We arrived just a few weeks into shooting Season Three and were treated to a set visit that you need to see! From the rolling hills of Scotland to the historic places of some of your favorite Outlander locations to freezing cold studios, Starz showed us everything… and yes, by everything we mean the Printshop! And the cave! And the stones! And Terry’s office! And Jamie’s sword! OK, OK, it was a real sword but still, it was exciting to hold it myself. Ahem.
On The Set
As part of this unforgettable visit, we were whisked away to the studio Outlander uses for all its interior shots and is home base for all operations: props, wardrobe, hair, makeup, carpentry and of course offices for the folks who make Outlander run on a day to day basis. As we walked probably the length of several football fields to visit the various departments and sets, it’s easy to see how the studio has grown in leaps and bounds according to the set publicist, producer Matt Roberts, and others we visited. The costume department, led by Terry Dresbach, is HUGE.
We started in Terry’s office complete with cute pups and mostly white decor; she walked us from area to area showing off the latest costumes we would be seeing this season including: Bree’s 60’s outfits to racks and racks of costumes for extras and battle scenes. Along the way we met the huge team of artisans who make the designs come to life – from hand smocking to dyeing, mud-splattering, custom jewelry makers, milliners and more. It was a dizzying process.
While the first season’s costumes were marked by plaid and wool, the second season is best remembered by the red dress Claire wears in France. The crazy and impressive part of the season three costumes is the incredibly broad range they will cover: from Jamie and the Scotlanders in the 18th century all the way through the 40s, 50s and ultimately 60s when Claire will travel back through the stones to Jamie.
The Sets
You’ll see plenty of exterior locations in the gallery below, but while at the Outlander studios, we toured through Claire and Frank’s house in Boston. Fun fact: the exteriors were actually shot in Glasgow. Who knew New England was actually located in Scotland? We also toured through the beginnings of the much ballyhooed Print Shop, Jamie’s Cave (it’s SO small!), the interior of Lallybroch during Hogmanay, and we sat in Jamie’s Aurdsmuir prison cell and watched the day’s filming with Sam Heughan.
The Hair and Makeup
How are they going to age Jamie and Claire 20+ years? Well, we got to see some of the test pieces the hair and makeup department were fabricating and testing including: under eye bags, gray hairs, wrinkles and of course, Jamie’s back scar piece. It’s quite massive and sounds like it takes forever to be applied to his back. Sorry Sam… and makeup ladies!
Lallybroch
During our time with the Outlander crew, we also ventured outside into the real Outlander world of Scotland taking in the historic locations they use for fictional places within the story. You’ll see all of them in the gallery below. One very special location was Lallybroch. We were warned that it was incredibly muddy and wet as they had been filming there leading up to us arriving. As we bumped along an old road on our way to Midhope Castle (Lallybroch’s name in real life), the car pulled over, we jumped out and walked down an, indeed, muddy road and as the trees began to clear, there she was. Jamie and Claire’s home. It was pretty magical.
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One of the best parts of being invited on this set visit to Scotland is that any time we arrived to historic locations, most of which were not open to the public, doors would open. Historians, care takers and neighbors would pop out to welcome the production team, lead us up the rickety path to Castle Doune and turn off their chainsaws to let us film at Midhope. You can see in the images below the doors are open behind me at Lallybroch. It was almost like Jenny was home, and Claire and Jamie might come riding under that arch.
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Because this is what you do at Lallybroch, obvi.
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Click on the gallery below to see all the sites and hear more from our Outlander set visit! Seriously, I spent time on these captions!
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- Just in case you forgot where you landed. Welcome to Edinburgh!
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- Edinburgh Castle is literally Hogwarts
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- Of course the Edinburgh Castle has an Outlander section in the gift shop
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- Down this street is where the “closes” were/are located and essentially what Carfax Close is themed after.
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- Old time-y tartan weaver. Sadly, NOT the Fraser tartan.
