The battle of Bannockburn

Continuing with our William Wallace theme, we had tickets to go to the Bannockburn Heritage Center (Battle of Bannockburn: The Battle of Bannockburn) the next morning for a battle experience.

But first we had another delightful breakfast, visiting with Moira and Mary. Typical Scottish breakfast of coffee, tea, juice, toast, marmalade, meat, and eggs. This morning we had the opportunity to try Black Pudding for the first time. Let's just say that it doesn't go down on our list of favorites. ;) But the experience was awesome. We said good-bye to our hosts and headed out.

The Heritage Center is situated in Stirling and while it's not on the actual battle site, it is a great way to learn about what happened. We explored outside a bit before heading inside.

Inside we participate in the battle experience. It was really awesome. We were lucky to have the whole place to ourselves! First we learned about both sides, their tactics and weaponry and make up of their Armies. It was a combination of videos, replicas, and interactive hologram-type things. It's so hard to describe, but click on the link above to get a better idea!

This was one of the holograms. When you stood in front of the panel he appeared and began telling about his role in the battle. He moved and spoke just as if he were real!

Once we were all trained up, we moved into the battle room. The guys were on separate sides and they "played" the battle on a big round table. They took turns choosing where to place their soldiers and cavalry and had to make on-the-spot decisions just like in real battle.
After each decision, the battles would begin and they watched to see how they did. The Scots didn't fare as well when we were there as in the real battle, but it was a great learning experience!

Joshua listed the battle experience as one of his favorite things we did that week.

We had a quick lunch at the cafe and then headed out to the Highlands, stopping at the House of Bruar to do some shopping on the way. The House of Bruar: Scottish Country Clothing

Moira had graciously called ahead and booked us a night at a bed and breakfast near Inverness and we got in after dark (of course) so we didn't get to look around very much. We did have a brilliant dinner at a place nearby (Culloden Moor Inn) where I think I had a very British meal of shepherd's pie. 

We played cards in the sitting room at B&B and then headed to bed to rest up for a VERY busy Thanksgiving day.

Joshua got his own room!