Callanish

I suppose a small charge is justified. I'm not one who expects something for nothing, but a lot of the more popular sites, such as Stonehenge charge stupid prices. If we want to encourage an interest in archaeology in young people, which is where the future lies, we need to make the big sites affordable to families, especially during the current economic crisis.

The only downside would be that it might mean it's not open early/late in the day I guess, if it's only possible to go when the visitor centre is open.

I do believe I visited quite late in the day when the visitor centre was shut... they could always have a machine in the car park to take your money if you want to give something out of hours. I'm surprised it would have been free in the first place to be honest, especially with it being a big tourist site and having a little visitor centre?

To make the payment thing work, would they have to fence things off, a la St*nehenge? Is that even viable there? I really must get my act together and get up there before too much longer.

I remember the days as a kid when the 'standard' admission price for historic monuments (we're talking castles here) was small enough for my dad to afford to take me in whenever we had the opportunity... enough to pay for the custodian's wages. Make it too much and you'll still get the bored American tourist, yes... but lose the next generation of kids, completely the opposite of what we want. Stating the obvious, but future interest is absolutely key.

As I recall, my first visit was subject to the bus times to catch the ferry back to Ullapool (as a foot passenger)... so 4hrs or so. The second time I stayed in the nearby YH and literally hung around at the Tursachan ALL day. Then came back the next evening after seeing the amazing 'periphery sites'. The pull was that great. So to close off access 'after hours' will IMO be vastly detrimental - it is simply not one of those sites you 'go and 'have a look around'. It is the destination of a pilgrimage, no less.

My feeling exactly; the first time I went I got there before the visitor centre opened, no other cars in the carpark and I had the stones all to myself on a crisp, bright November morning for half/threequarters of an hour before the clouds rolled in and the heavens opened driving me indoors. Restricting its opening by fencing it off (the only way of enforcing an entry fee in designated hours) will be to deprive future 'pilgrims' of the chance to experience what I did, something never to be forgotten.