Author: Dave

Outlander film locations tour Scotland

Posted on by Dave

The TV series Outlander has been a huge international success , based on the best selling novels by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander was filmed in a number of locations in castles and towns in  Scotland. On this Outlander private tour we visit various locations used for filming the hit series Outlander.

Tours start at 9.30 am . Our private group tours take up to 4 people to three Outlander filming locations.

Normal pickup point is Edinburgh city centre or the airport . Other pickup points can be arranged , subject to an additional fee .

Itinerary

 

The first location on this Outlander tour is the historic town of Falkland. The town is the setting for episode one where Frank and Claire Randall come to Scotland on holiday. Falkland Palace is a historic building and shops and  features can be recognised , including the town square fountain where Frank encounters Jamie’s ghost watching Claire through the window.

 

Doune Castle was built in  1400 for the first Duke of Albany and provides the setting for Castle Leoch in Outlander. It was also the set for Winterfell in Game of Thrones and Monty Python’s Holy Grail.

Doune is one of the best preserved medieval castles in Scotland.

blackness castle , outlander tour

Blackness Castle goes back to 1440 . The castle provides the setting for Fort William, as the original fort no longer exists.

The castle is long and narrow because of the shape of the rock on which it is situated and it is sometimes called ‘ the ship that never sailed ‘ . It guards the bay at Blackness and is only a few miles from Linlithgow Palace . The first castle was built in the middle of the 15th century by Sir George Crichton , Earl of Caithness , a member of one of the most powerful families in Scotland . King James II acquired Blackness in 1453 when he annexed the lands of the Crichtons . From then on the castle was mainly used as a prison . In 1543 Cardinal Beaton was held here for a month . Rebuilding started in the 1530s under the direction of Sir James Hamilton of Finnart who also worked at Linlithgow Palace and Stirling Castle . He was instructed to make the castle safe from artillery , and he achieved this by making the south and east walls very thick . A new tower was built at the south end . In the 1560s , in the reign of Mary Queen of Scots , a Spur was built to protect the main gate . In the 1870s the castle was the main ammunition depot for Scotland .The Castle is a popular location for historical re-enactments and has changed little in 600 years . Doune is one of the best preserved medieval castles in Scotland.

Hamlet has scenes filmed at Blackness Castle and Dunnottar Castle.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Starring: Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Paul Scofield, Alan Bates, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, John McEnery

The tour spends an hour at each location .

  • Travel by luxury car
  • Small private group tour with a maximum of 4 people

Tour costs – £200 for up to 4 people

The Kelpies are renamed “glorious armoured giant horses”

Posted on by Dave

The Kelpies have become the most famous equine sculptures in the world . But now they have been given another name to make them more attractive to Chinese tourists.

VisitBritain, which markets the UK abroad, has dubbed them ‘Kai Po Ju Ma’ in promotional literature in China – which translates as “glorious armoured giant horses”.

It follows the results of a £1.6 million ‘Great Names for Great Britain’ campaign, which builds on the existing trend of giving relatable Mandarin names to favourite celebrities, places and foods.

 “Kai Po Ju Ma” have set records with over 600,000 in their first year of opening . A new visitor centre is being built to help cope with the influx of visitors and improve their experience at the sculptures.

New Mandarin names for 23 iconic Scottish attractions have been announced in total, including Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and Glencoe.

The campaign reached nearly 300 million Chinese prospective visitors to the UK through VisitBritain’s influential Weibo and WeChat social media platforms across China. Over two million people visited the campaign pages and nearly 30 million Chinese people watched the launch video, with 13,000 new names suggested throughout the ten week-long voting period.

Andy Scott, the artist responsible for the Kelpies, said: “I’m delighted that The Kelpies have reached out to a new audience and that they have been recognised with such an evocative and dynamic Mandarin name.

“It’s a real accolade for me as the artist and the whole team involved in The Kelpies that they have been adopted for the VisitBritain campaign and been so well received in China. Download our free Kelpies screensaver

The Kelpies – a second impression

Posted on by Dave

Kelpies at Helix park , Grangemouth

The Kelpies  in the Helix Park have been open to the public for over five years now .The project has been very successful , bringing in over one million visitors to the area . For anyone planning to visit Falkirk , the Kelpies are a must see .
The Kelpies are positioned in between the old and the new , the Forth and Clyde Canal on the left and the M9 motorway on right.
They were inspired by the Clydesdale horses that used to pull boats full of freight along canal. In the 19th century , the canals were the motorways of Britain .

Each Kelpie is 50 metres high and made of steel plates welded onto a framework , like armour plating. More than 600 tonnes of steel was used in the construction of the The Kelpies and more than 10,000 special fixtures are used to hold them together.
The two sentinels guard the canal , the first Kelpie looks calm, looking straight ahead and focussed on its load , the second is rearing its head into the sky as if angry or unhappy with its load.
Sculptor Andy Scott has spent 8 years on the project and a couple of times he thought the whole thing was going to be scrapped due to its cost.

The original aim of the project was to transform waste land between Falkirk and Grangemouth into a thriving urban greenspace , “The Helix”. This includes a performance area, on which large scale events can be held, facilities for watersports provided by a large lagoon, all surrounded by play areas and high quality pathways. Access around The Helix is provided by 17 miles  of cycleways and footpaths.

Questions continue to be raised about the return on investment for the project . The Kelpies have proved themselves a major tourist attraction in the same way the Falkirk Wheel is , but with no visitor centre the fear is visitors may spend little or nothing in the area .Falkirk Council has asked the Falkirk Community trust why a visitor centre was not included in the plans , but the Trust were unable to explain this . There are rumours about concerts being held in the performance area next year , which would bring in revenue to the area just like the recent concerts by  Elton John and Rod Stewart across the road at the Falkirk stadium .  Callendar Park  used to host the Big in Falkirk music and arts festival .
The final element of the Helix is a giant 
playpark. A set of 
giant wooden tepee-like structures have been built in the adventure zone.

Hundreds of Kelpies gifts are available on Redbubble.

Download our free Kelpies screensavers