Doors Open Day in the Highlands

14 August 2013

 A number of buildings are open for visitors throughout the Highlands during September. This year 

7th September: Inverness and surrounding area
14th September: Ross and Cromarty; Sutherland
21st September: Caithness
28th September: Lochaber; Badenoch & Strathspey

See the website for further details. Note that some places require booking.

Highlights listed on the Highland Council website include:

There’s a total of 34 venues in the Highland programme – in Caithness, Sutherland, Ross & Cromarty, Inverness, Badenoch & Strathspey and Lochaber - over four weekends in September commencing on Saturday 7th September.

Venues in the spotlight include historic and beautiful churches, an observatory, a sheriff court, a castle, a lighthouse, the award-winning Highland Archive and Registration Centre (Inverness), Maggie’s Highlands (Inverness) and some marvellous museums and heritage centres in Inverness, Ross & Cromarty, Caithness and Sutherland.

Anyone interested in historic steam railways has a treat in store, with the Aviemore engine shed of the Strathspey Steam Railway throwing its doors open on Saturday 28th September for free guided tours, bookable in advance and suitable for anyone of 5 years of age or over. And there’s an extra bonus in the shape of discounted travel on the steam railway that day.

Other must-sees making their first appearance in the Highland programme in 2013 include Abernethy Old Kirk, Nethy Bridge, with its unusual “horseshoe” pews; the fascinating MAKAR workshop near Inverness where ecological buildings are designed and manufactured; Dunolly House (Inverness) which was built at the eastern-most tip of the Caledonian Canal in the early 19th century for engineers inspecting the building of the canal; guided tours of the Caledonian Canal’s impressive flights of locks at Muirtown (Inverness) and Neptune’s Staircase (Banavie); and – a first for the Highlands – a virtual tour of the ambitious new Inverness Campus development.

For those who enjoy stories of turbulent times in the Highlands, the costumed re-enactment of stories about the Fraser clan at Wardlaw Mausoleum, Kirkhill, on Saturday 7th September should fit the bill.

A pdf file with the complete listings is available from the Highland Council website.