Benefits for Group Tours of Real Mary King’s Close

If they say that three’s a crowd, what does 15 or more make? It makes the perfect number of people for group tours of Real Mary King’s Close. Whether you’re part of a social club, youth society or school group, touring the hidden and buried streets of Edinburgh is a great activity to do together.

There are benefits to booking as part of a group, including dedicated admission times to avoid you having to queue. If you’re lucky enough to be the group leader, you’ll be given a free ticket – and there’s another one for your coach driver, too. Also, if you’re planning group tours of real Mary King’s Close with a group of school children, we’ll let one adult in for free with every ten students.

We know it’s important to understand what you’re bringing your group to see, which is why we invite you along for a complimentary familiarisation tour with one of our excellent guides. They’ll take you through the tour, showing you the history and route so you have an understanding of everything your group will enjoy on the day.

Benefits for Group Tours of Real Mary King’s Close

At Real Mary King’s Close, we’ve partnered with some more of Edinburgh’s top attractions to give you multiple group booking discounts you’ll be delighted with. Make a full day of it by pre-booking a meal at the nearby Hard Rock Café, which is offering discounted rates for bookings of 15 or more.

Then, to carry on your voyage of discovery around the city, the Edinburgh Council’s Museums and Galleries group is offering free access to five amazing venues for every child booked on a group tour. Explore the maze of rooms at the historic Museum of Edinburgh, where historic crafts and handmade objects are out on display, head to the Writers’ Museum to celebrate the life and works of Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson, or choose the unique Museum of Childhood and reminisce over toys you once had and games you used to play.

At the City Art Centre, Scottish artwork hangs to be admired and enjoyed, and finally, the People’s Story Museum depicts the lives of the average working man and woman from the early 18^th Century to our modern era.

Don’t daydream about the history of Edinburgh city - come and explore itfor yourself.

Real Mary King’s Close Emerges Above Ground

Our history lies beneath the streets of Edinburgh, in the once-forgotten Mary King’s Close. Reopened after work on a modern exchange building discovered its sealed-off streets, the Close is now one of Edinburgh City’s top and most unique attractions. For years now, our costumed guides have led groups of intrepid travellers down steep steps and into the bowels of the city, opening their eyes to the silent world of 16^th Century city life. But now we’re bringing the Real Mary King’s Close into the modern day, intertwining her fascinating history with a stroll through the modern streets of our current generation.

Modern Tours at Real Mary King's Close

Our newly created walking tours will take you along the bustling Royal Mile, showing you the hidden entrances to other sealed-off closes just like ours. We’ll delight you with tales of disorderly ale houses, where dastardly plans were concocted in the dead of night, and spare you no details of gory executions and brutal murders. We’ll talk you through how the times have changed, and what might have happened to the Real Mary King’s Close if she hadn’t been hidden away for an age.

Four times a day you can join one of these walking tours as an add-on to our already popular underground tours. One of our costumed guides will show you around Real Mary King’s Close first, following our normal route and presentation, before bringing you up top and out into the light. It’s the perfect combination and a great way to make your main tour last just a little bit longer.

Since we don’t run very many walking tours, and all four are put on in the afternoon, places will be limited and will book up fast. You can secure your space in advance so you don’t miss this unique opportunity, and the added tour gives you an extra hour for just £5 more. We have plenty of other special events on too, including a unique murder mystery tour that will set your nerves on edge, and great family ideas for the upcoming Easter Holidays. Have a look at our website for more details or click here to book now.

More Continuum Attractions

The Continuum Group is committed to bringing you outstanding and unique visitor attractions in unexpectedly locations around the UK. If you enjoy our tours at Real Mary King’s Close, why not discover your sweeter side at the York Chocolate Story or visit the Coronation Street set for a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse at the UK’s favourite TV soap.

Things to Do in Scotland during the October School Holiday

If you have children over the age of six you will no doubt be familiar with ‘can we go here, can I have, will you buy me, can we get…’ and all the other interesting and lovely questions that young children start asking. When it comes to the school holidays, kids need entertaining and a bit of advance planning can make everything easier. 

Can we please…?

If you are old enough to remember the ‘away-day’ train tickets in the 1980’s then you will appreciate just how easy it was back then to go on a day trip. It was cheap, convenient and always led to a fun day. After all the fun it was easy to get home and everyone slept like a baby. 

Things aren't so different nowadays and a day trip to Edinburgh is something that will grip their imaginations and give them plenty of things to do. If you have ever sat on the memorial bench at Edinburgh Castle at around 1pm then you will be know all too well that ear muffs are an excellent idea as the cannons are fired! The bench is a tribute to Tam the Gun to thank him for the 27 years he fired the cannon. Taking the kids around the castle is not only highly entertaining but loaded with information and fun facts that teach them as you go. 

The Real Mary King’s Close Experience

Once you have finished at the castle, there are plenty of places to take them for a nice tasty dinner. Here at The Real Mary King’s Close, we stay open until 9pm during the October school holidays making it the perfect attraction to visit once the others have closed. Older kids will love this alternative tour so much they won't even realise how much history they are learning! You can experience the murky underbelly of Old Edinburgh, dating back to the 1600’s, with intriguing tales that will leave them talking about the tour long after they have returned to school.

