Enjoy special tour of Wemyss Caves from home

The volunteers at Save Wemyss Ancient Caves Society (SWACS) are unable to run their usual programme of cave tours and have been busy dreaming up new ways of continuing their work.

They have come up with a way to share the experience of touring the caves without anyone having to leave their home.

Their not-so-secret weapon is the Wemyss Caves 4D website, created using laser scanning and drone photography of the site.

Using this website, anyone can navigate their own tour of the caves online.

But this weekend the team will use the 3D models of the caves to give you the full live guided-tour experience.

Via Facebook, the SWACS guide will take you inside the caves and shine a virtual torch on the carvings while explaining to you what you are looking at and filling you in on lots of interesting historical detail.

The Wemyss Caves are famous for the ancient carvings that adorn their walls, many of them dating to Pictish times having been carved some 1500 or more years ago.

There will also be assistants on hand waiting to answer your questions on Facebook Chat.

“Maybe nothing can quite replace the experience of actually being there,” said vice-chair Sue Hamstead, “but in the face of necessity we have to be inventive, and what we’re offering in some ways surpasses a normal physical tour.

“You don’t have to be in Fife yourself to take part and there are no flights of steps to walk up to get you around the route.

“What’s more, the virtual tour can show you what the site looked like in ages past. It can also take you into a cave that is no longer accessible and show you carvings that no longer exist.”

Having completed your tour, you will even be able to order your souvenirs from the online gift shop and have your purchases sent out to you.

The first ever live virtual tour is happening at 2pm on Sunday, April 5. All you need to do to take part is head to the SWACS Facebook page at facebook.com/SaveWemyssAncientCavesSociety and settle down in front of the screen.