Thousands of free tickets to some of the country’s finest and most fascinating heritage attractions – including five in The Lothians – are being offered in Historic Scotland’s special Spring promotion.
The great ticket giveaway enables free admission on either Saturday 12th or Sunday 13th March to a huge range of outstanding historic properties and sites throughout Scotland. These include leading visitor attractions including Stirling and Urquhart Castles, Fort George and Skara Brae. The Lothian region sites are Blackness Castle, Craigmillar Castle, Dirleton Castle and Gardens, Linlithgow Palace and Tantallon Castle.
A total of 5,000 free tickets can be applied for online for entry to a choice of 44 paid-for attractions the length and breadth of country. These range from prehistoric dwellings to medieval castles, and from cathedrals to industrial buildings.
In addition, 5,000 half-price tickets are available for Scotland’s top heritage attraction, Edinburgh Castle.
The free and half-price tickets will be available to apply for online. A special web page has being set up to allow prospective visitors to register for a voucher. After registering they will be sent an email with a voucher to present on arrival at their chosen attraction. Proof of ID will be required to redeem the voucher.
Having a free ticket means that on their day out at one of the participating attractions, a family of two adults and three children can save up to £26.60 (the normal cost for the party at Urquhart Castle). And the half-price entry at Edinburgh Castle brings the normal admission cost of £52.60 for two adults and three children down to just £26.30.
Minister for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop MSP, said: “Scotland boasts a wealth of wonderful historic properties; they are an invaluable national asset. I firmly believe we should all make the most of this important part of our heritage by experiencing and enjoying these superb sites and Historic Scotland’s ticket giveaway provides an opportunity to do just that. There are over forty leading visitor attractions across the country to choose from so I hope as many people as possible will take advantage of this excellent chance to explore one of Scotland’s great heritage treasures and enjoy a free and memorable day out.”
Historic Scotland Head of Commercial and Visitor Operations Stephen Duncan said: “Our free ticket giveaway, which ties in with Scottish Tourism Week (28th February to 4th March) and heralds the start of the new visitor season, aims to highlight the range and quality of the visitor attractions Historic Scotland operates.
“Our last free admission promotion in November unfortunately coincided with dreadful winter weather when many of our attractions were forced to close or limit opening hours. We hope that this special Spring ticket giveaway will give the Scottish public another chance to visit a great historic attraction for free or to enjoy half price entry to Edinburgh Castle.
“We’ll be promoting the ticket giveaway through our social media channels to reach as wide an audience as possible and would encourage everyone interested in taking up this excellent offer to register at the website as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.”
