A SLICE OF HEAVEN IN DEVON: SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

Whenever there is an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel on the big or small screen, one thing can be certain: the locations will inevitably feature some of Britain’s finest stately properties. 

The property which kicks off the story in the 1995 film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee, is the fictional Norland Park in Sussex, which is left by a dying father to his son, but due to the rules of inheritance the three daughters Elinor, Marianne and Margaret and their mother (Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Emilie Francois and Gemma Jones) are left with next to nothing.  Worse still, they are forced to move out of their lovely family home, while the son and his wife John and Fanny (James Fleet and Harriet Walter) move in.  The mother and daughters are offered accommodation by a cousin, but it is a bit of a come-down, being just a ‘cottage’ in the depths of Devon, albeit in a heavenly rural setting near the coast.

The real-life version of Norland Park is Saltram House near Plymouth, a Grade I listed George II era mansion, while the cottage, Barton Cottage in the story, is Efford House on the Flete Estate, which actually is in Devon in real life, again near Plymouth.  The waterside scenes set near the cottage were also filmed in Devon, at the mouth of the River Erme.  However, the exterior of Barton Park, the wider estate where the cottage is located, is actually further east in Wiltshire, where the scenes were shot at Trafalgar Park, between the city of Salisbury and the northern edge of the New Forest.

Efford House - geograph.org.uk - 292694. Photo by Derek Harper, via Wikimedia Commons.

Another striking property in Devon, which is seen at a distance as a large grey mass of architectural splendour surrounded by sloping green fields, is the Combe Magna estate, owned by love interest John Willoughby (Greg Wise).  In real life this is a fortified manor house called Compton Castle near the resorts of Torbay.  The manor house dates from the 1400s and was connected to Sir Walter Raleigh.  Still in Devon, the wedding scene at the end was filmed at St Mary’s Church in the village of Berry Pomeroy near Totnes.

Compton Castle in Devon enh. Photo by Smalljim, via Wikimedia Commons.

One of the most dramatic scenes in the film comes towards the end, when Marianne suffers a life-threatening illness, to the distress of Captain Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman), who has developed a soft spot for her.  She falls ill while visiting the estate owned by a couple in the Dashwoods’ social circle called the Palmers (Imelda Staunton and Hugh Laurie).  This magnificent property is the real-life Montacute House near Yeovil in Somerset, a late Elizabethan mansion with manicured lawns and gardens.

                                                                      Montacute House. 

Mid-way through the film we are transported to London, where many well-to-do people in Jane Austen’s time had their “London base” in addition to their country properties.  The London abode of the dreadful Fanny Dashwood and her husband John is represented by a house in Adam Street, WC2, while Chandos House in Queen Anne Street is the home of the Palmers.  However, the Chelsea home of the ebullient Mrs Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs) is not in London, but in Salisbury, in reality the 18^th century Mompesson House in the Cathedral Close.

Most of the properties featured in the film are open to visitors.  Saltram, Compton Castle, Montacute House and Mompesson House are run by the National Trust.  Trafalgar Park is privately owned, but can be used for events and weddings.  Meanwhile, for anyone wanting to immerse themselves fully in the Dashwoods’ idyllic life in Devon, Efford House is available as a holiday let.

THE HEAVENLY HAUNT OF A LINCOLNSHIRE LAD: GUNBY HALL

The poet Alfred Lord Tennyson was born in 1809 in the village of Somersby in Lincolnshire.  Many of the lines in his work were inspired by the local landscape, for example it was a small stream in the vicinity that formed the basis of The Babbling Brook.  He also made frequent references to the woods in the area – “The silent woody places”. 



Being a member of the aristocracy, Tennyson had friends in high places in the locality.  One of them was Algernon Massingberd, the son of a local squire residing at Gunby Hall, a few miles from Somersby.  Tennyson, who by all accounts had a sad family life as well as losing his closest friend at a young age, paid regular visits to the hall, and must have found great solace there.  The hall is now the property of the National Trust, and visitors to the hall may notice a small framed picture above the fireplace in  one of the rooms.  The picture includes a few short lines describing the hall, and it is signed by Tennyson.  

Gunby Hall from the west.  Photo by DeFacto, via Wikimedia Commons.

