field of daffodils in front of Glamis Castle, Scotland

Exploring Scotland | Glamis Castle, Angus

field of daffodils in front of Glamis Castle, ScotlandExploring Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland the grounds of Glamis Castle, Scotland

Forever Amber in the walled garden at Glamis Castle, Scotland the grounds of Glamis Castle, Scotland Scottish travel blogger Forever Amber outside Glamis Castle

You know how some people like to “bag” Munros?

Um, you probably don’t, do you? I think it’s a Scottish thing. Basically a Munro is a type of mountain: we have a whole bunch of them here, and people like to try to collect the set by climbing each one of them: a process known as “bagging”. I know, it sounded like it was going to be more interesting than that, didn’t it?

Anyway, some people like to “bag” Munros, Terry and I like to “bag” castles, by visiting as many of them as we can. (Our friends Ewen and Gillian are also castle baggers, but we don’t really talk about that because I think they’ve bagged more than us. Dammit!) On Easter Sunday, we decided to “bag” Glamis Castle in Angus, although as we’ve already visited it before, Glamis has technically been “double-bagged” by us now. I’ll stop with the “bagging” thing now, I promise.

I did blog about our last visit to Glamis, but as most of the photos in that post got eaten in The Disaster of 2009, and also because I’m trying to get back into the habit of treating this site more like the personal journal it was when I started it, here are some more. You’re welcome!

When I “bag” castles, I like to imagine that I actually own them. I had to kill 17 tourists in order to get this one photo of me standing in front of Glamis all Queen-of-the-Castle-like.

Scottish travel blog: Glamis Castle, Scotland

These are some flowers. They look like hearts. That’s the extent of my knowledge here, unfortunately.

Glamis Castle in Spring

Glamis is one of my favourite castles, not just because of the history (it was the childhood home of the Queen Mother, is the fictional setting of MacBeth, etc, etc) but also because of the ghosts. As Terry mentioned in his holiday journal last year, I’m a complete sucker for books and movies about mysterious old houses which have a deep, dark, secret: ideally one which involves a ghost. I can’t get enough of the things. Glamis seems to me like just such a place:

Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland

Seriously, tell me this place doesn’t look like it has a deadly secret…

Glamis does have a few quite famous ghosts, but we didn’t see any of them. I expect the throngs of tourists scared them away. This is probably a good thing. (Note: I don’t actually really believe in ghosts, I just like reading about them, and scaring myself silly later that night when the house is dark and silent, and there comes a sudden creak on the stairs…)

Speaking of Terry, which I, er, wasn’t really, quite a few of you have told me you’d like to see MOAR TERRY on this site, so here he is:

Terry in the grounds of Glamis Castle, spring 2011

And that was our Easter Sunday. How was yours?

P.S. A few weeks ago I realised, but totally forgot to mention, that Forever Amber turned 5 years old this March. The blog, I mean, not me, the person. I’m a bit older than that, although you wouldn’t necessarily know it, would you? Anyway, I have this huge(ish) archive of posts just sitting here doing nothing, so I thought it might be amusing to take a look back at what I was doing on this day (or thereabouts) in…

2007: I headed off on my honeymoon. Airplanes scared me.
2008: Terry created a giant hole in the kitchen ceiling. I was not amused.

Wow, time passes fast, doesn’t it? That scares me almost as much as the ghosts..

Is this the most beautiful castle in Scotland?

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COMMENTS
  • You look so beautiful! In one of those photos you look like a red-headed Mary Louise Parker (which I do mean as a compliment because, however annoying I find her character in The West Wing, I think she is adorable) I also love castles – currently Dover castle is my favourite, but the grounds aren’t as picturesque!

    My mother-in-law has those same flowers in her garden – she says they are commonly known as ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ – a name almost as beautiful as the flowers themselves.

    April 27, 2011
  • Panthera

    REPLY

    Happy 5 year anniversary! Thank you for being awesome!

    April 27, 2011
  • That sure sounds like a very nice hobby! I’d do it, too, but I’m afraid the part spent getting my boyfriend motivated to drive to a castle more would eat the whole weekend up ^^ But I LOVE castles, ever since I was a teen, and I ALWAYS pretended I’d live there (and that is was 1307, but that’s another matter).
    But reading through your text I thought two things: 1. Yes, I as an avid “internetter” had indeed expected something way more R-rated, but I’m glad it’s not. 2. I really can’t imaginge that building to be anyone’s childhood home O_O

    And totally unrelated: I love that dress color on you! And the whole dress and outfit 😀 Seriously, it’s perfect!

