The Trafford Centre is a large indoor shopping centre located in Trafford in Greater Manchester, England.

It has 118,766 square meters (1.2m square feet) of retail space and attracts 29 million visits annually. It is made up of 4 main areas: Peel Avenue, Regent Crescent, The Dome and The Orient. The centre is owned by the Peel Holdings. The centre was designed so that visitors enter on both of the two main shopping floors in equal numbers. This helps avoid the problem suffered by other centers, such as the Metro Centre, where visitors do not go to upper floors meaning that many big retailers avoid upper floor units.

The Dome
The Dome is in the middle of the centre and is home to more up market stores such as the first Selfridges outside of London.

Regent Crescent
Regent Crescent is the area where most of the high end designer stores are situated like Karen Millen, Jane Norman, Gap and Mexx, it is home to two bookshops as well as Water stones and Borders and it is also home to two department stores BHS and Debenhams which is at the end of Regent Crescent.

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Royal Botanic Garden
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is both a scientific institution and a tourist attraction. It was originally founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants by Dr. Robert Sibbald and Dr. Andrew Balfour.

It is the second oldest botanic garden in Britain after Oxford‘s.

Opening Times & Admission
Open daily from 10am [except 25 December & 1 January],
Closing: 4pm November-February, 6pm March, 7pm April-September and 6pm October.
Entry to the Garden is FREE.
Admission charge for Glasshouses :
£3.50 adults, £3 concessions, £1 child and £8 family, 50p charge for use of ‘Audiopass’
sound guide. FrBooked Tours
Booked tours with a Guide are available at any time of year. Tours cost £4 per person, with a minimum charge of £40.

Contact
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Inverleith Row
Edinburgh
EH3 5LR
Tel: 0131 552 7171
Fax: 0131 248 2901
E-mail: info@rbge.org.uk

Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh History and Edinburgh Castle begins on the rock on which Edinburgh Castle stands.The rock was formed 70 million years ago.

Edinburgh Castle Tourist Information
Opening Times:
Open all year 7 days a week.
1 April to 31 October 9.30am – 6.00pm Last admission 5.15pm
1 November to 31 March 9.30am-5.00pm
Last admission 4.15pm Closed Christmas Day & Boxing Day.

Admission Cost:
Adults £11.00 Children £5.50 Concession £9.00
Address:Castle Hill
Edinburgh
EH1 2NG. Scotland.

Edinburgh Castle is an ancient fortress which, from its position atop Castle Rock, dominates the sky-line of the city of Edinburgh, and is Scotland’s second most visited tourist attraction It occupies the summit of an ancient plug of volcanic rock towering 260ft or 80m abovethe city it dominates, and is visible for tens of miles in every direction.

Edinburgh Castle started to develop into a royal fortress during the reign of David I from 1124 to1153. Edward I of England took the castle after a three day siege in 1296. The Scots retook it in 1314 by scaling the rock at night, but the English were back in possession by 1335, only to lose it once more to the Scots by stealth in April 1341.

Edinburgh Castle remains a military base today. Direct administration of the castle by the Ministry of Defence only came to an end in 1915 when the army moved to the city’s Redford Barracks. Nevertheless, the Castle continues to have a strong connection with the Army. Sentries still stand watch at the castle gatehouse between 6pm and 9am

The Castle is now run and administered, for the most part, by Historic Scotland. Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government.

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