About this Historic Weekends Scotland guidebook

Brand new from Bradt is this Historic Weekends Scotland guidebook, a unique title 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 25 breaks centred on locations rich in military, 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 Calanais 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, the Historic Weekends Scotland guidebook 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.

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Contents

Introduction
Using this guide
Key eras, events & people

1. Abbotsford & the Borders
2. Edinburgh: royals
3. Edinburgh: writers
4. Dunfermline
5. Falkirk
6. Stirling
7. Perth
8. St Andrews
9. Dundee
10. Arbroath
11. Aberdeen
12. Aberdeenshire Castles
13. Inverness & the Black Isle
14. East of Inverness
15. Sutherland: Dunrobin, Brora & Dornoch
16. Thurso & Caithness
17. Orkney
18. Shetland
19. Lewis
20. Skye
21. Fort William & Glencoe
22. Mull & Iona
23. Inverary
24. Paisley & Dumbarton
25. Glasgow
26. Ayr
27. Dumfries
28. Gatehouse & Kirkcudbright

About the authors

Historic Weekends Scotland is Helen and Neil Matthews’ third book for Bradt, following the two editions of Slow Travel: The Chilterns and the Thames Valley and Heritage Weekends: 52 breaks exploring Britain’s past, which was a finalist in the 2023 Travel Media Awards for Guide of the Year. Their travel writing has also appeared in Wanderlust, This England and other publications. Both hold PhDs in history: additionally, Helen is a member of the Royal Historical Society and Neil is an experienced marketer whose roles have included developing public support for UK heritage attractions. Pen & Sword has published Helen’s The Legitimacy of Bastards: The Place of Illegitimate Children in Later Medieval England (2019) and Neil’s Victorians and Edwardians abroad: The Beginning of the Modern Holiday (2016). Both enjoy travelling in Scotland.

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