Historic Environment Scotland is set to re-open more of the sites it manages as we continue to ease out of restrictions.

Tickets should be booked online in advance from the HES website and are now on sale for the sites opening in May, with tickets coming online for June next month.

To book and for more information on further HES sites reopening, visit: restarthistory.scot

Monday May 24th

• Broch of Gurness, Orkney
• Bonawe Iron Furnace, Argyll
• Spynie Palace, Moray

Note of warning – Moray and Glasgow are still in Level 3 restrictions so visitors should not be travelling to or from those areas.

Friday June 4th

• Dundrennan Abbey,Dumfries and Galloway
• Edzell Castle, Angus

Monday June 21st

• Bothwell Castle,South Lanarkshire
• Elcho Castle and Huntington Tower,Perth
• Kildrummy Castle,Aberdeenshire
• Maeshowe visitor centre, Orkney

The Maeshowe chambered tomb itself will remain closed due to space restrictions required under current COVID guidelines. Visitors, however, will be able to enjoy an introductory talk highlighting Orkney’s heritage, interpretation of Maeshowe tomb and its world heritage Ranger base as well as the on-site facilities and shop. Tickets for the visitor experience should be booked in advance via the HES website.

Wednesday June 30

Dumbarton Castle and Rothesay Castle,

Alex Paterson, Chief Executive of HES said:

“We are pleased to announce even more of our sites reopening up and down the country, providing visitors with the opportunity to enjoy much loved heritage attractions once again.

“We are opening a further 13 of our ticketed sites to visitors over May and June, including a number of seasonal sites, joining over 70% of our attractions which opened at the end of April with additional sites to follow.

“With over 5,000 years of history in our care, we’ve adopted a phased approach to reopening, providing as diverse a mix of attractions as possible, as well as reviewing and implementing the individual reopening requirements of each site, in line with Scottish Government guidance. We are now looking forward to welcoming visitors back to even more sites, providing further opportunity to enjoy Scotland’s diverse and globally renowned historic environment.”

As before, safety measures will be in place at all sites, with visitors wearing face coverings in indoor locations and in some enclosed spaces where social distancing can’t be easily maintained. There will also be initial capacity management on numbers and one-way systems will be in place in some locations. For the parts of several sites where access is currently restricted, a programme of agile interpretation has been developed which can be accessed via QR codes and includes digital film or audio to further enhance the visitor experience.

All sites will follow the HES minimum operating standards, which were developed to set a benchmark for the safe reopening of historic sites and resumption of operational activities.