Discover Stirling & Northeast Scotland - Discover Scotland: Experience the Best of Scotland - page 390

ROYAL DEESIDE
The valley of the River Dee - often called Royal Deeside because of the royal family's
long association with the area - stretches west from Aberdeen to Braemar, closely par-
alleled by the A93 road. From Deeside north to Strathdon is serious castle country - there
are more examples of fanciful Scottish Baronial architecture here than anywhere else in
Scotland.

Detour:
Glamis Castle Village
Looking every inch the Scottish Baronial castle, with its roofline sprouting a forest of pointed turrets and battlements,
Glamis Castle ( www.glamis-castle.co.uk ; adult/child £9.75/7.25; 10am-6pm Mar-Oct, 10.30am-4.30pm
Nov Dec, closed Jan-Feb) claims to be the legendary setting for Shakespeare's Macbeth . A royal residence since
1372, it is the family home of the earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne - the Queen Mother (born Elizabeth Bowes-Ly-
on; 1900-2002) spent her childhood at Glamis (pronounced 'glams') and Princess Margaret (the queen's sister;
1930-2002) was born here.
Hour-long guided tours depart every 15 minutes (last tour at 4.30pm, or 3.30pm in winter).
The Angus Folk Museum (NTS; Kirkwynd; adult/child £6/5; 10.30am-4.30pm Thu-Mon Jul Aug,
11.30am-4.30pm Sat-Mon Apr-Jun, Sep Oct) , in a row of 18th-century cottages just off the flower-bedecked
square in Glamis village, houses a fine collection of domestic and agricultural relics.
Glamis Castle is 12 miles north of Dundee. There are two to four buses a day from Dundee (35 minutes) to Glamis;
some continue to Kirriemuir.

Ballater
POP 1450
The attractive little village of Ballater owes its 18th-century origins to the curative waters
of nearby Pannanich Springs (now bottled commercially as Deeside Natural Mineral
Water) and its prosperity to nearby Balmoral Castle.
The tourist office (

9am-6pm Jul Aug, 10am-5pm Sep-Jun) is in 01339-755306; Station Sq;

the Old Royal Station.