Scottish History on a budget
Exploring Scotland's Heritage quickly and cheaply
Historic Scotland have responded to market demands by offering an explorer pass which allows the user unlimited access to all of their managed properties within a certain time period (depending on what option you choose). Having purchased one of these tickets for this very purpose, this article suggests just how much you can see in the one day from a starting point of Edinburgh.
The Area Attractions
For the purposes of this article, the area chosen was East Lothian due to its close proximity to Edinburgh (less than one hour by car) and also the wide variety of tourism options in the area. Whilst this article concentrates on the Historic Scotland Castles, some examples of other attractions in the area include the Scottish Mining Museum, The Museum of Flight and smaller, lesser known attractions such as the Myreton Motor Museum. However, the three attractions chosen were Dirleton, Tantallon and Hailes Castle (in that order).
Getting there (to East Lothian)
The first question facing the visitor is how to get there. Whilst public transport is available (train and bus) it would be “torturous” to get to all three by public transport and indeed many of the other attractions in the area, realistically cannot be reached other than by private car or by special bus hire. One of the benefits of hiring a car is that you can decide your own route and one of the first suggestions should be to take the scenic coastal route once you pass through Longniddry. The route only takes a little longer than the other route and you will be rewarded with spectacular rugged coastal scenery. Any golfers amongst the party will also having a “passing” interest in many of the area's famous courses such as Aberlady, Gullane, North Berwick and Muirfield.
Dirleton Castle
Dirleton Castle (or more accurately the remains) is set in the quiet hamlet of Dirleton. The setting belies its history, with beautiful gardens and a manicured bowling green set in the heart of the gardens. One of the well known facts about the castle is that the gardens feature in the Guinness Book of Records for having the longest herbaceous border in the world.
The buildings still standing (which can be safely entered) are a beehive shaped dovecot (pronounced doocot) which housed the pigeons (a source of meat in the winter rather than for sporting purposes) and the castle itself. The castle last saw military action during the civil war, and afterwards was left to fall into ruin. Strangely, later owners maintained the gardens rather than the building, perhaps viewing the castle as an extension to the garden or as an ornamental feature.
Is it worth visiting?
One of the biggest weaknesses that Historic Scotland has is that they don't “do interpretation” particularly well, with the exception of their bigger attractions such as Edinburgh and Stirling Castle. The castle itself is interesting if you are interested in Scottish history and certainly very picturesque. Indeed, you could spend many hours of quiet reflection there, but if you are looking for interpretation and things for the children to do, then you will be out of luck. One of the benefits of this site though is that, unlike some of the others, you do not have to be particularly physically able to wander round. There are some minor sets of steps, but the ramp (drawbridge) into the castle will let you view most of the interesting parts of the castle. In addition, if the weather is inclement then you will get wet. The castle has no roof.
In summary, a nice start to the day but Historic Scotland “could do better”. From Dirleton it is only a short trip down the coast to Tantallon.
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