Doune Castle

This past weekend my friend and I visited Doune Castle! We took the train up to Stirling, and then a bus from there to the small village of Doune, from which it was a short walk to the castle.

The current castle we see today was mostly build in the late 1300's. However, it is assumed that what we see today is not the entirety of the original castle. More interestingly, there have been remains of an ancient Roman fort discovered nearby, leading historians to believe that the current castle also contains parts of a much older fortress that stood before it.

The castle was refurbished in the late 1300's by Robert Stewart, who governed Scotland from 1386-1420. He was known to be an extravagant spender and spared no expense on Doune Castle, which really shows even to this day in its ruined state. After his death and the return of James I, the castle was used as a royal retreat, and was used as such until the departure of James VI to England.

Aside from its rich history, Doune Castle is also a popular filming location! Most notably it has been used in Game of Thrones, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Outlander. Now I haven't seen or read Outlander, so I don't know much other than it was used in the first season of the show.

In Game of Thrones, the castle portrayed Winterfell in the first couple of episodes. In the scenes filmed in the courtyard it is hard to recognize the castle as they brought in so much stuff to make it look like a lived in castle again. However, the Great Hall was used as the great hall of Winterfell, which you can still tell, even with everything added.

Doune Castle was the primary filming location for Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As the plans for using multiple castles for filming fell through, they used Doune to portray multiple castles in the film.

After touring the castle we took a short walk on the trails around the castle since it was a beautiful foggy morning (though also freezing!). We then took a walk into the little town and stopped into one of 2 cafés for some hot drinks before catching the bus and heading home!

It was so peaceful down by the river, so I took a video so you can enjoy the sounds as well as the sights!