Last week, Terry, Max and I paid a visit to my parents, and found them freshly returned from a trip to Culross, Fife – which, my mum assured us, we MUST have visited ourselves, because, “It’s where they film that show you like: you know, the one you NEVER STOP TALKING ABOUT?”

OK, she didn’t say that last bit. I expect most of my readers probably ARE saying that right now, because, yes, I’m aware that the majority of my “adventure” posts lately have had some kind of Outlander connection, which is making me look like even more of a fangirl than I actually am. Like, you’re probably expecting me to reveal I have a poster of Jamie on my bedroom ceiling or something at this stage, aren’t you? Well, I DON’T (It’s inside the cupboard door, so I can kiss it goodnight…), thankfully, and honestly, the Outlander theme of my recent posts wasn’t intentional, I swear (Well, OK, the one about Lallybroch totally was…), it’s just that there are so many Outlander filming locations around these parts that it’s hard NOT to come across them every so often. Or that’s my excuse, anyway.

Anyway, when my parents told us about Culross (pronounced ‘Koo-ross’), I was actually quite surprised, because it’s only about a 30 minute drive from us, and yet I’d never even heard of it: which was odd, because it’s EXACTLY the kind of place I like.

“It’s exactly the kind of place you like,” confirmed my mum. “You HAVE to go.”

And so, just a few days later, we did:

Culross’s main claim to fame – and the reason it’s so drop-dead gorgeous – is that it hasn’t really changed much since the 17th century. (Which is why it was such a good filming location for Outlander, obviously…) And, I mean, yes, sure, the roads have cars and buses on them now, instead of horses and carts, so some degree of modernisation is inevitable, but, for the most part, it feels a bit like you’ve just stepped back in time.

At the heart of the village is the amazing, yellow-painted Culross Palace, which was built in the 17th century by industrialist Sir George Bruce, and which is… well, not ACTUALLY a palace, obviously, but a pretty impressive mansion house, nonetheless:

You know what I’m going to say now, don’t you? Yes! It was totally used as an Outlander filming location! Here, for instance, is Geillis Duncan’s parlour…

… and the palace’s beautiful gardens were also used as the herb garden of Castle Leoch, back in season one:

Even if you’ve no idea what I’m talking about right now, and are just wishing I’d stop talking about Outlander all the time, Culross Palace is still well worth a visit: I mean, we hard-landscaped our entire garden, so we’re obviously not exactly at one with nature, but, even so, the palace gardens are one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen, and it was impossible to walk round them without constantly cooing over how utterly gorgeous it all is. The town itself, meanwhile, got a similar reaction from me: I’m going to refrain from spamming you with more photos, because I think I’ve posted enough of the palace and grounds already, but, honestly, it’s like the place was custom-built for Instagram. It’s all quaint, winding streets, pretty pastel houses, flowers everywhere… oh, AND there’s also a ruined abbey, a historic townhouse, and this gorgeous little restaurant, which made us feel like we were holidaying in the Med, or something:

(And yeah, we all dressed the same again: FFS.)

Predictably, we will be back very soon – like, VERY soon – to take photos of the village itself. Even more predictably, as soon as we got home, I started looking at property prices in Culross, and telling Terry how moving there would actually be a good business move for us, on account of how much easier it would be to take photos for the blog, without having to travel. I mean, if we’re going to be spending as much time there as I’m planning, it would TOTALLY make sense to just move there, no?

NO?