Falkland, Perthshire. Another Outlander Day!

 

                                                                      

 I am sure this lovely B&B is familiar to  all of you Outlander fans as Mrs. Baird's bed and breakfast in the first episode of Outlander in Season 1. For those of you not familiar with Outlander, it is where Claire's story starts as she and her husband in the year 1946 are having a second honeymoon after spending much of World War II separated. She was a combat nurse and he was in the department that trained spies. They are finding it a little hard to get their rhythm as a couple back and decide to take a few days in Scotland before he takes a posititon at Cambridge as a history professor. It is just before Samhain (Halloween) and Claire and Frank hear that there are ladies who hold to the old ways and go to some standing stones on a hill nearby and welcome that day as the sun is rising. It is also where the ghost of Jamie appears looking up at Claire in the window as she brushes her hair.  

                             The town itself is so sweet, just what I imagined a village in Scotland to be. I found the store they used as the one where she was looking at a vase and thinking about her life and how she never owned a vase.

Several of us went to a sweet little place called the Hayloft Tea Room for lunch and it had some Outlander pictures on the wall. The food was very good.

                     After lunch I wandered around town taking pictures and enjoyed the ambiance of the small town.

And as a perfect ending to a perfect day - I  ran into these little cuties! 

Outlander Tour Day 3

 

Well, today sadly my Outlander tour will come officially to an end, but of course I managed to find places in Edinburgh and beyond that were in Outlander over the month in Scotland.

As usual we were picked up near George Square in Glasgow and then headed out to our first stop on the tour which technically was not from Outlander, but was a lovely stop - the little town of Pitlochery.

I got a kick out of this "diversion" sign - here in the U.S. we would say "detour"

 Pitlochery is known for its Heathergems factory and we had a great time learning about how they made their gems. They are actually made of heather stems that are cut and dyed and then pressed together to make brooches, earrings and necklaces. Here is a link to the factory and store heathergems.com

After our tour we had some time to wander around the town and I came across another sign that truly made me laugh out loud

 

I wonder how that tasted!

There was a wonderful scene in front of the factory with willow people that made me wonder if Sam Heughan's uncle, Trevor Leat had made them.

Now if you were on this tour in the summer, your next stop would be the Highland Folk Museum where the "Rent" episode took place, but they close after the summer, so sadly it is one place I didn't get to go to. But, our next stop was so important to me, it was Culloden Moor Battlefield. This was one of those places where you could almost hear the spirits of those brave Jacobite soldiers on April 16, 1746 as they valiantly fought the British to restore the Stuart throne and thus the freedom of Scotland. In less than an hour the battle was over and over 1,000 highland soldiers lost not only their lives, but the Highland culture was lost as well.

As you enter the field, you come to Leanach Cottage which was originally built in the 18th century. It was actually lived in until 1912, but then fell into disrepair. Artisans came and made a thatched roof from the heather on the battlefield, the walls are stones and turf.

Next comes the visitor's center which houses a museum, store and cafeteria where we grabbed some lunch. They have scooters there for the handicapped which was nice to see as the field is quite large. The museum is wonderful - you truly need a few hours just to see and experience it. The 360 degree Battlefield Immersion room that places you inside the battle and has tables with the places of the battlefield as they played out was incredible. They also have a fantastic collection of swords and a blunderbuss taken from the actual battle. They have musket balls and a Jacobite necklace that someone dropped in the battle which made me think of the dragonfly in amber. From there you exit out into the battlefield.

 There are flags showing the position of the armies, a memorial cairn put there in 1881 

and of course the stones representing the clans that died on the field. 

To think of all these men cut down in their prime, as in many times of battle, is a sobering thing.

Our next stop was Clava Cairns where we would see stones similar to what they recreated in Outlander. They say the stones are over 4,000 years old.

This is one of the cairns. It is a bronze age circular chamber tomb. In the front there is an opening where the sun hits it and comes right up the middle. They believe it has something to do with fertility rites. The stones by the opening have these marks they call "Cup marks" but no one really knows what they are for or how they were made. There was another cairn there, but it was a burial cairn and closed with no entrance for it

And...of course the standing stones - there were quite a few. I tried my best to go trough to no avail.

All that was waiting on the other side was Andrew, my wee tour guide

We had one last stop this day and that was The Hermitage woodland that was created by the Third Duke of Atholl in the 18th century. It was so beautiful that I visited it twice while I was there, having more time to explore it at my leisure. It was used in the last few episodes in Season 5.

