Picture by Arthur Jones
By Bill Heaney
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has announced the reopening of Dumbarton Castle.
Dumbarton Castle and Rothesay Castle – just in case you happen to be heading Doon the Watter – opened last Wednesday, with more ticketed sites set to reopen across the remainder of the summer.
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.
“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 an 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.
Tickets should be booked online in advance from the HES website and are now on sale for the sites opening in May, and tickets for sites opening in June available soon.
www.restarthistory.scot
The French Prison and Eagle Rock and the Flagpole at Dumbarton Castle where there are supposed to be 365 steps to the very top. Check it out this summer.