Scottish Castles Association

Dunnottar Castle could become the Eighth Wonder of the World.

An iconic Aberdeenshire castle is Scotland's nomination to become the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Dunnottar Castle, near Stonehaven, topped a Visit Scotland online poll to represent the country with more than 1,8000 votes.

This was 600 more than the Cuillins in Skye in second place, followed by 10 other contenders including Edinburgh Castle and Orkney's Skara Brae.

Already a major tourist attraction, visitor numbers to the castle have been boosted further due to its Hollywood connection.

It was the inspiration for Castle DunBroch, in the Oscar winning Disney-Pixar film Brave, as the family home of Princess Merida.

Actors Mel Gibson and Glenn Close filmed Hamlet there in 1990, the Braveheart star in the title role and Ms Close as Gertrude, Queen of Denmark.

That global reputation will be enhanced when the castle competes in Virtual-Tourist.com's worldwide competition, with voting starting on Monday.

Custodian of the castle Wendy Sylvester said: "We are delighted and honoured that we have been selected to represent Scotland. We knew from the start that we were up against some very strong competition indeed".

"The support we have received from our local community, in Scotland, the UK and overseas has been overwhelming".

VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said Dunnottar Castle deserves to be vying alongside the other world renowned attractions for the title. Among these are Dominica's Boiling Lake, French Polynesia's Bora Bora Beach and the Grand Place of Brussels.

Source: Press and Journal