Established in 1874, the Smith has been a focal point of Stirling for centuries. Come and be fascinated by our vast collection of local artifacts and modern day exhibits.

The Smith Café is a small, locally-owned eatery, serving a variety of foods, beverages, and cakes. Vegetarian and vegan options are available.

For café enquiries please email thesmithcafestirling@aol.com

Ailie's Garden, opened in 2002, is a biodiversity garden situated in the Smith grounds, behind the museum building. It is a haven of peace and tranquillity, as well as an educational and demonstration area. It is named after Ailie MacLaurin (1913-2000) whose parents founded the Stirling Homesteads and who was a stalwart of the Friends of the Stirling Smith’s Plant Sale for many years.

The garden has been developed to encourage wildlife, showing the different Scottish habitats (woodland, woodland edge, upland, wetland and hedgerow) and incorporating a small kitchen garden compost demonstration area. There is a Willow Garden; a Xylophone made from a 40-year-old branch of a coppiced sycamore from a 300-year-old tree in the Cults Hill Wood in Fife; a mosaic ‘pond’ and a mosaic path; the Balfron Bench and the Wolf Stone. All of these have connections with the Stirling area.

The Friends of the Stirling Smith raised the original funds to create the garden and now share responsibility for its ongoing maintenance and development.

The garden is accessible during museum opening hours.