Obsessing over Outlander

Scotland is definitely taking advantage of Outlander's moment

(Like my dad, you might now be asking "What is this Outlander thing?" It's a book series and TV show that Entertainment Weekly described as "A time-hopping, continent-spanning salmagundi of genres." Basically historical fantasy/romance – moderately similar to Game of Thrones if it focused mainly on Jon Snow and Ygritte's relationship, lost the dragons, and added a time travel element.)

This beautiful area was primarily used to film Outlander’s opening credits. 

Outlander fandom was an impetus for this trip, so we stopped at a few locations used in the series. To make it easier for enthusiastic fans to spend money in Scotland, the national board of tourism helpfully maintains a list of all Outlander filming locations (or this link to the static version).

Our tour group managed to see four:

• Glencoe
• Doune Castle
• Deanston Distillery
• Culross

It is hard to pick a favorite. Doune Castle is certainly worth a visit because of the three audio tour stops narrated by Sam Heughan, the actor who plays Jamie Fraser in the TV series. The castle has been used to film other famous productions, notably Monty Python and The Holy Grail and GoT for which it served as Winterfell.

This castle has been used in Outlander as the fictional Castle Leoch (home to the MacKenzie clan).

The kitchen at Doune Castle served as inspiration for the series. A replica set was built for filming.

But I'd probably lean toward Culross. The village and the palace have both been used in Outlander. Palace is a misnomer; it's a merchant house built in the early 17th century. It was restored to give visitors a feel for domestic life in that era, right down to replicated textiles created by a local needlepoint group. The tiered garden is also quite beautiful on a sunny day.

The Palace at Culross and the village were filming locations.

Culross' garden served as Claire Randall’s herb garden.    

Don't be afraid to ask questions of the Culross docents: They are very informed about the local history (both Outlander related and otherwise).

I walked through the stones at Clava Cairns. Fortunately, I remained in the 21^st century.