Coronavirus Statement

Whilst we have made great strides against the Coronavirus pandemic over more than a year, caution is still to be advised and good social distancing and hand hygiene will need to be heeded at all venues that are physically welcoming visitors. Please respect the efforts that the venues are making to ensure things are as safe as possible for their volunteers, your visit and the concerns of other visitors.

Pre-booking for most visits is recommended although some venues are also welcoming visitors at the door. Some venues are also providing special online access which is the safest type of visit of all and is available world-wide or to those stuck at home. Many of these virtual visits are being created and launched especially for Doors Open Days this September and can be found by checking the National website: www.doorsopendays.org.uk

Restrictions are always changing and we ask that you keep aware of any applicable safety measures put in place by Scottish Government guidance before setting off on your visit. Please note that these may change at short notice and venues may have to adapt to their organisation’s satisfaction to accommodate you.

Get involved in Doors Open Days

If you’re a building owner/operator and would like to take part in Doors Open Days, or you have a suggestion of somewhere you would like to see added to the programme, then please get in touch. You can also find out more about how to get involved on the Doors Open Days website.

 “Wonderful experience and a joy to be a part of Doors Open Days” – venue operator

If you’re interested in getting into buildings and having a look around some of Perth and Kinross’s hidden gems then the best way is to pick up a copy of the programme brochure which is available from Libraries, Museums and Visit Scotland Information Centres from August each year. It can also be downloaded from this page or from the Doors Open Days website – full online venue listings for all of Scotland are available on this webpage.

“We love Doors Open Days, [it’s a] great opportunity to explore your own town and learn history” – visitor

Doors Open Days: A look back at the 2020 Programme

During a lull in the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, we ran a much-reduced Doors Open Days programme in Perth and Kinross across the weekend of 19-20 September 2020.

We sadly had to postpone our tours of the Lower City Mills and Perth Lade, however, other buildings successfully opened for physical tours with appropriate safety measures in place including the Perth Railway Boxing Club – the City’s oldest amateur boxing club, Innerpeffray Library – Scotland’s first lending library, and the Quarto Press in Coupar Angus with its unique collection of working antique printing presses.

There was an increase in digital doors opening, in line with the rest of the National Doors Open Days programme, with online tours, talks and resources giving access to buildings that are either rarely open to the public or have prepared something special for the occasion. The newly opened Perth Creative Exchange provided digital tours of the artist’s studios as did venues operated by Culture Perth and Kinross that that have been open for physical tours in previous years.

Visitor analysis showed an increase by 8% of 18-25 year olds across Scotland and by 19% of 55-64 year olds. This may indicate the power of digital content to attract a new, younger audience and enable a wider geographical reach.

Our sincere thanks to all those who made special efforts to make Doors Open Days 2020 a successful event against the difficult circumstances! In particular, thank you to the Gannochy Trust for their continued generous financial support and the volunteers at venues and behind computers all over Perth & Kinross who made it happen.