Want to peek inside some Inverness doors this weekend?

The 2013 Highland Doors Open Days programme gets underway this weekend (Saturday 7th September) with a total of 16 venues in and around Inverness opening their doors to the public for free visits and special activities.  A new fun competition encouraging children and families to go out and look at the city’s buildings has also been launched, with entry forms available online at / or from local libraries, Inverness Museum and Inverness Service Point.

Helen Smith of Rowan Tree Consulting, who coordinates the Highland programme on behalf of The Highland Council, said: “Anyone who fancies the idea of peeking behind doors not normally open to the general public in Inverness will be spoilt for choice this Saturday, with tried-and-tested favourites appearing on the programme alongside buildings taking part for the first time.   Many of the venues are offering special events such as guided tours, special exhibitions, music recitals and delicious teas and baking – and there’s even a costumed re-enactment of medieval clan Fraser stories and a chance to look through a solar telescope. Whatever your age, and whether you like old or new buildings, this is an opportunity which only comes round one a year, so why not make a day of it?”

Buildings opening their doors in and around the city this Saturday are:

• seven beautiful local churches with stunning interior architectural features – St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, the Free North Church, the Old High Church, Ness Bank Church, St Andrew’s Cathedral, St Stephen’s Church and Daviot Parish Church;

• the historic Wardlaw Mausoleum at Kirkhill, where costumed medieval re-enactors will be telling tales of the Fraser clan members buried there;

• a special focus on the Caledonian Canal with guided tours of the Muirtown Locks and visits to nearby Dunolly House which was originally built for engineers inspecting the building of the Canal in the early 1800s;

• the award-winning Highland Archive and Registration Centre with behind-the-scenes visits to the archive strongrooms and wedding ceremony rooms;

• a special one-day pop-up exhibition at Inverness Museum spotlighting ancient and historic objects made by the inhabitants of the Highlands from prehistoric times onwards;
 
• Inverness Sheriff Court in Inverness Castle with its panelled vaulted ceiling and original furnishings including aTudor Gothic canopy;

• the Jim Savage-Lowden Observatory at Culloden, where visitors can see  the Highlands Astronomical Society’s equipment including its solar telescope;

• Maggie’s Highlands at Raigmore, where there will be special welcome events explaining the importance of the building and its surroundings to the work of Maggie’s;

• the new MAKAR workshop at Torbreck where 20-30 ecological homes are designed, manufactured and constructed each year.

New for this year also is the programme’s first virtual tour – of the Inverness Campus development at Beechwood.

Highland Doors Open Days continues for the further three weekends in September with events in Ross & Cromarty, Caithness, Badenoch & Strathspey, and Lochaber.  A further two Inverness venues - Eden Court Theatre and Inverness Town House – will be opening their doors for visits on Saturday 21st September, with Eden Court also open on Sunday 22nd September.

For further information, look out for copies of the Highland Doors Open Days programme in libraries, service points and visitor information centres or go to /  Doors Open Days take place throughout Scotland and is part of European Heritage Days.