Historic Weekends Scotland : short breaks exploring Scottish history & culture - Helen & Neil Matthews

Brand new from Bradt is Historic Weekends Scotland, a unique guidebook designed to help visitors and locals alike explore inspiring and extraordinary highlights from Scotland's past. Scotland's rich and tumultuous history - across many centuries from before 'Scotland' existed to its emergence as an autonomous country and then part of the UK - is ripe for exploration, and this book offers ideas, itineraries and travel tips for more than 20 breaks centred on locations rich in natural, architectural, industrial or cultural heritage. Travel writers and historians Helen and Neil Matthews showcase famous locations waiting to be enjoyed from new perspectives alongside neglected or under-rated gems that deserve more attention. From the Neolithic era through to the 20th century, Scotland has plenty to discover. Visit the Hebridean island of Lewis, famous for the 5,000-year-old Callanish Standing Stones and the Chessmen, one of the earliest examples of chess sets containing both bishops and queens. Closer to the Scottish mainland, Skye is where Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped 'over the sea' from the mainland after the 1746 Battle of Culloden, and Duntulm Castle reputedly hosts three ghosts. Another of Scotland's 1,500 castles, Cawdor (near Inverness) reputedly owes its location to a donkey carrying gold. Alternatively, follow the trail of Robert the Bruce, whose heart - according to legend - lies at Melrose Abbey in the Borders with the rest of his body at Dunfermline Abbey. The national capital, Edinburgh, has a world-famous castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse - but is as well known for writers as royals. In Stirling, you can examine the life of a great Scottish hero at the National Wallace Monument; St Andrews is 'the home of golf', with its golf club being one of the world's oldest; and Falkirk is the birthplace of Scotland's Industrial Revolution. As well as detailed descriptions of the sites and mysteries of the past, Historic Weekends Scotland includes suggested itineraries, directions, and top tips for both accommodation and eating out. The only guidebook to combine Scottish history, heritage attractions and travel, it is the perfect source of inspiration and information for your very own history tour of Scotland.