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Scalloway Castle


Frances144
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Today I have been taking foreign visitors to Scalloway Castle to see how lovely it is.

 

Two Scalloway lasses decided that the central hall (the big room) was obviously the best place to play netball and were throwing a large hard ball up onto the walls, hitting tourists and then standing back and looking annoyed when people were trying to photograph the place. They successfully managed to wreck the atmosphere of the place and hit a couple of folk who were trying to look at the room. Although they grudgingly apologised, they made you feel unwelcome and as if you were intruding on their space.

 

I asked them why they were there and they said that the floor was better for ball and this was a really good place to throw it (or words of that ilk).

 

It managed to piss me off and piss of others. I was rather ashamed of their behaviour and their attitude.

 

PS. The ball eventually went missing when they managed to throw it over the high walls of the castle.

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One of the early novelties of Shetland for me was to go and get the key to the castle and have a look around.

 

No-one would trust you with the key to a castle down south. Squatters would move in!

 

Sadly the moron element will probably end up stopping this sort of freedom if they are allowed to.

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I thought the castle was beautiful.

 

Of course, I have seen it from the outside everytime I pass Scalloway to take the short cut to the airport (not really a short cut, more a scenic route!).

 

It is a very under-used and under-promoted stunning piece of history. So sad that it has to be a basketball court for gobby teenagers. What a waste.

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No piss taking was intended....I was being serious. Well, up to a point at least.

 

A visitor attraction like Scalloway Castle should have a warden of some sort to to throw out kids using it as a playground etc, through the tourist season at least.

 

I daresay had kids played ball games in the old Museum they'd have been out on their ear on to the Hillhead as fast as you can blink, I don't really see something like the Castle as any different.

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You can all take the piss to your heart's content.....

 

but at the end of the day, do you really want visitors to feel intimidated and to tell others of the way they felt about Shetland?

 

To be fair, i sympathize with your offence at the presence of two witless teens and a basketball, but i fail to see how that kind of "intimidation" could permanently taint a visitors opinion of Shetland. I have encountered some altogether less savoury characters whilst on holiday and still enjoyed myself.

 

You may or may not also realise that the castle is one of the key stop-off points for the coach tours than run from visiting cruise-liners, so it is often the case that several hundred tourists go through it in a day.

 

You may also be interested to know that the new Scalloway museum is being housed right next door to it, with access proposed from the museum property.

 

The castle always has been a place of pride/fun/shenanigans for Scalloway youth, more so in years gone by. It was 'rite of passage' to jump from the second floor windows when i were a lad, along with games of 'chasey' and seeing who could climb to the (often insanely) highest points accessible. Ball games aside, teens have a right to enjoy it as much as tourists, though their behaviour should be (and was usually in our day) befitting the presence of others.

 

Alternatively, the castle also stands as an icon of oppression from it's era and this in it's own poetic right figures in why it is good to see it ruined and free to all.

 

Note: there is also a thread about the castle in the history section, for any posters wishing to discuss the historical aspects of it. :wink:

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To be fair, i sympathize with your offence at the presence of two witless teens and a basketball, but i fail to see how that kind of "intimidation" could permanently taint a visitors opinion of Shetland. I have encountered some altogether less savoury characters whilst on holiday and still enjoyed myself.

 

I disagree - I did feel intimadated especially when I was hit by the ball and then another visitor was hit as well. The girls weren't particularly sorry and they went on playing despite visitors trying to take photos of the room.

 

And, yes, it did affect my enjoyment of my visit and I am sure it affected the other visitors as well. When I remember Scalloway castle, I am not sure if I will recommend it to my visitors if it also doubles as Scalloway's alternative leisure centre.

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It is a very under-used and under-promoted stunning piece of history. So sad that it has to be a basketball court for gobby teenagers. What a waste.

It must be some kind of sport for local kids. The first ones I met in 1974 were playing badmington ... and it is a very good site (sheltered from the wind) to do this sport ... ;-)

 

On my last visit in 2003 a young woman pushing her pram through the Scalloway streets laughed at me and said "don't throw my baby!". I had no idea abouth what and why and after a short talk we found out, that years ago I didn't manage to catch her ball after it had hit me ... and "unfortunately the ball found a way through the window" ... :-D

 

Local kids just playing with a ball are not a real problem, to me they are not "vandalising" the fantastic building (as far as I remember, the castle was always locked with a little note saying "get the key from ... the Shetland Woolen office or some other place). Normally those kids don't use hammers and paint. Even more: As grown ups they will have some good feelings, they are somehow 'linked' with the building and will keep it. As to me: When the warden was off duty, we climbed Roman walls, they were "our" castle and we fought battles against attacking barbarians ... years later we exchanged first kisses in the secret shaddows of the walls ... uuoopps: has anyone checked how many Scalloway couples have had their first date within or behind the castle ? ;-)

 

Nevertheless, everyone should have an eye on it so that real vandalism has no chance ... but that's no question of a key ... not for playing kids, not for vandals.

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Guest perrie-lipper
Today I have been taking foreign visitors to Scalloway Castle to see how lovely it is.

 

Two Scalloway lasses decided that the central hall (the big room) was obviously the best place to play netball and were throwing a large hard ball up onto the walls, hitting tourists and then standing back and looking annoyed when people were trying to photograph the place. They successfully managed to wreck the atmosphere of the place and hit a couple of folk who were trying to look at the room. Although they grudgingly apologised, they made you feel unwelcome and as if you were intruding on their space.

 

I asked them why they were there and they said that the floor was better for ball and this was a really good place to throw it (or words of that ilk).

 

It managed to piss me off and piss of others. I was rather ashamed of their behaviour and their attitude.

 

PS. The ball eventually went missing when they managed to throw it over the high walls of the castle.

 

Tourism is a global industry, the World’s largest. The tourism product itself is however extremely varied and diverse, made up of a complex mix of products and services, all contributing to visitor experiences of different kinds.

 

The tourism experience is a ‘cluster’ of interdependent services and products, some frontline, and others playing a supporting role. These include those facilities traditionally seen as tourism products, ranging from visitor attractions including Castles, hotels to conference and training facilities, but these are supported by the transport, food and drink, restaurant and retail sectors and other service providers, all of whom provide services directly or indirectly to the visitor.

 

In essence, the tourism product is the ‘destination’ – a collective of visitor experiences that is the host destination enjoyed by visitors in much the same way as local residents. A vibrant, individualistic, successful, attractive community is a successful tourism destination witnessed the World over; the responses to your experience may give insight to the level of success achieved from this area and is in proportion to the quality of experience offered to the different types of consumers. Success is achieved where a destination delivers a product that fits with market needs and wants for the above mentioned.

 

It may be potentially threatening to the future of a healthy tourism sector in Scalloway if the failure to create a stronger destination image / product is ignored and the market that attracts visitors on the basis of ‘individual attractions’ produces results as the unfortunate experience you encountered.

 

The Scalloway Castle is managed be Historic Scotland and is highlighted on their webpage as a Historic Building which is rich in cultural History, and promoted for tourists to visit and experience with the hope of an enhancing experience for all to enjoy, it may be worth you registering your complaint with them, as any tourist and I’m sure everyone I know has been a tourist at some point in their life, looks for enjoyment when visiting attractions on holiday.

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