Eilean Donan is a much loved Scottish icon, but without the passion, commitment  and vision of Lt. Col John MacRae Gilstrap and his wife Isabella, todays castle just simply wouldn’t exist. Over the years, quite literally millions of people have enjoyed exploring its walls and ramparts. Additionally, hundreds of local people have been reliant on [...]

Okay, so lets imagine that you’ve finally made the decision to come and visit Eilean Donan, and you’re starting to do the research as to what else to see and do in the area while you’re here. It’s always easy to find the necessary information on the main tourist attractions, but every individual area and [...]

The Trustees have always felt strongly about ensuring public access to the castle regardless whether we’re open or closed. Even after dark, you will seldom find the gates locked or access denied. The only time this happens is if we are hosting a film shoot or private event. As such, after the front door is [...]

There are certain items within the castle that most visitors barely give a second glance to. One of those items, and certainly one of the oldest in the entire castle, is the castle “Yett” which now hangs in the Banqueting Hall. A yett is a gate or grille of latticed iron bars used for defensive [...]

Nobody knows for certain when exactly the first Eilean Donan castle was originally built; all we do know is that the first mention of it in the anals of history was around the 13th century during the reign of Alexander II. It was built as a defence against the marauding Vikings to protect the lands [...]

We’ve had some really fabulous weather over the last few days; probably better than anything we’ve seen the entire summer. It was such a great day and so warm here yesterday that I decided to have another experiment with the dreaded video camera! In future, I’m going to have to use a tripod to steady [...]

Well we survived another August, but just by the skin of our teeth! My lack of blog posts this month is purely down to the fact that we’ve had the busiest month in our entire history, with over 100,000 people visiting the site in the last 31 days. It always amazes me that my team [...]