The line forms part of Tennyson’s poem “The Palace of Art”, in which he imagines an art collection in a palace and its gardens constructed by a man who converses with his soul.  One of the pieces in the collection is described thus:



                            And one, an English home – gray twilight pour’d

                            On dewy pastures, dewy trees,

                            Softer than sleep – all things in order stored,

                            A haunt of ancient Peace



This is the verse reproduced in the picture above the fireplace, and it is widely thought to have been inspired by Gunby Hall. 



Another of Tennyson’s most famous poems, Maud, in which Maud is urged to “come into the garden”, makes references to the “musk of the rose”.  This was also probably inspired by the gardens of Gunby Hall, and there are still musk roses growing there today.  Another poem which may well have been inspired by the gardens of Gunby Hall is “The Gardener’s Daughter”. 



The gardens have changed a bit since Tennyson frequented them, but some features remaining would have been there at that time, such as the pigeon house and the garden seat against the west wall.  As for the plants, there is a cedar of Lebanon which was planted in 1812 by Algernon’s father.

Cedar of Lebanon Gunby Hall gardens - geograph.org.uk - 1352099. Photo by Paul Gray, via Wikimedia Commons.

Gunby Hall is a few miles inland from Skegness, at the south-east edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB.  In normal times (not currently, obviously), the hall, estate and gardens are open to visitors, who can visit three floors of rooms full of collections dating from 1700, as well as the eight acres of gardens.

Map of the area.

LONDON WITH A SCOTTISH ACCENT: BELGRAVIA

When Belgravia hit our screens recently, there were inevitable comparisons with Downton Abbey, both series being the work of Julian Fellowes and with the same team behind them.  There have been dark mutterings that Belgravia is “no Downton Abbey”, but in reality there is no reason why it should be.  Personally, I slightly prefer Belgravia,  as I think it has a more interesting storyline.  The one thing the two series do have in common is that they both make use of sumptuous period backdrops, both for the interior and exterior scenes.

Belgravia is a district of Central London where properties routinely sell for multi-million pound sums of money.  The area really began to move up in the world when George III moved into Buckingham House (better known as Buckingham Palace) and construction began of the elegant streets adjacent to the King’s gaff.  The series follows the story of the nouveau riche Trenchards (Philip Glenister and Tamsin Greig) and the upper class Brockenhursts (Harriet Walter and Tom Wilkinson), whose London base is in Belgravia.  The two families find they have something in common due to a secret from the past which has come to light.   

However, fans of the series who want to visit the location where the scenes depicting the streets of Belgravia were filmed will be disappointed if they head to London.  These scenes were in fact filmed in Edinburgh, in the New Town part of the city, in particular Moray Place.  The grand old houses of New Town make a good substitute for their London counterpart except that they are built from the kind of dull grey sandstone associated with this period in the Scottish capital.  The production team behind Belgravia overcame this discrepancy by the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) to change the sandstone to the white exteriors seen in the real-life Belgravia.

Moray Place, Edinburgh 002. Photo by Brian McNeil, via Wikimedia Commons.

Some of the interior shots featuring the homes of the Trenchards and the Brockenhursts were also filmed north of the border, making use of Manderston House near Duns in the Borders area of Scotland.  This elegant Edwardian country house, built on the site of an earlier house dating from the late 18^th century, is now used as a wedding venue, and is open to groups of visitors by appointment.

Meanwhile, heading back down south, one property which particularly stands out is the one used as Lymington Park, Lady Brockenhurst’s country estate, where she and the Earl of Brockenhurst host weekend parties.  The real-life estate is another wedding venue, Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire.  The estate, to the north of Barnet, is a Palladian Mansion built in the 18^th century by Admiral John Byng, and features a long, sweeping lawn leading from an ornamental lake to a light grey facade with a grand pillared entrance.

Wrotham Park, Middlesex by Brayley (1820).  Via Wikimedia Commons.

These are just some of the locations for fans of the series to seek out, demonstrating that there is much more to Belgravia than Belgravia.

