WEALTHY Americans are to be wined and dined by the Scotland's top conservation charity on a whistle-stop tour of some of the country's architectural marvels.
A tour of some of Scotland's most most spectacular homes and gardens has been organised by the national The National Trust for Scotland Foundation USA (NTSUSA), which fundraises for the charity in the US.
The program, which will feature stops at historic buildings and landscapes cared for by both the Trust and others, is the first of its kind to be offered by NTSUSA.
Beginning near Edinburgh, visitors will explore the carefully conserved neo-Palladian villa of Newhailes and the fortress castle of Direlton, which dates from 1240, in addition to Edinburgh Castle.
David Mitchell, one of Scotland's foremost gardening experts, will also provide a tour of Malleny Gardens.
Art historian Dr. Evelyn Silber will lead a tour of Glasgow taking in Charles Rennie Mackintosh's buildings, including the Glasgow School of Art, while a trip will also be made to The Hill House in Helensburgh, currently the subject of an NTSUSA fundraising appeal.
Visitors will also travel to Fife to explore Falkland Palace, a favourite haunt of Mary, Queen of Scots, and one of the locations where the hit series Outlander was filmed.
The trip will then head to Aberdeen, stopping at Glamis Castle, the family home of the Earls of Strathmore since 1372 and birthplace of the Queen Mother.
Highlights in the north east will also include Pitmidden Garden, the Robert Adam-designed Haddo House, pink-turreted Fyvie Castle, and Drum Castle, which now houses a contemporary art gallery.
Kirstin Bridier, executive director of NTSUSA, said: "We are so pleased to offer an exceptional tour to Scotland designed with an American audience in mind.
"This trip combines visits to iconic sites like Edinburgh Castle with behind-the-scenes access at National Trust for Scotland treasures including Haddo House and The Hill House.
"We can't wait to share the extraordinary beauty and history of Scotland with individuals from across the US."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here