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.

Have a Super Scottish Summer 2014

Scotland has so much more to offer than many people think. When we consider where we will go for a summer break or an annual holiday we tend to focus more on what the weather is going to do, which is why so many people head away from the British Isles. However, if you are not as concerned about the weather and you would actually like to explore the beautiful United Kingdom then why not head to Edinburgh? Even if live in the great city, there's probably plenty you haven’t seen yet.

Edinburgh with a Fringe on Top

For instance, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival  is one of the most interesting parts of the arts festival and people come from miles over and from many different countries just to experience it. The fringe takes place for three weeks every August you will find over 250 different venues that participate in the festival and whether you have been before or are new to it you will find something you will enjoy. All of the venues are around the city so they are all within a rough walking distance from one another. There are also plenty of places to shop and eat along the way, with many venues offering food and drink to customers.

The Real Mary King’s Close

Murder, suspense and sinister behaviour are closer than you think in Edinburgh. Take the wild ride and head down to The Real Mary King’s Close, lurking beneath the Royal Mile and go on a journey through the gruesome history of the City. Our Gold Experience centres on the deep and intriguing underbelly of the historical city and you will hear tales of execution, murder and plagues. You will be treated to a tour of our underground streets as well as a look at the ‘above ground’ city too. Your costumed characters will walk and talk you through the entire intriguing experience and regale you with stories and facts about the darkest part of Edinburgh’s history.

                                                                        

The Dark Truth, Can You Handle It?

Death and decay is coming to Edinburgh and you better be ready for it. After some amazing reviews last year, The Dark Truth Tour is returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a nice little twist for 2014. It looks into some of the darker tales but using a wicked comedic tone. 

When does it happen?

The Dark Truth Tour starts on the 1^st of August 2014 and will continue Thursday through Sunday until the 24^th August 2014. The Dark Truth Tour lasts for 1 hour and starts at 10.30pm each night. The Dark Truth Tour uses a mixture of frivolity and terror to interact with the audience and entertain them in such a sinister fashion as to enthrall them.  It tells tales of murder, witch trials, unexplained deaths and follows the lives of those who lived on the Mary King’s Close and other closes.

What’s it like?

You should certainly be expecting the unexpected and be prepared to be caught off guard as the Dark Truth Tour delves very deeply and murkily into Edinburgh’s gross past. You will experience the lights down low and cast wide to create the most unnerving of shadows while you learn about the darkest of truths and the deathly tales that haunt the city of Edinburgh. Will you be the brave one and see the whole thing through?

You may find that the stories are more unsettling than you thought so we recommend this tour for those 16 and over. Do you have the stomach for it? The weird and wonderful tales are linked closely to the disturbing facts about the city and its gruesome underbelly.

You could have been living in bliss to think that Edinburgh was a city with no murky past, but how wrong you were and how gruesome a way to find out. Join us for The Dark Truth Tour and find out for yourself just how dark the true story is.

Modern Apprenticeship News

Back in the day, an apprenticeship was the key to gaining a rewarding career, as well as a skilled trade. Early apprenticeships included roof thatching, carpentry, farming and land skills. These developed into apprenticeships focusing on plumbing, electrics and other more modern career skills. However, in recent years there has been a scarcity of quality apprenticeships and the upcoming generation of workers are not having the same level of teaching that apprentices used to be given. Therefore there is a gap in the market for skilled work.

What We Do

At The Real Mary King’s Close we are very proud of our apprenticeship programme.  Our apprentices are given the chance to enter the ‘earn as you learn’ programme and actually acquire the right skills to do the job. We understand that whilst college and university is a great step towards the background of a job, in reality it doesn't always offer the practical information and knowledge needed on so many jobs.

Apprenticeship Success and Follow Through

We have had such success with the previous intake that we are actually investing money into another programme to give the new recruits insight how businesses are run, how the tourist industry works and give them the qualifications while they are on the job. The recruits are lucky enough to receive invaluable information and skills that you just can’t get in a classroom. Scotland’s Modern Apprenticeship programme sees some 25,000 new employees get access to such jobs each year and we hope that we continue to be a shining example of the benefits to the Scottish economy, while bringing new jobs to young people.

The Modern Apprenticeship programme covers more than 80 business sectors and this encompasses nursing, ICT, engineering, the food & drink industry and so many more. We value what it brings to the people who are recruited and we appreciate the practical skills that people glean from it. 

Rain On The Close!

For the first time in over 100 years, visitors to Edinburgh tourist attraction Real Mary King’s Close were able to feel rain on the underground streets!

