A Mearns beauty spot is in the top 10 of 350 entries bidding to stake their claim as the “eighth wonder of the world”.
Dunnottar Castle, near Stonehaven, is up against global landmarks including San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, Hagia Sophia in Instanbul and, closer to home, Hadrian’s Wall.
The castle was the inspiration for the home of heroine Merida in the Disney-Pixar Oscar-winning film Brave.
It was voted the eighth wonder of the world by Scots after collecting 1,836 votes and finishing more than 600 in front of nearest rivals, the Cuillin on the Isle of Skye and the Callanish Stones on Lewis.
Following its win in the VisitScotland poll, the castle was put forward into a global competition being run by VirtualTourist.com.
Dunnottar Castle’s custodian Wendy Alexander said: “We were delighted to learn of our placing so far in VirtualTourist’s competition and are overwhelmed by the support we have received locally, from the rest of Scotland and from everyone overseas.
“We would like to thank everyone who has voted for Dunnottar so far and hope that they will continue to get behind the castle and support us.
“Bringing the title to Scotland would not only be great for the North-east but for Scotland as a whole.”
Dunnottar was recently awarded a certificate of excellence from Trip-Advisor placing it in the top-performing 10% of all businesses worldwide on the travel website.
The award is given to businesses that get consistently high ratings from TripAdvisor travellers.
VisitScotland regional director Shona Anderson said: “Dunnottar Castle is one of Scotland’s most remarkable landmarks and it is fantastic to see it doing so well among some extremely strong competition from around the world.
“In the Year of Natural Scotland, it would be wonderful to see this Scottish icon crowned as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ and I encourage people to go to www.virtualtourist.com/8thwonderto cast their vote.”
The voting closes on September 30.