Before I forget, I want to pass on a useful piece of information. Many tours do not include entry fees, they are the paid by you, but Scotland has the Scotland Explorer Pass which can save you quite a bit of money. There is a 3, 7 or 14 day card running from £33-45. There is also a family pass. You can buy them at the first place you visit, but then you lose time on line. You can buy them online here: https://www.tiqets.com/en/edinburgh-attractions-c21/tickets-for-historic-scotland-explorer-pass-p997442/?partner=myvacation&tq_campaign=sco_pass

Next I headed out to Edinburgh to catch a  4 day Highland/Isle of Skye tour. I can tell you this - it was the most amazing of all my time in Scotland and Ireland!

Outlander Tour Day 2

 Well, I got waylaid by some things, but am ready now to tell you about my second day of touring Outlander sites with slaintescotland.com

We started off fresh and early to go to Hopetoun House where quite a few rooms were used in various seasons of Outlander.

Driving up to it was just incredible, the place just goes on and on so I knew I was going to enjoy exploring it. We were ushered in to the main entryway and immediately were taken in by the beauty of the place. It was built in the late 1600's by the Hope family and Lord Hopetoun lives there with his family today. I don't even know how they just call this a house - to me it's more like a palace.

The interiors have not changed in three centuries and that boggles the mind! Most all of it shows architecture from the Georgian era. There are painings, tapestries, studies filled with books and beautiful furniture.  The care that is given the house, rooms and grounds is impeccable.

The house of course, was used as the estate of the Duke of Sandringham in Season 1 - the first place I wanted to see was the red drawing room where Claire spoke to the Duke

Such a beautiful room with lovely portraits all around.  The McDonalds ran into Jaimie and Murtagh on the back steps and on the west lawn, the dual and sword fights took place.

 I will admit it kind of tickled my fancy to know I was walking in the same places as the cast. There is a courtyard behind the stables which doubled as the Parisian street where Mary was attacked and as the stables of Helwater. It also was used for Jamie chasing Fergus when he first met him. I specifically remember this bit of railing in one of the Helwater episodes

 

 This back wall was also used in the chase with Fergus, but of course is minus all the accoutrements of a television set. I also recognized the Maison de Elise (brothel) where Jamie and Prince Charles met.

  

After Mary's attack, she stayed in Claire and Jamie's guest room which I found on the second floor 

 The room was so beautiful with intricate tapestries covering the walls. There was another room upstairs which was used for Jamie's meeting with Lord Dunsany at Helwater. 

 

And I also found the room that Mary Hawkins stayed in at her uncle's house

Interestingly, they also used a different area of the house for the Earl of Ellesmere's home when they drive up to help Lady Geneva with the birth of Willie

 

In the back there is a small area that was used for Jamie teaching Willie how to ride, but I didn't get a picture of it. I did however find the area where Jamie sees Willie in his pram 

It was a peaceful and idyllic area. 

After our wonderful tour, we ate at the Stables Kitchen right in the house and had a nice lunch with an amazing dessert - their white chocolate and raspberry dessert is to die for!

Next stop was Callendar House which is in Falkirk and dates back to the 14th century. There is one area with a section of the Antonine Wall which dates back to 142 AD - doesn't get much older than this!

 

It's biggest claim to fame in Outlander land is they filmed the scenes when the Duke of Sandringham is at his home Belhurst Manor and Claire and Mary are there with him. They all end up in the kitchen when Jamie and Murtagh burst in to save Claire and Mary and Murtagh kills the Duke by using a sword to cut off his head to "lay your vengeanceat your feet" for poor Mary's rape.

Callendar House hosted many famous figures over the years including Mary Queen of Scots, and Bonnie Prince Charlie!

Our final visit of the day was to Drummond Castle and gardens. What a treat! 

Got to do some exploring inside

Another castle and the most beautiful gardens I have seen. Of course they were used in Outlander as the gardens at Versailles - it was breathtaking - even though it was fall and many flowers were long gone. 

That's it for today - next time, we'll be off to Culloden, Clava Cairns, Pitlochery and the Hermitage. As always, more photos of thes places  are on my facebook page facebook.com/beespit59/. I am at Instagram  @lemonslinda and twitter @sokheaven