One of the north’s busiest tourist attractions has gone to new heights for the start of the tourist season.
A new flag will be raised over the historic Highland castle as it opens to the public today.
The 30-year-old flagpole at Cawdor Castle was removed and replaced in a delicate operation ahead of the grand opening.
A helicopter was drafted in to complete the tricky task of extracting the old pole and carrying out repairs.
The operation is said to have gone “like clockwork” and the flag will be raised this morning in time for a grand opening at 10am.
The 15th century castle and its gardens are now a popular tourist attraction during the summer months.
A spokeswoman for the castle said: “Cawdor Castle will open early this year on Saturday, April 29 at 10am and will be open every day until October 2.
“In preparation for this, our existing flagpole was extracted by helicopter and then replaced again after the necessary repairs were made.
“The last time anything like this was done was when the flagpole was put in 30 years ago.
“The whole process was managed like clockwork and the flag will be raised today in time for the grand opening.”
The earliest recorded record of a castle on the site is in 1454, with the tower set among the grand gardens on the outskirts of Cawdor village.
The castle has been in the ownership of the Campbell family for generations and is currently occupied by the Dowager Countess Angelika.
She is the widow of Hugh Campbell, the 6th Earl of Cawdor, who died at the age of 60-years-old in 1993.
Lady Angelika now runs the tourist attraction at Cawdor Castle, which includes tours of the castle, gardens and nature trails.
The castle is best known for its connection with Shakespeare’s Macbeth, with the titular king being named Thane of Cawdor early in the play.
The actual existing castle was built several hundred years after the lifetime of the real 1th-century King Macbeth.
