Each weekend in May there will be fun-sized activities for all the family to enjoy. They will all bring to life an intriguing and unusual aspect of life in the days when Stirling Castle was home to Scotland’s royal court.

On 1st and 2nd May, there will be the chance to meet Master Alexander Mathieson, a carpenter employed to help build the new palace for James V. It’s an important job, and the craftsman will be letting visitors in on all the gossip about his boss, Sir James Hamilton of Finnart – a powerful man who seems to have everything going for him. But it’s funny the way fate can line up some nasty surprises!

The next weekend we have a larger event, the King's New Palace. After that, on 15th and 16th May, you can find out about falconry, one of the most popular past-times of Renaissance royals and nobles. In those days there were strict rules about who could own which sorts of birds of prey. What’s lovely about this event is that you can get right up close to some of these splendid creatures, as well as see them in action in the skies above the castle.

A week later we’ll be taking visitors into the world of fashion, with the chance to encounter a courtier as she is fitted for a new outfit ready to meet the queen. And if you think fashion is important now, wait until you hear how much it mattered in the 16th century – every piece of cloth, or item of jewellery, each cut and stitch had to be just right, but woe betide anyone dressing above their station.

Royal safety was always a big issue but in the early 1540s it was right at the top of the agenda. Mary, Queen of Scots was just a little girl and there were fears that the English might kidnap her and force the Scots to fulfil a promise that she would wed Edward, son of Henry VIII. On 28th and 29th May there’s a chance to meet two of the men with the weighty responsibility of guarding the young queen against the many threats that surrounded her.