Come See Scotland With Me! – Part Three

Posted August 4, 2023 by Lisa Mandina in Uncategorized / 14 Comments

It took so long for the second post I ended up deciding to do a third post for the last two days of my tour. If you haven’t seen the first two posts yet, you can go HERE and HERE.

Sixth Day in Scotland and 4th Day of the Tour

Kingdom of Fife – Dysart

The 4th day of the tour started out in Dysart, and you can see my first post about that HERE. It was used as the harbor in France in season 2. I have to share a picture from the show next to my actual picture because where there is just a cliff in real life, they created a whole town in CGI. There is also a set of stairs that was used in the show at some point, but I only got a picture of the hill and trees it was on.

Falkland

Now our next stop is one of the first places we see in Outlander. It is the town they used to stand in for Inverness, and I first posted about it HERE. It’s where Claire and Frank go for their honeymoon after the war is over. It’s where Frank sees Jamie’s ghost looking at Claire in the window of the Inn, although he thinks it’s just some Scottish man. It’s also where they filmed the store where Claire saw a vase in a shop window that she talks about buying. But besides that, several other things were actually filmed in this town as we found out on the tour. Sadly, my memory not being good enough to remember everything, there was a store that the storeowner came out and talked to us and told us all about how they had fixed up the shop to use in some scenes as well. Also there was a house with a blue door that we were told was in one of the films, but again I just can’t remember what scenes!

I also saw two young girls walking two dachshunds, and I had to go pet the dogs, but forgot to take pictures!

Culross

For lunch we went to the Red Lion Inn in Culross, pronounced Coo-ross. I had a steak pie/sandwich for lunch, with chips (fries) of course. I also had to take a picture of our tour guide Anne’s “ham salad”. Then we had to wander around the town to see the different places that were filmed on the show. You can read my original post HERE. Laoghaire’s house from the season where Bree goes back, season 4 I think? The stairs to the house where Claire went to visit the boy that everyone said was possessed, yet with her medical knowledge she knew he was only ill. And while we didn’t actually go into Culross Palace, there were scenes filmed there I guess from the Culloden and Jacobite uprising portions of the show. The courtyard next to Geillis Duncan’s house and where the boy was nailed by the ear to a stand in the yard for everyone to see as a punishment for stealing.

Hopetoun House

Our next stop was Hopetoun House, which had a lot of different things filmed there. You can see my original post on it HERE. The front side of the house was used in season 2 for Helwater, the place Jamie was sent after prison by Lord John so he wouldn’t be killed with all the other prisoners. The stables there also were filmed as part of that season. The back of the house was used as the Duke of Sandringham’s home. And there is a red parlor inside that was used as the Duke’s parlor where a few scenes took place. Inside of the house was amazing. So many things to take pictures of that had nothing to do with the show. The home has been in the same family for over 300 years, and they still have residences in one wing that visitors are not allowed into. They also rent it out for weddings, and there was one there when we were visiting.

Like I said, so many beautiful things in the house. Here are some things that have nothing to do with the show, but I had to share and take picture of!

On our drive home that afternoon, we made a quick stop by the Kelpies. They’re supposedly something to see at night all lit up, but with it not getting dark this time of year till after 10 or 11 pm, we just didn’t have time to do that.

After that we drove home for time to pack since it was our last night and we would be loading up the bus the next morning for our final day and not returning. We had a buffet dinner again. We also had some wonderful entertainment. Gillebride MacMillan who played Gwyllyn the Bard on Outlander, in one of the first few episodes.

Here is a video of him singing one of the Gaelic songs from the end of the episode he was on.

Last day in Scotland and last day of tour!

Now, technically I didn’t leave until the next morning, but since I headed straight to the airport in the morning, I’m not counting it!

We woke up and had our last breakfast in the cabins together as a tour group. Then we had a new bus driver for the day, as our bus driver the rest of the week was off on his own vacation cruise.

Craigmillar Castle

Our first stop on this last day was at Craigmillar Castle. On Outlander it was used as Ardsmuir Prison in season 3, where Jamie ended up after Culloden, and where he saw Lord John Grey, for the first, or truly second time. In real history, it is where the plot to kill Mary Queen of Scots husband was thought to be hatched. You can see my original post about it HERE.

Glencorse Kirk

Glencorse Kirk is where they filmed Jamie and Claire’s wedding. It’s not a public location exactly, but they do rent it out for weddings. The woman who showed it to us is the daughter of the family that owns it now. She told us a lot about how they set up for filming. And if you’ve seen the episode, and remember Claire’s dress, she told us that the actress was not able to sit down while wearing it. So you have to walk up a hill from the main house to the chapel, and they would put her standing on the back of a little truck/cart and drive her up there.

For lunch we went and had an authentic afternoon tea in Roslin. I enjoyed the tea, and some of the food, but I knew a lot of the tea party types of food wouldn’t be my style. And I was unfortunate and got a scone with raisins, 🙁

Rosslyn Chapel

This was the last stop on our tour and it actually had nothing to do with Outlander. Rosslyn Chapel was used in the movie for The Da Vinci Code. Pictures inside were not allowed, so I only have some of the beautiful exterior.

After the chapel our bus driver took everyone back to their hotels for our last night. Leaving each other was sad! We had spent a wonderful week together. Here is a picture of the nice hotel room I had by the airport my last night there, as well as my last meal in Scotland, had to have fish and chips one last time, as well as one final Irn Bru soda.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed looking through some of my photos from my wonderful Scotland trip and Outlander Immersion Tour. If you’re interested in doing any kind of tour in Scotland, even a shorter one or two or three day tour, doesn’t even have to be Outlander related, I highly recommend Mary’s Meanders. They do Mary Queen of Scots tours, Scottish history tours, you can design your own tour, they do ancestry tours, you name it! And Emma and Anne were wonderful tour guides for us, and the bus drivers were wonderful as well if you do a tour with the transportation. They have several other guides as well!

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14 responses to “Come See Scotland With Me! – Part Three

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, I would love to see them at night! Probably the only time I will ever get to do anything like that, but it was totally worth it.

  1. Oh nice again! The sculptures of the horse heads are pretty cool if a bit eerie just seeing the heads popping up out of the ground! Lol. But I think that’s part of why I liked them! Glad you had a wonderful trip! It looks like the trip of a lifetime!

    • Lisa Mandina

      I definitely think they’re worth a trip! If I ever get back I’d love to see them lit up at night.

    • Lisa Mandina

      It was a wonderful group of people and we’re of course keeping up with each other both in the WhatsApp group as well as on Facebook now.

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