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An £8m interpretation centre is offering visitors the first multi-media tour of Cardiff Castle’s 2,000 year history. Visitors can watch a film of its history via a girl who meets ghosts from across the ages. There are displays in English and Welsh, a timeline of the castle and a widescreen television that loops images of the site, artefacts and costumed re-enactments. The rest of the castle is a self-guided tour using a special hand-held device which explains the heritage in 10 languages.

Plans to convert the Victorian Bestwood Winding Engine House, in Bestwood Country Park, Nottingham, into a visitor attraction has been given the go ahead. The restoration of the Grade 2 listed building will preserve one of the few remaining twin-cylinder, vertical winding steam engines used for English coal mining. It is funded by a £1.1 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £300,000 from the Greater Nottingham Partnership and additional funding from the county council. A nearby electrical sub-station, Dynamo House, will also be restored and the remaining structure will be extended and converted into a visitor centre, with historical exhibition on the Winding House. Construction will be begin in August 2008 and is expected to be completed by summer 2009.

More than £4m is needed to turn Croome Court, in Worcestershire, into a tourist attraction by the National Trust. Croome Court was the former home of the Earls of Coventry but last year it was brought by the Croome Heritage Trust and will be managed by the National Trust. It is hoped that the house will be opened to the public later this year.

The new strategy from the Heritage Lottery Fund is called ‘Valuing our Heritage: Investing in our Future’. It outlines the HLF’s plans to invest £1bn in UK heritage over the next 5 years. Among the changes are a simplified application process, a support and mentoring service and extra help for inexperienced applicants. It should help to provide a quicker turnaround for funding assessments. They will also be encouraging green practices to help minimize environmental impact. Other changes will include a new youth participation strategy called ‘Champions of the Future’ to try engage more young people.

Work has begun on a £3.6m revamp of one of Coventry’s city centres most historic areas. Ironmonger Row and the Burges will be redeveloped into a public square, with cafés and restaurants. The Burges is one of few remaining parts of the city to survive World War Two bombing and redevelopment. The area will become completely pedestrainised.

Historic Scotland is celebrating record breaking numbers of people visiting its attractions. Figures for 2007 - 2008 show 62,000 more tourists visited Historic Scotland sites compared to the previous year, a 2% increase. Skara Brae, in Orkney, saw a 9% increase in numbers and Kisimul Castle in the Western Isles recorded a 33% increase.

A new multi-million pound centre is to be built for Kent’s rare and valuable historical documents, which forms one of the largest collections in the country. Kent County Council will be contributing £4 million to the project, the total cost is not yet known. Documents include letters from Jane Austen and Lord Nelson. The current centre was built in 1938 and does not provide adequate conditions to be able to look after and exhibit the collections properly. The plans will include increasing public access to the collections and helping people research their family history.

English Heritage has launched a new education service called Heritage Explorer. It provides classroom resources and accessible information for teachers in Key Stage 1, 2 and 3. All information can be downloaded and used for free. It incorporates four main facilities Teaching Activities, Images by Theme, Interactives and a Search function.

The A1 Audio Tour has been introduced by Islington Council and it provides commentary on Islington’s A1 road from Archway to Goswell Road. The files can be downloaded for free here and the ‘tour’ provides information on historic buildings, interesting facts and stories from local residents.

Today the internet is part of everyday life for children.  Children are familiar with the online world and use tools such as Facebook and MySpace to communicate with friends.   The Imperial War Museum has launched a new section on their website - ‘The Battle of the Somme’ which through personal stories and by posting original documents online has made the history of the Battle of the Somme very accessible to children.