Advantages: Interesting from a historical perspective
Disadvantages: Ovepriced

...I first visited the Culloden Battlefield back in the days of my youth and when in Inverness recently visiting a friend we decided to go for a nostalgic trip to the field. On my earlier visit to the Battlefield, that was pretty much what it was, a Battlefield and not much else. Nowadays, it's a different story. The visitor centre has recently undergone a refurbishment and there is now a lot more to see. Culloden is on the Eastern outskirts of Inverness and a five minute drive from the A96 main Aberdeen to Inverness road. If you're driving it's easy to get to but if you're relying on public transport then it wouldn't be the most convenient place to get to. For those of you who are interested a brief summary of the events at Culloden is as follows: The Battle of Culloden in 1745 was a turning point in British history... Read review

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Advantages: Classy, beautiful surroundings and pure opulance
Disadvantages: Expensive and outside Belfast City.

...Set in beautiful gardens and forest the Culloden hotel is the only hotel in Northern Ireland which has gained 5 stars. An ideal place to stay for those who want to be pampered and stay in luxury. The rooms are classy with differing levels of luxury from double rooms with 4 poster beds to full luxury suites. I found the level of service exemplary , the staff always helpful and smiling, all giving you a feeling of relaxing in great comfort in surroundings that made you feel totally at home. The food in the restaurent was superb - near Michelen star level and the hotel bar was welcoming with good local musicians playing nightly. The atmosphere was one of relaxing in opulance. The only downside was that the hotel was about 8 miles from Belfast - fine if you wanted to stay in the hotel relaxing in the spa and being pampered but if you wanted... Read review

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Advantages: Good interpretation, The visitor facilities, Well signposted
Disadvantages: Remote location, Poor restaurant

...Culloden has to be one of the most atmospheric historic sites that I have ever been to. It is one of those rare places where the events of the past seem to have been soaked up by the landscape and it is not hard at all to imagine what happened there; it has that intangible factor that heritage experts are fond of calling “a sense of place”. So many historical attractions that I visit tend to be an assault on the senses, an overload of information or a route march through the site by bored guides. Culloden, by contrast, is a quiet and dignified site that is well worth a visit, despite the fact that its remote location makes it a long journey for many visitors. I’m sure the word “Culloden” does sound somewhat familiar to many of you reading this, even if you are not quite sure of the significance of it. Culloden is actually a stretch... Read review

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Advantages: See where the battle took place, audiovisual presentation, lots of information in the exhibition
Disadvantages: Not the atmosphere I was hoping for

...Once again, an op on an 'attraction', rather than the actual town itself. Culloden, near Inverness, is the site of the last major battle on mainland Britain, in 1746, between the Jacobite army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie), and the government forces, led by the Duke of Cumberland, also known as the Bloody Butcher. To be honest, this is not ‘my’ period of history, however, last summer, after reading the Cross Stitch series of books by Diana Gabaldon, I became quite interested in the Jacobite period, and persuaded my long suffering father to drive me to Culloden! Now for your history lesson… The Duke of Cumberland leading the Hanoverian army had followed Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites out of England to Culloden Moor. In an attempt to place his father, King James VIII, the Stuart... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful Hotel, Fantastic View
Disadvantages: Very Expensive, Location

...The Culloden House Hotel is located just outside Inverness near Culloden Battlefield. We spent a night in the hotel at the end of September. We stayed in one of the Junior Garden Suites. The suite was gorgeous and had two rooms; both the bedroom and the lounge had beautiful views of the grounds. The rooms were large and bright with tasteful decor. The bathroom was enormous and beautifully done in marble. I usually have trouble with hotel beds, but our bed was not too soft and extremely comfortable! I didn't want to leave! The staff is polite, accommodating and very helpful. Unfortunately, since the stay was so short we didn't get the chance to eat in the restaurant - which by all accounts is worth a trip up to Inverness in itself! Therefore, I cannot honestly rate the food as excellent as I didn't try it. The only... Read review

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Advantages: Get a real insite into Scotlands poinient and bloody history
Disadvantages: Can get snowed under in the winter but better reflects the true battle conditions

...If you really want to get to the routes of why Scotland and its culture is the way it is today, a trip to the battlefiel of Culloden is an essential stop in any visitors Inverness itinery. On arrival at Culloden, you will be forgiven for thinking that there is not much to see- a few flags, a heather-clad field and a few black sheep. However, it is not what you can see that is important, it's the poiniency of the bloody attrocities which happend here in the 18th century. The Battle of Culloden signified the end of the Jacobite Rebelion in Britain and the needless deaths of thousands of Clansmen, killed in battle or slain after defeat. I won't go too much into the indepth history of this event as its a complex and sad tale, but as a native Scot it is was the years following this battle that were some of the darkest in Scotlands history... Read review

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Advantages: Superbly maintained oldy worldy feel
Disadvantages: 5 miles outside Belfast

...... Read review

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Advantages: Incredible scenary
Disadvantages: None

...managed to hold you up, all sixteen stone of you! The street was so quiet and you were so noisy. I will never forget after being told our landlady was so strict, how my hand was firmly over your mouth as I struggled to get you quietly into that B& B and undressed for bed. (We exchanged Christmas cards with our ‘friends’ in Scotland for a couple of years after that we moved and lost their address.) They certainly made us welcome. Thursday The next day we went back to the Itinerary – with a slight hangover, if you recall. We drove north back to Culloden – It was a crisp, cold day and the wind blew across the fields. Culloden. - A battlefield renowned in history for the dreadful loss of lives in 1746. It was the last battle on British soil and the end of the House of Stuart’s dreams of the throne. Those fields are a memory of so... Read review

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Advantages: Sequel to 'Cross Stitch', exciting, historically interesting, good main characters
Disadvantages: Some violence, some rather flat lesser characters, very long!

...Bonnie Prince Charlie! That name conjures up many different images in people's minds. Was he a great romantic hero whose army was tragically defeated, or a self-centred power-seeker who cared little for his men? We shall never know for certain, but reading the book 'Dragonfly in Amber', I began at last to get an idea of what life could have been like for the Scottish armies in the 1740s, and the reasons for so many following the young prince into the ill-fated battle of Culloden. It's actually the story of Clare and Jamie Fraser, sequel to the book 'Cross Stitch'. But it's not a straightforward historical novel: Clare was born in the 20th century and accidentally went back 200 years in time in the first novel, so the conditions and people of 18th century Scotland are seen from the perspective of someone not unlike ourselves... Read review

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Advantages: Great historical novel
Disadvantages: Crossing time is difficult.

...in rags and suffering from malnutrition she is found wandering very close to the spot where she vanished. Disorientated, incoherent and pregnant. So what happened to Claire Randell? Kidnapped? Raped? Forced into hiding? Well actually yes, that could be quite an accurate picture of what happened to Claire Randell, only not in the way you are thinking and not it this time. You see Claire had walked through the stones and into the year 1743. It's 1968. Twenty years since Claire was found wandering the hills around the stones. She has returned with her daughter to the highlands to get the answer to some really important questions and she enlists the help of young historian Roger Wakefield to help her. Claire is desperate to find out the fate of certain clansmen who fought in the battle of Culloden Field in the name of Bonnie Prince... Read review

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