A Stirling Day Out!

Central to much of Scotland’s tumultuous history, Stirling Castle has seen its fair share of battles over the years but now it can celebrate another victory as it has been rated the UK’s top heritage attraction.

The castle, located in the charming town of Stirling in central Scotland, has topped a recent survey conducted by British consumer group Which? who have taken up the challenge to try and rate Britain’s wealth of heritage sites.  The survey which took place between 2009 and 2011 asked people to rate their experiences of British visitor attractions they had been to and covered a range of criteria including the value for money, customer service and information provided at each site.  The recently released results show that Stirling Castle topped the list across the categories fending off challenges from other favourite heritage highlights including the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and a number of other historic Castles across England, Scotland and Wales.

Stirling Castle is Scotland’s second most visited heritage site behind its close neighbour Edinburgh Castle which overlooks the Scottish capital city.  Stirling, the lesser known of the two castles, has played a key role in Scottish history; it was once the ruling seat of Scotland, saw the coronation of Mary Queen of Scots and was the preferred residence of the Stewart dynasty.  Last year however the castle saw the reopening of the palace apartments which have seen a £12 million restoration to their historic splendour and how they may have appeared in the reign of Mary Queen of Scots.  It is thought that this investment has helped Stirling Castle reach its full potential which has now been recognized by its visitors in the results of this survey.