Following on from the history in yesterdays post which was copied from the website of the Christian trust which now owns the castle I have a few more facts. The tower is where Mary Queen of Scots stayed for a night and was not impressed her bedroom "having no fire place in it,nor was it lathed or plastered,while the floor consisted of great coarse boards roughly sawn and nailed together" Marys son, King James also stayed in 1589,he asked the Laird , Hutcheon Rose,how he managed to live among such turbulent neighbours. The question prompted by the unusual fact that the Laird had no standing army and never had a clan of highlanders to call to arms.Indeed the family of Roses favoured reading and playing of music.The wily Laird ascribed his survival to the practice of prayer 3 times daily. I suspect he also practiced diplomacy and had a peaceful life to the age of 90.Some of you know the stress reducing benefit of a walk in the park, it became a family tradition to enhance their grounds and generations have planted trees . To this day many trees are known by who planted them. Prince Charles Edward Stuart called in just before the battle of Culloden to find tenants planting out saplings. He remarked to the Laird "How happy you must be ,Mr Rose in being peacefully engaged when the whole country around you is in a stir" The Rose family held the castle for over 700 years ,remarkable without force of arms or is this a pointer to the power of diplomacy and not posing a military threat. If you are visiting the Highlands check out this place , the grounds are open to view, tours of the castle at a reasonable price and a wide variety of accomodation for hire just google for the website.