A plea for votes!

Staff take to the Close 'X Factor' style to secure your vote

If you've been on our Twitter feed or Facebook page it won't have escaped your attention that we are thrilled to have been nominated for the British Travel Award for Best UK Heritage Attraction 2012.    There's under two weeks left to vote, so our staff took to the Close to campaign for your vote! 

Craig Miller our General Manager had this to say: “It is hugely prestigious to even receive a nomination in this category, as the UK has so many wonderful heritage attractions, but we made it down to the top four, and we’re just hoping that we get enough support to make it all the way to the top spot,” comments general manager, Craig Miller.  “We don’t quite have the profile of some of the other shortlisted candidates –which includes St Paul’s Cathedral in London – but we make up for that with a visitor experience that is second to none, combining an unseen tour of Edinburgh’s buried streets and some of the best tour guides in the country!”

If you could take 5 minutes to vote for us, we would really appreciate it, you could also be in the running to win a fantastic prize from the British Travel Awards. Click here to make your vote count! There are plenty of reasons why we deserve your vote!

If you could spare a vote for our sister attraction Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth that would be marvellous - they've been nominated in the Best UK Leisure Attraction category.

THANK YOU - we very much appreciate your support!

 

The September Sigh of Relief!

So we're into September, the Royal Mile is back to normal and there is more than an Autumnal feel in the air.

RMKC Team celebrate record numbers in the style of Olympic champion Usain Bolt

For most tourism businesses and restaurants in Edinburgh, a collective sigh of relief is taken in the first week of September as the many festivals of August have finished and the tourists and performers have long gone home.  For us here at the Close, we're back to normal opening hours - 10am to 9pm (last tour) rather than 9am to 11pm (last tour) and we're reflecting on the August whirlwind! 

We welcomed a record number of people, exceeding our previous records for amount of tickets sold in a day and the amount of visitors on the tour in a day.  We've had some great feedback with 95% of our visitors saying they would recommend a visit to their friends or family, which is a testament to our fantastic team of tour guides, retail staff and managers.

One of our tour guides, Marc McKinnon who plays Walter King, the Foul Clenger, put it well -

"So the Fringe Festival has been and gone, and what a busy time it has been. Luckily for us Foul Clengers, we are used to treading through thousands of bodies each day, so it was just another day at work!

Although a completely hectic time of year, both for tourists and attractions alike, it has been so much fun to see all the staff come together and work long hours and deliver some brilliant results on tour - to the masses - daily.

Extending our opening hours as usual allowed more people to come on tours and allows more people to experience our amazing attraction. So, when all is said and done, it has definitely been a win/win, for our tourists and for our attraction, and I feel privileged to be part of our guiding team at the Close"

The 'Hoff' and the team!

One of the highlights of August at the Close was welcoming a special guest to the Close.  Of course all of our visitors are extremely special but we welcomed the legendary David Hasselhoff and his team to the Close for a tour.  The Hoff was a treat, spent time having his photo taken with staff and was a welcome morale boost at a frantic time of year!  

Sport way back when!

With the London 2012 Olympics in full swing and sporting fever truly sweeping the country, if not the world, we thought this would be a great opportunity to reflect on sporting history in Edinburgh.  Whilst there are no records of Mary King being a particularly great gymnast or Stephen Boyd being a dab hand with a racquet, there are some fascinating tales to behold.

The earliest reference to sport in Edinburgh our historian could find could be found at the 'barras' or the barriers, at the west end of the Grassmarket, where the Royal Tournament yards could be found dating back to the early fourteenth century.  Royal Tournaments were also held near St Cuthberts in the West End, on the north side of the Castle, until the infamous Nor' Loch was created.

In the late 15th century and early 16th, King James IV loved tournaments.  He had married Margaret Tudor whose brother was Arthur, and therefore as a result was fascinated by the Arthurian legend, ordering a Round Table to made for one tournament. His tournaments took place at the 'barras' or outside Holyrood Palace and were celebrated throughout Europe.

In 1456, James's grandfather, James II formally designated the little vallley of Greenside to the west of Calton Hill as the official playing fields of Edinburgh. This became the place for plays, 'mystery plays' and organised games of Holy Fest days.  Strangely there is no commemoration of this at the location, but fittingly the Edinburgh Playhouse continues this tradition at the site today.

The usual place for sports before the declaration of the official playing fields were at the Mercat Cross, the Salt Tron (by the Tron Kirk), and the Butter Tron (by what is now the Hub).  'Real tennis' courts could also be found at nobleman's houses, with a Royal tennis court obviously at Holyrood.  Today's sports fans would have been outraged that football and golf were banned on the orders of James I but continued in some form regardless!

It would be remiss of us to do a sporting blog post and not to congratulate Team GB on their accomplishments to date in particular Mary King, the legendary Olympic equestrian star who yesterday won silver with her team mates.  An epic achievement in her sixth Olympics and following an awful accident in 2001.

With thanks to Chris Aliaga-Kelly for his input into this blog post