Upstairs
Travel to Glamis (off the A94 near the A90 at Forfar) and visit the childhood home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and birthplace of Princess Margaret. A Royal residence since 1372, the Glamis Castle is the family seat of the Earl of Strathmore, and was the setting for Shakespeare's famous 'Scottish Play'.
A place of great romance and opulence, visitors can tour the magnificent Royal apartments and the castle also has beautiful gardens, a nature walk, and a restaurant.
Downstairs
But don't leave Glamis without strolling through this beautiful conservation village, and visiting the Angus Folk Museum, a National Trust For Scotland property, which illustrates the real lives of the country people who lived on the land. The collection was brought together by Jean, Lady Maitland, and presented by local trustees. The weavers' and crofters' possessions were simple and their lives were often hard. Six pretty terraced cottages gifted by the Strathmore Estate house a fascinating array of domestic and agricultural artefacts, and a courtyard and byre display Life on the Land. Close by Glamis Post Office and shop has a tearoom, for a reviving afternoon moment.
Upstairs
Travel to Montrose or Brechin, and on the B935 between the two is the House of Dun. This handsome Georgian country house is in the care of the National Trust For Scotland. Overlooking the Montrose Basin Wildlife Centre, it was completed in 1730 by William Adam for David Erskine, the 13th Laird of Dun. The house sits in its own charming formal courtyard and gardens with parkland and woodland beyond. The courtyard buildings house a working handloom weaver's workshop, a restaurant, and shop.See how Dun's grand public rooms and elaborate plasterwork perfectly complement the cosier style of the family apartments. Enjoy the collections of 18th - and 19th century furniture, porcelain and portraits, alongside the accoutrements of the gentry - fishing rods and boots. Don't miss the model theatre display with its scaled-down stage and cast of miniature, costumed characters.
Downstairs
Travel to Barry Mill south of Carnoustie, which is 12 miles north of Dundee on the A92. In the 19th Century the Mill was at the heart of its community, a rumbling, splashing, grinding hive of activity, and essential to the rural economy. Local farms and crofts brought their harvest for milling, oats and barley mostly. The place would have been busy with comings and goings, cloudy with the dust from the quernstones, and 
loud with the thump of trapdoors and sacks rising and falling. Easy to picture the miller and his apprentices sweating and shouting over the noise of the water wheel and the cogs grinding, geese honking on the green and on the mill lade. Peaceful now, and in the care of the National Trust For Scotland, the mill is a superb example of its kind, although it was in action until as recently as 1982. Today you can learn all about the working of the mill from a real miller, who tends the machinery and demonstrates its operation for visitors. Open Thursday to Monday from Good Friday until the end of September, afternoons.
Upstairs
Travel to Edzell, turning off at Brechin from the A90. Visit Edzell Castle (cared for by Historic Scotland), and enjoy the exquisite stylised walled garden, which was created by the Lindsay family around 1604. In the 1400s the Lindsays had become the Earls of Crawford, and in the early 1500s they abandoned their original castle and built a new tower house and a courtyard. The standing of the family is reflected in the quality of the heraldic sculptures and carved panels, a unique architectural feature. Stone reliefs of virtues and deities also adorn the walls. 
Buildings were created at the corners of the courtyard - a Summer House and a Bath House. The Summer house contains probably the best preserved room in the castle, with a magnificent oak panel on the wall. The castle must have been a sumptuous place. The courtyard garden is delightful, with gloriously ornate decorated walls and beautifully planting. Flower boxes have been provided in diagonally arranged compartments in the walls, and spaces have been left for nesting birds. Further decoration is provided by stone reliefs of virtues and deities.
Downstairs
Travel to Forfar - just off the A90. Visit the Meffan Museum and Art Gallery to explore "The Forfar Story" from the time of Pictish artistic endeavour to the 19th Century. A stunning collection of Pictish Stones, interactive screen technology, and 3D models explain earlier history.
Time-travelling more recently, the visitor can next wander down an old narrow cobbled street called The Vennel. They can peer into a knockmaker's workshop (clocks), see linen being woven by a weaver, drool over bread, and of course, Forfar bridies at the bakers; the shoemaker is busy mending and making boots and shoes.
The last shop on the street is Peter Reid's sweetie shop with it's famed Forfar Rock. Finally the visitor steps into a crowd staring in awe and horror at a witch about to be strangled and burnt. Forfar had a dark period in its history where several women were accused of witchcraft. Fortunately these days in Forfar you will find friendly folk and a good range of eating-places to sustain you.
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