also check out Argyle's Lodgings also in Stirling. You can leave your car in the Castle Car park and be there in a very short walk. BTW on the way in you might stop off at the Bannockburn site. Not much to see, but interesting historically. Also, on the Scott memorial is interesting to climb. But watch the kids at the top. There are no guard rails. The climb is good, but with really tight spiral staircases. The view is fantastic and you can see why the battle went the way it did.
Are any of you Monty Python fans? Just northeast of Stirling is Castle Doune where they filmed the Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was good one to explore with a high tower to climb.
Also, Blackness Castle on the Firth of Forth is very good.
On the way north to Inverness, Blair Castle is a good visit. http://www.blair-castle.co.uk/
In the Inverness area both Cawdor Castle and Urqhart Castles are good. The latter is a ruin. Of course, you can Fort George which is interesting as well and its still in service!
The famous Eilean Donan Castle is in the west and if you do a day trip to Skye would be nice visit.
There are a lot of castles in Scotland. I've mentioned ones that I've been to that are near your locations. I've been to others. PM me if you have more questions. It is easy to get into castle overload!
Pam
Posted by
Utah
455 posts
would definitely recommend stirling and edinburgh castles. our boys enjoy ruins more than restored castles and loved urquhart castle and linlithgow palace as you can climb and explore. we also enjoyed the bannockburn heritage center where you can hear a presentation from a knight and try on chain mail.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
i should have mentioned Linlithgow. I agree it's terrific with lots of rooms and towers and passageways to explore.
Another one, in the other direction is St. Andrew's Castle. It even has a mine that you can down in. Really cool. All the time I was exploring I kept wishing my nephews and nieces were with me!
Blair Castle, Cawdor and Eilean Donan are "furnished" or restored I guess would be a better word. Doune is made for exploration and has a huge curtain wall. Blackness it also one where you can explore.
You should look at the Historic Scotland website. Historic Scotland is less into restoration and more into archeology.
Pam
Posted by
Edmonton, AB, Canada
668 posts
I think Pamela meant the Wallace Monument, from which you can see Bannockburn. The Scott Monument is in Princess Street Gardens, Edinburgh.
Posted by
Fort Wayne, IN, USA
2349 posts
If you feel the movies are appropriate for your kids, you might watch "Rob Roy" and "Braveheart" with them. Also, maybe better for their age, on PBS a few yrs ago was a production of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Kidnapped." There were scenes of Scotland, with the characters running around the Highlands. Pretty cool.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
Yes, I did mean the Wallace Monument. I was even looking at the website, but still typed Scott. It's a very Victorian monument, but worth the climb to see the view. Also, there is a display with the history of the battle.
Rob Roy has a very powerful rape scene in it.
Pam
Posted by
Utah
455 posts
we loved st andrews castle too. i would be judicious in what parts of either braveheart or rob roy i let a 9 or 12 yr old see.
not castle related but we found clava cairns near inverness very interesting. and near stirling is the falkirk wheel which is cool. the "harry potter bridge" (glenfinnan viadict) was fun for us as well.