The round table, the breakfast banquets, the flame-lit banishments — all of it happens at Ardross Castle, a Gothic revival pile sitting above the River Alness about 20 minutes north of Inverness. It hosts both the UK version of The Traitors and the American edition fronted by Alan Cumming, so the same square footage of Scottish Baronial drama serves two continents' worth of scheming.

The building's backstory is as colourful as anything on the show. The estate was bought in the late 1700s by the 1st Duke of Sutherland, who put up a hunting lodge. In 1845 it changed hands for £90,000 to Sir Alexander Matheson — an MP who made his fortune in the opium trade — who commissioned architect Alexander Ross to transform the lodge into a proper castle. Ross added around 30 rooms for £7,000, plus lawns, a pond and a fountain, all set in more than 100 acres of parkland. The estate was broken up and sold in 1937, and the McTaggart family bought the castle in 1983, renovating it and planting new woodland around it.

Production-wise, the show uses the estate in two ways: the muddy outdoor missions unfold across the grounds, while the indoor mind games — the round table, the betrayals, the dramatic exits — are shot inside the castle's grand rooms.

Can you sleep there like a Faithful? Sadly not. Individual bookings aren't taken, so you can't check into the turret where the Traitors hold their midnight meetings. During filming, the cast stay at a Courtyard by Marriott near Inverness airport, which is about as glamorous as it sounds. There is one way in, though: Ardross operates as a wedding and corporate venue when the cameras aren't rolling. According to The Times, hiring the castle for a wedding of up to 130 guests over two nights starts at £45,000 — steep, but you do get a ready-made set for a murder-mystery theme.

For fans, the practical takeaway is that a pilgrimage is still doable even if the castle doors stay shut. Inverness is a compact, walkable base with good food and drink, and the surrounding Highlands offer Loch Ness, Culloden Battlefield and the Moray coast within easy reach. You can view the castle's exterior and its riverside setting from the Ardross estate area, and the drive out there through Easter Ross is half the pleasure. If you want the Traitors experience without the property price tag, several UK operators now run Traitors-themed getaway weekends — the show has spawned its own small niche in the group-holiday market.

So while you won't be pulling a cloak over your head in Ardross's turret room any time soon, the Highlands make an atmospheric stand-in. Just pack for mud if you're planning your own missions.

Story sourced from The Independent Travel.