Since the Castle is still owned and lived in by the current Earl of Stratmore and Kinghorne, there are limited rooms to visit at Glamis- The Dining Room, The Crypt, The Drawing Room, The Chapel, The Billiard Room, King Malcolm's Room, The Royal Apartments, Duncan's Hall, and some Exhibition Rooms that have all sorts of memorabilia to view.

My personal favourite has to be The Crypt- the name itself seems to imply something ancient and quite sinister. This room is one of the oldest, strongest, and most impregnable rooms of the castle and was the lower hall of the original 15th century tower house, where the the Lord's retainers would dine. It can be found just inside the main entrance to the castle, and is literally like stepping into the middle ages! The most intriguing piece of information that I wanted to share here is the legend of the Secret Chamber... Taking a look at the picture below, the chamber is thought to be behind the wall on the left. As the legend goes, it is said that one of the Lord's of Glamis and a friend used to play cards in this room, and were warned not to play on a Sabbath as it was a dreadful sin with terrible consequences. They did not heed the advice and played cards well past midnight one Saturday. They ended up playing card with the devil on the Sabbath, and lost...apparantly, the resulting problems were so great, that eventually, some 300 years later, the room was built up and permanently sealed. As if in proof of this, there is a window that can be seen from the outside, with a wall behind it, and no room can be found that would correspond with inside the castle... see the picture below- I was told that the window in the middle is the one in question, but am not sure it, as if you study the two pictures, it doesn't seem possible... who knows... whatever the case- the window iswalled up, with only the bars on the outside.

The Crypt	The Secret Chamber? (square middle window)

Glamis is said to be one of the most haunted homes in Scotland... one of the definitely fictitious hauntings is that of the ghost of Macbeth who endlessly expiates the death on King Duncan. Another is the unidentified Grey Lady who apparrently haunts the chapel (it is said to be the ghost of Lady Glamis- but seems strange as the chapel wan't even built until 150 years after her death), there has also been sightings of a toungless woman running across the grounds tearing at her mouth (though how one could tell she had no tongue is a mystery to me). Yet another haunting is that of a ghostly madman walking the 'Mad Earl's walk' along the castle roof. And finally there is the tale of a mischievous young ghost who haunts the Queen Mother's apartments- the guide told us of the number of times that visitors felt his/her presence after thinking that someone had tripped them up, and/or tugged at their clothes... this one has no historical associations, so one must wonder if it was added to spice up the tour!

All in all, the castle is well worth the visit if you are in the area, though I would reccomend the summer time so as to enjoy the beautiful grounds. There are several theme gardens including the Dutch Gardens (visible but private), and the Italian Gardens and also a nature trail almost a mile in length. On the approach to the castle itself, after passing through the gates, you travel down a long treelined avenue, along which there are some fields with Highland Cows grazing (not your average cow!!). Other facilities found at Glamis include the Gift Shop which was formerly known as the Butler's Pantry, a Fine Arts gallery in the West Turret, and a garden shop next to the parking lot (car park to us Brits!).

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