Category - Scotland

Glamis Castle
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Glamis Castle

Glamis Castle is located near the village of Glamis in Angus Scotland. It is the private home of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. While the Earl maintains a private residence within the Castle it is open to the public for tours of the castle and gardens. Dogs are even welcome on the grounds as long as you keep them on a leash and clean up after them.

You can tour the Castle and Gardens from March 18th to October 31st. During our trip to Scotland, we made a detour to Glamis Castle on our way back to Edinburgh from Inverness. It was definitely worth going a little out of our way to see this castle.

Glamis has been home to the Lyon family since the early 14th century. The existing structure dates mainly from the 17th century. It was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the birthplace of her daughter Princess Margaret.

The Glamis Estate is just over 14,000 acres or 57 square kilometers.

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, King Macbeth resides at Glamis Castle, though in reality, there is no historical tie to the real King Macbeth. You can see intricate wood carvings on the “Macbeth Trail” on the Glamis Castle grounds.

We really enjoyed our visit here and highly recommend it for anyone touring Scotland. Dress warm as the castle is a bit cold inside.

The official Glamis Castle website can be found here.

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Urquhart Castle
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Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle is situated on the coast of Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. It is about a 21 minute drive from the city of Inverness.

The present castle dates from around 1230 and was built by the Durward family. It was captured by Edward I of England. It was a Scottish royal castle from the mid 1300’s. It was raided several times by the MacDonald Earls of Ross. Eventually the castle was granted to Clan Grand in 1509 but the MacDonald’s continued raiding the castle.

It was partially destroyed in 1692 to prevent the Jacobite forces from capturing the castle.

It was opened to the public in the 20th century and is now one of the most visited castles in Scotland.

Despite it’s picturesque location, it has only been used in 2 films: “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)” and “Loch Ness (1996)”. It was featured in the Outlander books as the location where Frank and Claire have their 2nd Honeymoon.

You can go to the official website of the castle by clicking here.

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