A Castle for Christmas

The story follows bestselling American author Sophie, who travels to Scotland to escape the scandal of her last book.[2] She visits the ancestral village of her father, whose own father worked as a groundskeeper at the estate of a nearby castle.[3] While there, she ends up falling in love with the castle, Dun Dunbar, but must also face off with the ill-tempered duke who owns it.[4][5]

Dalmeny House, a Gothic revival mansion to the north-west of Edinburgh, was used as the location for the film's Dun Dunbar Castle.[5][6] Tantallon Castle was also used as a filming location.[6][7] Parts of the film were also shot in South Queensferry.[5]

The music in the film features the song Celtic Heart by Glasgow band Starsky & The Fox.[8][9]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 75%, with an average score of 6/10, based on 20 reviews.[10]

Writing for Variety, Courtney Howard called the film "gently disarming, heartening, holiday-themed escapism" and that it kept "genre-patented shenanigans and hijinks to a bare minimum, which is both a blessing and a curse."[11] Writing for The Guardian, Jenny Colgan said there was "no jeopardy in this film at all: it is absolutely perfect for low-maintenance Christmas viewing" and that it was "lovely to see two great-looking actors who aren’t in the full flush of youth falling for one another."[3] Gabriella Geisinger of Digital Spy said that the actors "manage to imbue their characters with a believable earnestness that belies the over cheese" and noted that the film was "mostly devoid of any socio-political landscape, which is a bit odd when a film is built on a system as controversial as aristocracy."[12] The National said that the "main characters are obnoxious, the class politics are extremely dubious and the portrayal of rural village life incredibly patronising," but that "if you haven’t watched Cary Elwes try to catch fake snowflakes on his tongue, you haven’t lived."[13] The use of some Scottish words and terms also met with mixed reactions.[5]

• A Castle for Christmas at IMDb