This unusual experience happened at the start of the month, when Edinburgh was hit by a large downpour that made the quadrangle above remarkably wet. The water then leaked down into the underground street, creating a rain like effect that only added to the experience of what life was like for residents before the street was closed in the early 20th century.

General Manager, Craig Miller said: “We took the opportunity to make the most of Edinburgh’s wet weather and the leak onto our Close by having some fun with our visitors. Posing for a photograph with an umbrella while it rains in an underground street is a not a daily occurrence and was a unique experience for our visitors. Seeing it rain on the Close was available for one day only while repairs took place and our visitors really embraced it.”

Whilst this was a unique experience, there are lots of other strange going ons coming up on the Close. Join us during the world renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival for our Dark Truth Tour which promises to shed some light on the sinister past of the residents of one of the 16th century’s most famous streets. Taking a winter break? We stay open all year round and have lots of special events planned for our 2014 Close Fest!

To see more fun pictures from the day, head over to our Facebook page. Got your own souvenir picture? We’d love to share it with our visitors, just post your picture on our Facebook page.

Cake Goes Underground!

Calm before the cakey storm!

We've hosted some unusual events at The Real Mary King's Close before, but we never thought that cake would be a major feature for us to theme an event! 

How wrong were we?!  Last night we welcomed the fantastic Edinburgh Cake Ladies to The Close for a belated Halloween celebration of cake and savoury goodness! The talent was endless with some of the most elaborate cakes we have ever seen.

Entertainment was provided by Elliot Bibby, a local young magician who entertained with his feats of magic and mystery.

Between munching cakes and drinking tea, the Cake Ladies (and the younger guests) explored The Close, hearing tales of young Annie and Andrew Chesney's famous thunderbox.

Local charity, and nominated charity of the Edinburgh Cake Ladies, Its Good to Give raised £250 from the nights precedings which made us all feel that we were worthy of enjoying the delicious baking!

As one of our tour guides said after the event: "When I heard the Cake Ladies were visiting, I expected a group of ladies from the WI, complete with their old-school doilies.  This was so much more - AMAZING!!"  Hear, hear and thank you to them all for visiting....and being such wonderful bakers!

Thank you also to Alex Hewitt for taking the photos in the challenging, sorry, atmospheric light of the Close!!!

 

Our tour guides view the delicious spread!

One particularly talented Cake Lady Lou recreated the Close in cakey form! It tasted as good as it looked!

Happy Halloween from the Close

Its that time of the year again!  The Close is buzzing with visitors looking for the opportunity to come face to face with some of the sites 'residents'.

Mary King's Close is infamous for paranormal sightings and stories.  The tour itself is factual and historical, but that doesn't stop the more curious visiting in the hope of 'spying a spook'.

One of Europe's oldest recorded ghost stories was written on Mary King's Close in 1685 - 'Satan's Invisible World', where a couple are visited by apparitions and suffer the subsequent curse. 

No doubt one of the most famous myths of the Close is that its haunted reputation is the result of unfortunate victims being abandoned, with Mary King's Close being bricked up and its inhabitants left to die a gruesome death.  Whilst a dramatic and fascinating theory, its completely untrue.  History shows that plague victims were quarantined in their homes, a white flag hung outside the residence and neighbours would leave food and ale to support the stricken family.

Toys in Annie's Room

However, one of our famous residents alledgedly did fall foul of the plague - little Annie, a girl abandoned by her family, only making herself know centuries later to Aiko Gibo, a Japanese psychic who visited the Close in the 1990's with a film crew.  She felt Annie pulling at her trousers and sobbing that she had lost her doll.  One of her production assistants ran to a Royal Mile shop and bought a tartan 'Barbie' style doll.  Annie was happy and the doll remains in the room to this day to keep the little girl at peace.....along with gifts bought for her from visitors from around the world who have heard her story and sought to help.  Those who don't have a toy often leave spare change which in turn is donated to the Sick Kids Hospital Friends Foundation here in Edinburgh, helping today's sick children in the city.  We think Annie would be happy that other children are being helped in her name.

The Real Mary King's Close

Some visitors and staff experience things on the Close every day.  Many do not.  Those that do feel the presence of some of the Close's more mysterious residents have reported smelling strong tobacco smoke, spying a cat running between the vaulted rooms, seeing a tall figure in the corner of the 17th century house and seeing a figure in a feathered hat at the beginning of the tour (not a tour guides!).  Whatever you've felt, we are always happy to hear your story from your visit.   It contributes to the rich history and real stories of The Real Mary King's Close.

Happy Halloween from all at the Close!