Castle under siege - from tourists!

VISITOR figures to Dunrobin Castle have broken records for the third year running.

The seat of the Sutherland family, located to the north of Golspie, has been toured by some 112,500 people since it opened in spring.

That represents an increase of more than 10,000 on the 2017 season when around 102,000 visitors were recorded – breaking the 100,000 ceiling for the first time.

Managing director Scott Morrison said the castle would have had difficulty coping were it not for the extra car parking and catering facilities put in place this year.

He said August remained the busiest month with 29,000 visitors alone. The busiest day ever was recorded on August 7 with 1432 visitors.

On that day passengers from two cruise liners, docked at Invergordon, visited the castle.

Cruise liners continue to be a major source of visitors, according to Mr Morrison, who believes traffic from the North Coast 500 could be on the point of "levelling out".

He said: "I think NC500 is still very strong but I do wonder it is now about to level out. But we are expecting the cruise business to increase with an extra 15 liner visits to Invergordon expected next year."

Mr Morrison said he would be "delighted" if visitor figures remained at the current mark. He is now wondering how many entry tickets to order for 2019.

He said: "I got 110,000 tickets for this year and hoped that would be enough but we ran out weeks ago. I am now trying to decide what we will need for next year."

The castle, which employed a 60-strong staff at the height of the season, closed on Wednesday for the winter.