UK Castles Used as TV and Film Locations (Updated Guide)

There’s a particular thrill in standing in a courtyard you’ve only ever seen on screen — realising that the mist-covered battlements from your favourite show are a real place you can actually visit, pitch a tent nearby, and explore for yourself. The UK’s castles have been quietly doubling as fictional strongholds for decades, from Hollywood blockbusters to prestige streaming dramas, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down.

This guide rounds up the real UK castles behind some of the biggest TV shows and films of the last two decades, where you’ll recognise them from, and what it’s actually like to visit. If you’re planning a heritage camping trip built around a bit of set-jetting, this is your starting point.

Why UK Castles Are Hollywood’s Favourite Backdrop

The UK has an unmatched supply of genuinely ancient, still-standing fortresses — many of them ruined just enough to look atmospheric, but structurally sound enough to safely host a film crew. Production teams love them because they deliver instant scale and history that no set can replicate cheaply. For visitors, it means many of the country’s best-loved heritage sites now carry a second layer of meaning: castle history on one hand, pop culture pilgrimage on the other.

Below, the castles are grouped by production so you can plan a trip around your favourite series.

Outlander: Scotland’s Most-Filmed Castles

No show has done more for Scottish castle tourism in the last decade than Outlander. Several real fortresses stand in for the fictional world of Claire and Jamie Fraser.

• Doune Castle, Stirlingshire plays Castle Leoch, seat of Clan MacKenzie. It’s one of Scotland’s best-preserved medieval castles and previously appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, making it something of a double pilgrimage site for film fans.
• Blackness Castle, West Lothian becomes the grim Fort William, site of some of the series’ darkest moments. Its unusual ship-like silhouette on the Firth of Forth makes it one of the most photogenic castles on this list.
• Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian stands in for Wentworth Prison. In real life it’s the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots, which adds a nice layer of genuine royal history to the visit.
• Midhope Castle, near South Queensferry is the real-life Lallybroch, Jamie’s ancestral home — though note it’s a private, exterior-only site, so check access before visiting.
• Aberdour Castle, Fife appears as the Abbey of Sainte Anne de Beaupré.
• Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland also makes an appearance, giving England a claim to the Outlander trail alongside Scotland.

The Complete Guide to UK Castles

Game of Thrones: Castles of Westeros, Hiding in Plain Sight

While most of Game of Thrones was filmed in Northern Ireland, a handful of UK castles carry rumoured or confirmed connections to the series that fans still travel to see.

• Castle Ward, County Down, Northern Ireland is the confirmed filming location for Winterfell, home of House Stark, and remains one of the most visited Thrones sites in the UK.
• Doune Castle also has a Winterfell connection, having been used for early Season 1 scenes before production moved primarily to Northern Ireland.
• Blackness Castle is widely believed by fans and tour operators to have inspired the windswept look of Dragonstone, House Targaryen’s ancestral seat, thanks to its isolated coastal setting.

If you’re building a Thrones-themed itinerary, pairing Northern Ireland’s confirmed locations with Scotland’s rumoured ones makes for a genuinely epic road trip.

Harry Potter: The Castles Behind Hogwarts

Hogwarts itself is a composite of sets and CGI, but several real UK castles supplied exterior shots and specific scenes across the film series.

• Alnwick Castle, Northumberland is the most famous of the bunch, having doubled as the setting for early flying lessons and Quidditch practice in the first two films. It now runs its own dedicated broomstick-training sessions for visiting fans.
• Durham Cathedral, while not a castle, sits alongside Durham Castle in the same UNESCO World Heritage complex and was used extensively for Hogwarts’ interior corridors — worth combining into the same trip.

The Crown, Bridgerton, and the Period Drama Circuit

Britain’s stately castles and palaces have become the backbone of the streaming era’s costume drama boom.

• Wilton House, Wiltshire, though a house rather than a castle, is a recurring face of British period drama — appearing in Bridgerton, The Crown, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. In Outlander it even substitutes for the Palace of Versailles.
• Numerous other historic castles and stately homes rotate through productions like The Crown series, offering grand staircases, panelled halls, and manicured grounds that are hard to fake convincingly on a soundstage.

Doctor Who and Cult Favourites

• Cardiff Castle has featured repeatedly across Doctor Who‘s modern era, alongside numerous other Welsh filming locations, thanks to the show’s Cardiff production base.
• Smaller cult classics and British comedies have used castles across the Lake District, Yorkshire, and the Welsh Marches over the years — often uncredited, which makes location-spotting part of the fun for dedicated fans.

How to Plan Your Own Castle Filming Locations Trip

Set-jetting works brilliantly with a camping trip, since many of these castles sit in genuinely beautiful, campsite-rich countryside rather than city centres. A few practical tips:

• Check filming and access schedules first. Working locations like Doune Castle and Midhope Castle occasionally close, or restrict access, when a production is actively shooting.
• Book ahead in peak season. Outlander and Game of Thrones tourism has measurably boosted visitor numbers at several of these sites, especially over summer.
• Combine nearby sites into a loop. Doune, Blackness, and Linlithgow are all within roughly 40 minutes of each other, making a single-day Outlander loop from Edinburgh or Stirling entirely doable.
• Bring a proper camera, not just your phone. Many of these castles are at their most atmospheric at dawn or dusk, when the crowds have thinned and the light does the work fictional lighting rigs once did.

Final Thought

Whether you’re drawn here by dragons, time travel, or a good period romance, these castles offer something the screen version never quite captures: the sound of wind on old stone, the scale of a real curtain wall, and the chance to camp within sight of a place history — and Hollywood — has already claimed as legendary.