Absolutely beautiful! (Urquhart Castle (Scotland))

Member Name: sugar78

Product:	Urquhart Castle (Scotland)
Date:	30/06/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: More than what i expected, good value

Disadvantages: None

I have always wanted to visit Scotland, and finally got to do it last year! We stopped at the lovely village of Dores which is absolutely picturesque, and the cottage we rented was right next to the beach and just breathtaking. Enough of the cottage, that will be another review!!

I am a big history lover, so i was excited about visiting all the sites that i knew were near to where we were, and especially Urquhart Castle. Now, my other half is not a big history lover, so i thought it was going to take me a couple of days to persuade him to go to Urquhart! I was surprised when on the second day of us being there he took me to Urquhart. He said he knew i was excited, so that was the first thing we had to see!! (romantic really!).

Lets start from the beginning. Urquhart is about a 20 minute drive from Inverness and the road runs at the side of Loch Ness. There are parking spaces along the road, so you can stop before getting to the castle and take in the views. On a lovely clear day, like we had, the views are spectacular. We could even see the cottage where we were staying! (we do tend to get excited about the smallest of things!). Before you arrive at the castle you drive through the small village of Drumnadrochit, which is also a good place to stop, even if just for the Loch Ness exhibition.

As soon as you get through Drumnadrochit you can see the castle. It is well signposted, so there is no chance of you getting lost!
The car park is not as big as what i thought it may be, but there is seperate parking for coaches. We got there early and they were just starting to open up the visitor centre. I think it was around 9.30am.

It cost £9.50 per adult for a ticket, which you will find is probably the going rate for most of the sites that you visit in Scotland. The souvenir booklet cost me around £6.00, but i think is always a good buy as you can follow the history of the castle with the book as you go round.
To enter the castle, you are sent down some steps to the entrance and then suddenly you come across this great big castle, and i wasn't expecting it at all. For some reason i did not think the ruins would stretch so far!
There is a large grass area that stretches from the entrance to the ruins, and placed on the grass is a trebuchet. The path that winds down to the ruins is a walk of about 5 minutes.

There are lots of information boards that explain to you the history of the castle and what each of the rooms were, so it is really informative. It was the sheer scale of the place that astounded me, and how much is still accessible. I would say, just be careful with the little ones, as the ruins are right on the edge of the loch. The ruins stretch inland, but it is in the keep that you will have to keep an eye on them. (I can be over protective!).

About 15-20 minutes after we had been roaming around the castle, we did notice that it was starting to fill up with visitors, so beware if you are going to visit it, it can get extremely busy, especially if its nice weather as it is all in the open.

The views from the keep are beautiful and you can see why so many people enjoy the area it is in.

All in all it took us about 2 hours to really go round the castle and try and take in as much as we could. There is a gift shop and cafe at the castle, and the cafe does have outdoor space. The cafe is well presented and clean. We just had a coffee and a tea and i think it came to just under £5. I didn't find the prices of the refreshments that high when visiting a cafe that is attached to a historical site.

The gift shop is the typical one that you will find at most historic sites. Lots of trinkets and childrens items. We did not buy anything from the gift shop, as i find that the prices tend to be pretty high (£6 for a tea towel was not something i was going to pay!).

When going back to the car park, you overlook the castle and we noticed that is was extremely full of people, as lots of coaches had turned up for the day, so as i said before, get there early to avoid too many of the crowds.

I am so glad that i visited Urquhart Castle. You can sense how big the castle must have been when you walk around it, as the scale of it today is much bigger than what i, or my partner, imagined.

Oh, just to let you know that after visiting Urquhart, my partner loved it, and he was the one planning out what to visit next! That shows how special Urquhart is!!!

Summary: Make a visit, you will be glad you did