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- Doune Castle stands in for Castle Leoch and I stand in front of it and Scotland is hella GRAY most days. The castle was closed for renovations but they let us in because #Starz
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- This is the great room of Doune Castle which the Leoch great room on the tv show was modeled after.
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- Obligatory Outlander section in the Doune gift shop. I bought a porridge spurtle but I’m still not quite sure what to do with.
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- Producer Matt Roberts joined us to answer questions and share stories about filming at Doune and that game of Shinty
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- Views from inside “Leoch”
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- Scotland is ridiculously beautiful.
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- Srsly, Scotland is gorgeous. This is Stirling Castle not in Outlander but home to William Wallace and Robert the Bruce and these great cows.
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- Next we were off to Culross aka “Cranesmuir” in Outlander. This is the Culross Palace where Geillis lived.
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- Walking into Geillis’ house.
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- You’ll remember Claire and Geillis and her farty husband in this room.
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- SEE! It happened. HERE!
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- Behind Culross Palace are the most gorgeous gardens EVER. These were used as Claire’s gardens at Leoch.
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- I wanted to stay forever.
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- We went from heaven in Claire’s garden to the pillory where we did not get our ears pierced but did hear tales of terrible living conditions in the 18th century. Culross is also used as the Jacobite encampment and various ‘town’ scenes and apparently has some sort of recycling program complete with bins.
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- Then it was time for a bum out, so we went to Craigmiller Castle which stands in as “Ardsmuir” prison in Season 3. Also apparently where Mary Queen of Scots convalesced and her “team” decided to kill her husband. Aw, memories!
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- While at “Ardsmuir,” our local guide and historian brought me to tears when she explained the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion and how the Scottish way of life was nearly extinguished due to English laws. And seriously, look at the gray!
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- Watch Season 3 and come back here…
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- To continue on our quest for faux Scottish prisons we headed to Blackness Castle which stands jutting into the Fourth. You might know Blackness as Fort William in Outlander
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- And this would be a place Jamie probably wants to forget forever. The ground is so uneven within Blackness, production built a false floor to put over the top.
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- On to happier times at Lallybroch aka Midhope Castle out in the middle of nowhere.
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- Midhope is quite massive as you can just barely see me there in the doorway.
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- Midhope looks a bit different than seen on the show, production dresses the outside to appear as we see it.
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- And this enormous beauty is Hopetoun House aka Sandringham’s residence. It is spectacular and massive!
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- Sunset behind Hopetaun House… fun fact: a REAL family with children actually live inside this behemoth and from pictures around the house look pretty normal.
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- The backside of Hopetaun just happens to be streets of Paris in season 2… and from what I’ve seen, possibly some places in season 3 as well.
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- When you’re in Scotland, you might as well mix your own whisky.
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- This is me, waiting in the freezing cold Outlander studios for interviews with the cast. They decorated our ‘holding room’ with set pieces from Paris/Season 2!
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- PEEK-A-BOO! As much as I threw myself at the stones in the studio, I did not in fact get transported to another place and time in Scotland.
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- I clearly have no idea how to hold Jamie’s sword. But this is it, the real deal. I should stick to writing and not fighting.
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- The studio office hallways are decorated with incredibly cute photos.
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- Actual prop goodies from a scene they shot while we were on site. This is a sweet called Tablet and actually pretty decent.
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- More goodies from set, made from actual 18th century recipes.
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- Of course there’s a department store called House of Fraser in Scotland.
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- Of course I saw an entire table of Barbour gear complete with a picture of Sam.
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- Because everything (even in Scotland), goes back to Twilight.
A HUGE thank you to Starz for inviting That’s Normal to visit the Outlander set and see everything we’ve been obsessing over for years, up close and personal.
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Here’s a teaser of the interview footage we’ll be rolling out over the next few weeks as we prepare for season 3:
Watch Outlander season 3, September 10 on Starz!
Read more Outlander on That’s Normal!
All images via Starz or personally taken by us.