    April 27, 2011
  • You and your blog are so awesome!

    Beautiful castle, why don’t we have those in Belgium? 🙂

    April 27, 2011
  • Gorgeous pictures – you do look all too at home pretending to be Queen of all you survey! I heard that another name for those flowers is ‘lady in the bath’ – because if you turn them upside down it looks like a lady sitting in her bath!

    April 27, 2011
  • ilexica

    REPLY

    I love the pictures! I have a massive thing for ghosty castles, although a lot of the more popular ones just irritate me (Warwick castle is horrendous…).

    Your hair is looking lovely also – suits you.

    April 27, 2011
  • Beautiful pictures! I haven’t visited many castles but I’d like to, they seem very interesting.
    Happy 5 year blog anniversary!

    April 27, 2011
  • Holly

    REPLY

    In the states those flowers are just called bleeding hearts. They are usually hung in baskets above your head so the flowers dangle down.

    April 27, 2011
  • I’m just so jealous of your ability to just pop over and visit a castle. What a wonderful privilege. (I mean, have you seen the “castles” in America? Closest thing we have is the Biltmore estate.)

    LOVE your dress BTW. Who designed it?

    Oh, and what Holly said re: bleeding hearts. Love those flowers 🙂

    April 27, 2011
    • I know! Every time I read one of these posts, I want to teleport to a secret, ancient castle. But who am I kidding? There are no secret, ancient castles where I live. :/
      Also, happy fifth birthday, Blog! Belatedly..

      April 28, 2011
  • Amy

    REPLY

    My mom, the florist, says that the flowers you saw are “bleeding-heart” or Lamprocapnos spectabilis. “Love Lies Bleeding” is Amaranthus caudatus, a very different flower that is like a tumble of red tassels. I’ve never seen bleeding-heart in a basket, but they have a similar look to some varieties of the Fuchsia plant, which are commonly used in hanging baskets in the US… but I’m not saying bleeding-heart are never used in baskets.

    Cross one know-it-all with hours of following her mother through flower wholesalers and you get one obnoxious comment full of latin. 😉 LOVE your green dress with that cardigan and belt.

    April 27, 2011
  • Stacey

    REPLY

    If I had castles around me, I’d spend my spare time trying to “bag” them as well. Are they open to go inside, or can you just walk around outside. I’m afraid if I was allowed inside, I’d find a nice hiding spot and stay!

    Also am jealous of your hair. I’ve been wanting to go red for years, buy my hair guy says I’ll never get it back to blonde, and red’s and expensive color to upkeep. You’re lucky it’s natural!

    April 27, 2011
  • Your man is looking goooooooood! not as good as you, you look amaaaaazing! Love the dress and love that you carry around flats, you don’t know how much I ADORE that!! I thought about starting to do that I was feeling like such a deflated failed shoe dive, you made me feel better hehehhe.

    Great pics.

    PS. Where’s the wolf? 😉

    April 28, 2011
  • Beautiful castle! We got some of them in Sweden too, but Scotland is really a dream for me to visit.
    We call those flowers Löjtnantshjärta, or Lieutenants Heart. Bleeding heart sounds a lot mot exciting…

    April 28, 2011
  • You look like a Disney princess (in a good way, though) in that picture where you’re sitting on the fence.

    Still coveting all those castles. I will swap you one month of warm weather for one castle. Deal?

    April 29, 2011
  • Lovely! You look stunning wearing green!!! I love your beautiful hair!!!

    XoXo
    Plami

    http://fashion-thrill.blogspot.com/

    April 30, 2011
  • Ros

    REPLY

    I love the green dress – where is it from!!??

    May 3, 2011
    • I got it on eBay – it was originally from George: it’s about two years old now, though.

      May 3, 2011
  • Ooooh – nice dress! (I’d forgotten that dress – guess what I’ll be digging out this week!)

    We too like castles, but also, abbeys. And ruins. Traquair and Glamis are on the list for our next visit north. (Also, Threave, and half a dozen towers like Smailholm, and The Hermitage, which is apparently terrifying!)

    And that thing you do trying to take photos that give the impression you own the place – Dapper laughs at me for that. Except when it requires standing still for 20 mins while annoying and oblivious tourist types take their time getting out of shot – then he kinda growls instead…

    May 3, 2011
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