The Battle of Bannockburn experience celebrated its first birthday in style - with local primary pupils and neighbours served up a sweet slice of cake.

Manager Scott McMaster said: “2014 was a huge year for Bannockburn – we threw open the doors of this brand new experience, we played our part in marking the 700th anniversary of this significant battle, and we’ve taken our fair share of victories in awards ceremonies.

“We have been blown away by the response to the new facilities here and look forward to sharing this site and its amazing story with many more visitors throughout 2015 and beyond.” Opening ahead of the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in 2014, the centre is the first heritage attraction in the world using Hollywood-calibre motion capture to immerse visitors in a realistic and historically accurate 3D medieval battle.

It was opened by 11 individuals, including Trust chairman Sir Kenneth Calman, the then First Minister Alex Salmond, actor David Hayman who voiced James Douglas, local schoolchildren and war veteran William McDowell.

Amongst the accolades so far are the prestigious ‘best visitor attraction’ from the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions awards, ‘best leisure/ cultural building’ from the Scottish Design Awards and winner of the education/learning website category at the Herald Digital Business Scotland Awards.

In the past 12 months, over 6000 pupils have enjoyed the education experience.

Outside, the site’s historic monuments were restored – the iconic equestrian statue of Bruce was carefully cleaned back to its original bronze finish, the rotunda was repaired and a brand new ringbeam, complete with a newly-commissioned poem by Kathleen Jamie was installed – completing the original design intention from the 1960s.

The Battle of Bannockburn experience was supported by the Scottish Government and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It’s open all year round, seven days a week – book tickets at www.battleofbannockburn.com.

The Battle of Bannockburn experience celebrated its first birthday in style - with local primary pupils and neighbours served up a sweet slice of cake.

Manager Scott McMaster said: “2014 was a huge year for Bannockburn – we threw open the doors of this brand new experience, we played our part in marking the 700th anniversary of this significant battle, and we’ve taken our fair share of victories in awards ceremonies.

“We have been blown away by the response to the new facilities here and look forward to sharing this site and its amazing story with many more visitors throughout 2015 and beyond.” Opening ahead of the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn in 2014, the centre is the first heritage attraction in the world using Hollywood-calibre motion capture to immerse visitors in a realistic and historically accurate 3D medieval battle.

It was opened by 11 individuals, including Trust chairman Sir Kenneth Calman, the then First Minister Alex Salmond, actor David Hayman who voiced James Douglas, local schoolchildren and war veteran William McDowell.

Amongst the accolades so far are the prestigious ‘best visitor attraction’ from the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions awards, ‘best leisure/ cultural building’ from the Scottish Design Awards and winner of the education/learning website category at the Herald Digital Business Scotland Awards.

In the past 12 months, over 6000 pupils have enjoyed the education experience.

Outside, the site’s historic monuments were restored – the iconic equestrian statue of Bruce was carefully cleaned back to its original bronze finish, the rotunda was repaired and a brand new ringbeam, complete with a newly-commissioned poem by Kathleen Jamie was installed – completing the original design intention from the 1960s.

The Battle of Bannockburn experience was supported by the Scottish Government and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It’s open all year round, seven days a week – book tickets at www.battleofbannockburn.com.