h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"The magic and the mystery of a visit to Skara Brae in the 1950s and 1960s are gone. On the one hand it is no longer a place of freedom and exploration and the village is now so full of protective roofing, walkways, fences and buttresses that it can difficult to discern 3000BC from 2000AD."

I agree . Ancient monuments in the remoter parts of Scotland seem to suffer from this less than sites in well populated areas, however the modernisation and all the 'learning aids' that often surround these areas are one of my pet hates

I do, however except the need to protect these sites. I wish we had force field technology! Invisible sheilds that keep out the elements

There are fotunantely many smaller stone circles and other ancient structures in Scotland that are often only marked on an OS map- access is free and unhindered. I even found The rings of Brodgar to be relativly undisturbed (the car park and visitor centre is just about out of sight from the stones as far as i can recall)

Scara Brae, was, however a dissapointment- it really has been vandalised by Historic Scotland, in my opinion.

Glad I saw it in 1981 in that case. Magical! Mystery!

I think the rule 'See it while you can' applies to most historic monuments. I can only see things getting worse with regards to making these 'visitor attractions' all nice and welcoming, fully complient with health and safety, full wheelchair access, parking, interactive touch-screen displays (just in case a shred of your own imagination remained), atmosheric sounds and smells of the era...