BUILT IN THE OPEN

A guide that keeps
getting better.

CastleScotland grows one visit, photograph and careful improvement at a time. This is the story of the changes visitors can actually see and use.

THE JOURNEY SO FAR↓
CURRENT RELEASE19Version

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

Small refinements. Meaningful progress.

Each release brings the atlas closer to a clear, reliable and enjoyable companion for exploring Scotland’s castles.
CURRENT RELEASE19

New discoveries, easier castle days

9 October 2026 · The latest guides and short trip plans are now easier to find from the homepage.

  • Added Recently added castles with six guides, photographs and dates.
  • Added three ordered plans for 2–3 hours, half a day and a full day, with visit times, approximate driving allowances and route links.
  • Added quick filters for free views and grounds, short visits, interiors, photo viewpoints and mobility access notes. Access notes describe available information, not a guarantee of step-free entry.
  • Made personally visited full guides and atlas-only locations explicit in map results and previews.
  • The Castle Journal now follows a simple format: one castle, one original photograph and one trip idea.
Version18

A wider atlas and a growing collection

Recent additions bring the personally visited collection to 81 guides, alongside a wider atlas and the Castle Journal newsletter.

  • Added Law, Balmoral, Bothwell, Barr, Auchans, Carleton, Glengorm, Preston Tower and Yester to the guide collection.
  • Explore more opens a wider atlas beyond our personally visited places; map locations do not all have full guides.
  • Launched the English-language Castle Journal newsletter with signup forms across all four site languages.
  • Added fresh photographs to Auldhame, Saltcoats and Hailes, and updated Hailes access information after our visit.
  • New guides now reach the homepage, regional lists, map and PWA through the same published catalogue.
  • Tapping a numbered castle group in the PWA now zooms in so its markers can separate.
Version17

Verified prices and active language switching

The translated castle guides now show verified admission prices, and every released castle post links directly between English, Polish, German and Spanish.

  • Replaced price placeholders in Eilean Donan, Stirling, Caerlaverock and Craigmillar guides.
  • Checked prices against the official operator pages on 20 September 2026.
  • Activated German and Spanish options in the language menu for all 72 translated castle posts.
  • Added regression checks for placeholder prices and language availability.
Version16

German and Spanish castle guides

Every castle post is now available in German and Spanish, with a full translation audit across the catalogue.

  • Completed German and Spanish versions for all 72 castle posts.
  • Aligned later English introduction edits with both translated editions.
  • Replaced repeated generic verdicts with castle-specific recommendations.
  • Audited dates, structure, rendering, language links, sitemap coverage and editable translation records.
Version15

The Great Hall comes to life

A cinematic rebuilding scene now opens the Great Hall, with the original castle image retained as a lightweight fallback.

  • Added an atmospheric rebuilding film to the Great Hall hero on larger screens.
  • Kept the original castle photograph as the loading, mobile and reduced-motion fallback.
  • Preserved the funding-reveal artwork and supporter progress system below the opening.
  • Optimised the silent film for fast browser playback.
Version14

More ways to plan a castle journey

Local stays, whisky distilleries and a protected contact form now make planning and getting in touch easier.

  • Introduced the Local Partners directory with featured stays, fuller profiles and links to nearby castles.
  • Added Whisky & Castles, connecting selected distilleries with castle visits and practical routes.
  • Replaced the external form service with a private CastleScotland contact form.
  • Added Cloudflare Turnstile protection to reduce automated spam without exposing the destination address.
Version13

A lighter, more dependable guide

Detailed history is easier to reach, while the map and older installations load more reliably.

  • Every English and Polish castle guide now offers a separate, expandable verified historical record.
  • Newer research sources are merged with the core bibliography instead of replacing one another.
  • The Scotland map keeps its coastline and island coverage with substantially less data to download.
  • Added recovery for an obsolete service worker and standard browser and home-screen icons.
Version12

A clearer, more consistent atlas

Search, galleries and the story of the project now work together more naturally.

  • Homepage search now uses the complete castle catalogue, with thumbnails, result counts and a clear reset action.
  • Castle names are ranked ahead of matching regions, so the place you meant appears first.
  • Gallery placement is now consistent across every castle story, including Armadale and Urquhart.
  • This public release journal is now available from the footer.
Version11

The castle comes first

Search results now understand that a castle name matters more than a matching region.

  • Exact and close castle-name matches receive priority.
  • Searching for Edinburgh shows Edinburgh Castle before places merely located around Edinburgh.
Version10

Search with useful filters

Finding the right place became faster and more visual.

  • Added photographs to search results.
  • Added filters for region, admission and price, condition and manager.
  • Added a live result count and a clear-all control.
  • Clan and family filters remain planned for a later release.
Version09

One practical panel everywhere

The visit-planning panel now follows the same visual system across castle guides.

  • Unified status, address and recommended visit time.
  • Standardised practical cards and action links.
  • Improved consistency between desktop and mobile layouts.
Version08

A shared layout for every castle

The tiled guide design expanded beyond Edinburgh Castle.

  • Rolled out the practical tiled layout across castle stories.
  • Created a clearer rhythm between history, visit information and photography.
  • Kept individual castle content while making navigation familiar.
Version07

A smoother Edinburgh story

Edinburgh Castle became the model for a more comfortable long-form guide.

  • Moved the gallery into the story to break up a long wall of text.
  • Removed duplicated opening, travel and location details.
  • Corrected section numbering and gallery heading wrapping.
  • Fixed the Collections menu disappearing before it could be selected.
Version06

Edinburgh in tiles

Practical details became easier to scan before a visit.

  • Introduced a tiled information panel for Edinburgh Castle.
  • Improved the hierarchy of tickets, hours, location and travel actions.
  • Refined spacing for touch screens and smaller displays.
Version05

Practical details, redesigned

A new premium visit panel was introduced on selected castle guides.

  • Brought the most useful planning information together.
  • Added clearer status and time guidance.
  • Created the visual foundation used by later castle pages.
Version04

A new first impression

The homepage received a stronger editorial opening.

  • Introduced the ‘Explore Scottish castles beyond the guidebook’ message.
  • Improved the balance between the opening text and original castle photography.
  • Made the first route into the atlas easier to understand.
Version03

Polish that stays out of the way

Many small interface changes made the site calmer and easier to use.

  • Updated the appearance-mode icon so its purpose is clearer.
  • Retained six colour palettes and remembered each visitor’s light, dark and colour choices.
  • Applied the chosen appearance before the page paints, reducing colour flashes while loading.
  • Improved the mobile menu, keyboard navigation and search and gallery dialogs.
  • Added swipe and keyboard gallery controls, plus fullscreen map controls and a mobile map sheet.
Version02

Cleaner language, more dependable detail

Editorial and translation work improved trust across the guide.

  • Corrected punctuation, spacing and stray English text in translated pages.
  • Improved translated addresses, manager names and information pages.
  • Protected reviewed translations from accidental replacement.
  • Corrected inaccurate manager information on selected castle pages.
Version01

The new CastleScotland foundation

The modern atlas brought the project’s main visitor tools into one coherent experience.

  • Introduced the refreshed navigation, Collections, castle map and PWA entry points.
  • Brought castle stories, original photography and practical advice into one design system.
  • Added responsive layouts for phones, tablets and larger screens.
  • Created the foundation for the growing multilingual guide.

BUILT IN THE OPEN

The work continues.

New castles, original photography and practical improvements will keep joining the atlas. Every release is another step towards a guide worthy of the places it documents.
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