Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
impressive Victorian architecture and small old-fashioned shops. If you stop here it's
worth popping into the quaint bakeries that proudly stock the famous
Forfar bridie,
a
semicircular folded pastry-case of mince, onion and seasonings.
Just west of town, a series of glacial lochs peters out at
Forfar Loch
, now surrounded
by a pleasant country park with a visitor centre and three-mile nature trail. Further
west still is
Glamis Castle
(see below), whose ostentatious interiors, carefully sculpted
gardens and château-like turrets make it one of Scotland's most fantastical fortresses.
10
Meffan Institute Museum and Art Gallery
20 West High St • Tues-Sat 10am-5pm • Free •
W
www.angus.gov.uk
Midway along Forfar's High Street, the
Meffan Institute Museum and Art Gallery
exhibits Neolithic, Pictish and Celtic remains and a thoroughly enjoyable collection of
re-created historical street scenes; the most disturbing examines the town's seventeenth-
century passion for witch-hunting, with a taped re-creation of locals baying for blood.
Restenneth Priory and around
Two miles east of Forfar, signposted off the B9113 • Free
A short drive from Forfar in the middle of farmland are the remains of
Restenneth
Priory
, approached along a side road off the B9113 (go beyond the Angus Archives to
reach the car park). King Nechtan of the Picts was thought to have established a place
of worship here in the eighth century, although the oldest parts of the present structure
are from an Augustinian priory erected on the spot around 1100.
A little way south of this, off the B9128, a cairn in the village of
Dunnichen
commemorates a battle at nearby Nechtansmere in 685 in which the Picts
unexpectedly defeated a Northumbrian army, thus preventing the Angles from
extending their kingdom northwards.
EATING AND DRINKING
FORFAR AND AROUND
Ti
ns
12 West High Street
T
01307 461152.
The
carpet's seen better days and the wallpaper's old-fashioned,
but the friendly staff make this tearoom a pleasant spot for
a vanilla slice and a cuppa (£2.60). They also do good
sandwiches.
Daily 9.30am-4.30pm.
Goodfellow & Steven
35 Castle Street
T
01307
460030.
If you want to try the local speciality, Forfar bridie,
call in at this bakery near the town's municipal building. A
steak-filled bridie costs £1.55.
Daily 8am-5pm.
The Vine and Monkey
37-43 West High Street
T
01307 461116.
Fun watering hole on Forfar's main
street that hosts live music sessions on Sundays that are
occasionally backed up by a quiz (entry £1), and also serves
pub food.
Daily 11am-midnight/1am.
Glamis Castle
Dundee Road, about six miles west of Forfar • March-Oct daily 10am-6pm; last tour 4.30pm • £10.75 •
W
glamis-castle.co.uk • Take
Stagecoach bus #20C from West High Street in Forfar or Commercial Street in Dundee
Pink-sandstone
Glamis Castle
, located a mile north of the picturesque village of
GLAMIS
(pronounced “glahms”) is a wondrously over-the-top, L-shaped five-storey pile set in an
extensive landscaped park. It's also one of Scotland's most famous castles: Shakespeare
chose it as a central location in
Macbeth
,
and its
royal connections
(as the childhood
home of the late Queen Mother and birthplace of the late Princess Margaret) make it
one of the essential stops on every coach tour of Scotland.
As you approach the castle down the long main drive, a riot of turrets, towers and
conical roofs appears fantastically at the end of the sweeping avenue of trees, framed by
the Grampian Mountains. Obligatory guided tours (50min) take in the fifteenth-
century
crypt
, where the 12ft-thick walls enclose a haunted “lost” room, reputed to
have been sealed with the red-bearded lord of Glamis and Crawford inside, after he
dared to play cards with the Devil one Sabbath. Artist Jacob de Wet was commissioned
to produce the frescoes in the family
chapel
, completed in 1688, and his depictions of
Christ wearing a hat and St Peter in a pair of glasses have raised eyebrows ever since.
