This weekend the smash hit Outlander returns to our TV screens, and Scottish touring company, Rabbie’s (www.rabbies.com) is offering fans of the historical drama the opportunity to visit some of its most famous filming locations.
Step aboard a luxury mini-coach and be transported to a fictional, mystical world.
Travel back with Claire to the Jacobite revolution on the Outlander Trail
Outlander first hit our screens in 2014, when millions of us watched Claire Fraser fall unknowingly into the violent world of 18th century Scotland. Since then, she, and her soulmate Jamie, have adventured with Pirates in the West Indies and fought for survival in revolutionary America – but the show has never forgotten its Scottish roots, nor the dramatic wild highlands that inspired this story of rebellion and romance.
The Rabbie’s Outlander Trail sets off from Edinburgh and soon arrives at Culross, where cobbled streets lead to the historic Culross Palace.
This charming town posed as the fictional village of Cranesmuir in Outlander, the home of Geillis Duncan and her ill-fated husband Arthur. Continue to the small town of Falkland where fans can relive the show’s first ever episode, recognizing familiar sights such as Mrs. Baird’s Guesthouse and the Bruce Fountain, where Claire’s husband Frank first saw the ghost of Jamie.
Elsewhere, visit Newtonmore Highland Folk Museum, which houses replicas of 18th-century turf-roofed Highland crofts, which were used in the show’s earliest episodes.
After resting overnight in the ‘Capital of the Highlands’, Inverness, the tour visits Culloden, a town drenched in history as it sits not far from the Culloden Battlefield, the site of the last battle fought on British soil.
Viewers watched Outlander’s Claire and Jamie say their tearful goodbyes here before Jamie joined the Jacobite army to fight for the Stuarts. You have the opportunity to explore the visitor centre and site, and pay tribute to those real soldiers who lost their lives fighting for their freedom.
On the third day of this Outlander adventure, guests visit the majestic Glen Affric, a beautiful spot with high mountains and dense pine forests. Landscapes like these were once the perfect hiding spots for Jacobite soldiers evading the English redcoats.
Next, travel along the entire length of Loch Ness to reach Glenfinnan, and the tall stone monument which proudly commemorates the beginning of the last Jacobite rising.
On your final day exploring the sites and scars of 18th century Scotland, get ready to discover the iconic fortresses which projected power and dominance over the Highlands.
First up is Doune Castle, an extensive ruin that represented Castle Leoch, home of Colum and Clan MacKenzie in Outlander. Later it’s Blackness Castle (above), a heavily fortified stronghold perched on the shore of the Firth of Forth. Your final destination is Jamie’s lovely Lallybroch home – Midhope Castle.
An essential photo opportunity for fans of the show to remember their journey through locations synonymous with Outlander and Scottish history itself.
Prices for this four-day Outlander Trail start at £265 with the first tours departing in April. A one-day Outlander Adventure which visits Culross, Linlithgow Palace, Blackness and Midhope Castles and more departs during March, with prices starting at £46. Both tours depart from Edinburgh.
This isn’t the only tour offered by Rabbie’s which transports fans to their favourite fictional worlds:
Lacock Village has long been a favourite of Hollywood location scouts, and when guests step off the bus and explore the beautiful village they will soon see why.
Productions as diverse as Harry Potter, Downton Abbey, and Pride and Prejudice have all been shot in this rural Wiltshire village.
Appropriately enough, the nearby Lacock Abbey was where William Henry Fox Talbot created the earliest surviving photographic negative in 1835, and kick-started popular photography!
The Abbey’s peaceful cloisters have since portrayed Hogwarts, and its antechambers doubled as the place that young Harry Potter stumbled upon the Mirror of Erised.
Visit Lacock, along with other gorgeous locations on the Bath, Avebury & Lacock Village tour departing from London. Prices start from £56.
As with all Rabbie’s tours, guests are transported in luxury 16-person mini-coaches and treated to the stories and services of a friendly-driver guide. The mini-coaches mean Rabbie’s tours can reach the smaller, independent destinations, ensuring your trips supports local communities and independent businesses.
To book a Rabbie’s Tour and for more information, visit www.rabbies.com.
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