Outlander: Claire's Scotland

Claire's story starts at the stone circle of Craigh na Dun: she touches a stone, wakes in 1743, and a highlander knocks out Captain Randall and takes her to his clansmen. Nothing on screen here is ancient. The stones were a set staged in Perthshire, and the production used the country around Kinloch Rannoch, a village at the eastern end of Loch Rannoch, 18 miles west of Pitlochry, for Craigh na Dun. The Bronze Age Clava Cairns near Inverness, which many fans visit, are said to have inspired the circle, but it was not filmed there.

Location precision: The circle was a built set somewhere in the Kinloch Rannoch area; the pin marks the village at the eastern end of Loch Rannoch.

Castle Leoch, seat of the MacKenzies, is where Claire spends most of the first season: a captive of the clan, looking for a way back to her own time. Here Dougal settles the problem of Captain Randall by marrying her to Jamie, which makes her Scottish and puts her beyond the reach of the dragoon who wants her. The castle playing Leoch is Doune, a stronghold first built in the 13th century and rebuilt in its present form a century later. It has been in the care of Historic Environment Scotland since 1984 and is open to the public.

Visitor guidance: Doune is looked after by Historic Environment Scotland and open to the public.

Fort William is the government garrison where the first season turns. Captain Randall has Claire brought here for questioning, and later his men capture her, so that Jamie has to come and get her back. The fortress playing Fort William is Blackness Castle, a 15th-century stronghold on the south shore of the Forth, dubbed 'the ship that never sailed' for the shape of its walls. Its own history as a garrison and state prison is why it fits the part so well, and it is open to the public as a historic monument.

Visitor guidance: Near the village of Blackness on the south shore of the Firth of Forth; open to the public as a historic monument.

Cranesmuir is the town outside Castle Leoch where Geillis Duncan lives, and where Claire and Geillis are charged with witchcraft while Jamie is away. The village playing it is Culross in Fife, on the banks of the Forth: a former royal burgh where filming began in September 2013 for the premiere a year later. The National Trust for Scotland has been restoring its buildings since the 1930s — the Town House that served as courthouse and prison, the palace, the merchant's Study, the ruins of the abbey.

Location precision: The production used the village as a whole for Cranesmuir; the pin marks the centre of Culross.

Visitor guidance: Culross Palace, the Study and the Town House are the buildings to look for, on the Forth in Fife.

Lallybroch is Jamie's family home. He brings Claire here to meet his sister Jenny and her husband Ian, and it is here that one of his tenants betrays him and he is taken to Wentworth Prison. The house playing Lallybroch is Midhope Castle, introduced in the first season. What you see on screen is its exterior, and that is all a visitor can see too: the interior isn't open.

Visitor guidance: Only the exterior can be seen; Midhope's interior isn't open to visitors.

After Wentworth Prison, Jamie is taken to recover at an abbey in France where one of his uncles is abbot; in the novel it is the monastery of Saint Anne de Beaupre, where Claire reveals that she is pregnant. The series plays that abbey with Aberdour Castle in Fife. Parts of the castle date from around 1200, which makes it one of the two oldest datable standing castles in Scotland, and Historic Environment Scotland keeps it open to the public all year.

Visitor guidance: Cared for by Historic Environment Scotland and open all year.

The moor where the series parts Claire and Jamie. The real battle was fought here on 16 April 1746 and lasted less than an hour; in the series it is the 29th episode, the second-season finale, and Jamie sends pregnant Claire back to her own century before he rides out to fight in it. Later Claire returns to Scotland, and Roger's research shows her that Jamie did not die at Culloden. The battle scenes were not filmed on the moor: they were shot in a field at Greengairs. Today's visitor centre retells the day with a 360-degree battle theatre.

Location precision: The parting happens across the open moor; the pin marks the battlefield and its visitor centre east of Inverness.

Visitor guidance: Start at the visitor centre with its 360-degree battle theatre, then walk out onto the moor.