Doune Castle (Castle Leoch!)

A good tale 

never tires in the telling.

~Scottish Proverb

Doune Castle 

1390

We left the beautiful city of Edinburgh on day 5 of our journey. As we drove past Edinburgh Castle I thought I might burst into tears. It happens when I fall in love with a place and I'm not sure when, if ever, I'll be back. 

Of course, what makes things much easier is when you're excited for your next adventure!

Music for this next adventure is (no surprise) the "Castle Leoch" theme. Anyway, press play!

My spirits brightened quickly as we headed for Doune Castle. If you are a fan of the TV show Outlander you know it as Castle Leoch, the home of the Laird of Clan MacKenzie! I was beside myself. I'm sort of an Outlander fan geek! 

My boyfriend calls this the Mona Lisa Smile photo. I was beyond pleased. Can you tell?

This castle was also used in Monte Python and the Holy Grail and Game of Thrones. I read on one website that Doune Castle was in the Elizabeth Taylor version of Ivanhoe with her husband Robert Taylor as well but I haven't confirmed that.

My travel journal ...

A recognizable exterior from Outlander!

Doune Castle was built for the Duke of Albany, Robert Stewart, in the late 14th century. He was the third son of King Robert and became ruler of Scotland from 1388 until his death in 1420. His son succeeded him but that was only for a few years because James I returned from England (where he was held captive) and then he took over. 

After that, the Kings and Queens of Scotland, for the most part, were using Edinburgh Castle and the Palace at Holyrood. Doune Castle was used as a retreat.

Residents were given the title of Earl of Moray in the late 1500s and Doune was in their possession until it was given over to Historic Scotland. 

***Speaking of Historic Scotland, you can buy a pass from them which worked out to be a great deal for us. Many of their various destinations were on our list including Doune, Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, Elgin Cathedral and Urquart Castle! You also skip the line in many of these places!

Outlander used this "courtyard" space and put up temporary set structures. You can see on the left side of the photo that there is some restoration going on.

Mrs. Fitz' Kitchen! (Outlander reference!) Actually, they made a full size replica of this kitchen on a sound stage. Often it is not a good idea to bring a huge crew in to film in an old and possibly fragile historic place! 

I took this photo from inside the big kitchen fireplace!

Panoramic of the kitchen ...

The Great Hall

There was an audio tour narrated by Monty Python's Terry Jones and there were a few times the audio commentary was done by Sam Huegan (Jamie Fraser)!

I think this next photo was up another set of stairs. Another huge room!

Below, looking out to where Jamie and Claire rode up on horseback and she saw Castle Leoch for the first time. The audio commentary explained how cold it was filming there for hours and that her wardrobe was only a little white shift! Brrr! I needed my Patagonia jacket and a scarf!

 The Lord's Hall

Renovated in 1883 

Little nooks and crannies ...

The music they used in the background of this video is terrible but it's a good little clip of the producer of Outlander talking about filming at Doune Castle.

Here are two of the scenes from Monte Python and the Holy Grail filmed at Doune Castle.

It was an awesome day! We had about 3 or 4 stops to make on our way to Inverness but this was definitely a highlight!

 For those that haven't seen Outlander ... the season 1 trailer!

links
Doune Castle
Historic Scotland EXPLORER PASS

 Blessings and light

&

Lang May Yer Lum Reek!