Outlander Tv Series - Where Fact Meets Fiction

We are well accustomed to designing tours that focus on historical facts and visiting ancient buildings or battlefields. Examples of past tours have included the life of William Wallace; although some of our clients were surprised to discover that the reality is not quite as depicted in the movie Braveheart. Likewise, the places associated with the life of Robert the Bruce that I've mentioned here previously or the Stewart (Stuart) dynasty including the Jacobite uprising. History is well documented and planning a tour that visits the locations associated with history and devising an interesting route between the stops is fairly straightforward. Therefore, when someone suggested we create a tour that focused on the Diana Gabaldon books and TV Series Outlander I thought it would be an easy task; it proved to be far harder than expected.

CGI can work wonders these days. It can seamlessly integrate actual recorded images with computer generated ones to build a whole new scene and this promotes a challenge when designing a tour of those film locations where the reality can be a far cry from what was seen on screen.

A good example of this is the harbour at Dysart. The former town and Royal Burgh of Dysart in Fife has long since been embraced into Kirkcaldy. The harbour is north of Kirkcaldy town centre and south of West Wemyss. In Outlander Dysart harbour was used as the location for the French Port Le Havre. The waterfront is recognisable but the street front you see on screen is pure CGI that replaced the tall harbour wall. It takes a skilled eye to see the parts that exist in reality and also on screen.

Some of the other Scottish locations used as French scenes include Deanston Distillery that was used as Jamie's cousins wine warehouse at Le Havre, Aberdour Castle used as the set for Sainte Anne de Beaupre Monastery and Gosford House where grounds and interiors doubled for the Palace of Versailles.

Those who have intensely travelled through Scotland will instantly recognise some of the locations such as Glasgow City Chambers used as the registry office where Frank Proposed to Claire, the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway that acted as a wartime London station, Preston Mill where Jamie hid beneath the mill waterwheel or Glencourse Old Kirk where Jamie and Claire took their wedding vows. Many of these are public spaces and therefore well-known but the little Old Kirk is on a private estate that few will have visited. Similarly, Midhope Castle used as Lallybroch is equally hard to find because the ruinous property is within the Hopetoun Estate and in an area that is beyond the publicly accessible parts. Knowing where to obtain permission to visit and recognising the dangers that these crumbling buildings impose is essential to safely inspecting the location.

Many of Scotland's grand houses feature in the series; Hopetoun House, Callander House and Drumlanrig Castle were all used in scenes involving the Duke of Sandringham's home. As aforementioned Gosford House was used for Versailles in Season 2 but it returned in Series 3 this time as Hellwater. However, although visitors will recognise parts from the TV Series they probably won't recognise as a whole because once again CGI played a crucial role. Hopetoun House is vast and part of the 17th century facade were erased in the case of Lallybroch and Hellwater rolling countryside was generated to alter the settings of these properties.

As you might imagine whilst I was watching the series I often thought, I know where that is, only to find myself questioning if I was right. It was tough and detailed visits had to be made to verify my thoughts and make corrections where necessary. So, planning a motorcycle tour that visited these filming locations proved not to be as plain sailing as you might think but I hope you like the end result.

Visit McTours to view the final tour and study the maps that link the places of interest or better still join us on the tour. https://www.mctours.eu/tour/83/scotland/highlands-lowlands/outlander-film-locations-tour