LOVELY SETTINGS FOR A LOVELESS MARRIAGE: THE DUCHESS

Lady Georgiana Spencer, an ancestor of Princess Diana, was born in Althorp, where the Princess is buried.  At the age of 17 she was married off to William Cavendish, 5^th Duke of Devonshire, whereupon she became the Duchess of Devonshire.  On paper it sounds like a fairy tale for the young Georgiana, but unfortunately the Duke turned out to be a philanderer who was only interested in gaining a male heir.  Georgiana’s first two children, as sod’s law would have it, were female, but she finally managed a son the third time round.  Meanwhile, Georgiana became friendly with Lady Elizabeth Foster from Suffolk while on a visit to Bath.  Predictably, Elizabeth caught the roving eye of the Duke and she ended up in a ‘menage a trois’ with the pair of them, bearing two illegitimate children by him and finally becoming his wife three years after Georgiana’s death in 1806, only for the Duke to die two years later.  This saga is the subject of the 2008 film The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana and Ralph Fiennes as William. 

The scenes depicting Georgiana’s time at Althorp did not make use of the real-life Spencer family seat, but were filmed at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire.   One twist to this whole sorry tale is that Georgiana fell madly in love with Charles Grey (played by Dominic Cooper), a Whig Party member who would later become Prime Minister, but in spite of William’s own infidelities he would not allow her to continue the liaison (which resulted in an illegitimate daughter).  In the film she is seen flirting with Charles, a scene filmed at the South Front of Kedleston Hall.  The scene in which her mother (Charlotte Rampling) is filmed meeting with William to persuade him of her daughter’s charms was filmed in the Library.  Another scene in which Georgiana’s hair catches fire was also filmed here, this time in the Marble Hall. 

Kedleston Hall 04. Photo by Glen Bowman, via Wikimedia Commons.

The country estate of the Dukes of Devonshire is Chatsworth House, one of Britain’s best-known stately homes.  Chatsworth played itself in the film when the wedding scenes were filmed there.  However, the Dukes had another base in London called Devonshire House in London’s Piccadilly.  The scenes depicting Devonshire House made use of a number of locations for the interior and exterior shots.  The original building was demolished in 1924, so the film-makers had to find an alternative for the exterior, and Somerset House in The Strand proved the perfect choice.  The interior scenes were all over the place, making further use of Kedleston for some scenes, plus Clandon Hall, Guildford, with Holkham Hall in Norfolk used to depict the dining room. The streets of London, in which the newly-weds are filmed trundling along in their carriage being cheered by crowds of people, are actually the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Chatsworth Bridge. Photo by Rob Bendall, via Wikimedia Commons.

In the scenes in which Georgiana goes to Bath to take the waters, this beautiful city gets to play itself, as the graceful Royal Crescent comes into view.  Another famous Bath landmark is the Assembly Rooms in Bennett Street.  The tea room forms the backdrop to the scene where Georgiana is presented to the throng and where she first meets Elizabeth.  However, the river scenes seen in this part of the film were not filmed in Bath, but back at Kedleston.

Royal Crescent, Bath 2014 04. Photo by Mike Peel, via Wikimedia Commons.

Kedleston Hall, to the north-west of Derby, is an 18^th century neo-classical house designed by Robert Adam and surrounded by sumptuous parkland.  The property is owned by the National Trust.  Chatsworth House, on the banks of the River Derwent near Bakewell, Derbyshire, is privately owned but open to visitors complete with retail and refreshment points.  The house was initially completed in 1708, with later additions the following century.  The extensive grounds include many interesting features, including fountains, a temple and a rectangular lake known as the Canal Pond.

Somerset House is a neo-classical building on the south side of The Strand in London.  It is been used for many purposes over the years, but its current role is principally as an arts centre.  The Old Royal Naval College dominates the banks of the River Thames in Greenwich.  A naval college since 1873, it forms part of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The College has been used extensively in filming, proving useful to film-makers as a quieter alternative to Central London for street scenes, Clandon Park, to the north-east of Guildford, Surrey,  is owned by the National Trust, but unfortunately Clandon Hall itself was destroyed by a catastrophic fire in 2015 and still stands as a ruin today.  Holkham Hall is in Holkham in North Norfolk, famous for its vast sandy beach.  An 18^th century house in the Palladian style surrounded by extensive parkland, it is privately owned but open to visitors.

The Royal Crescent in Bath was started in 1767 and consists of 30 Grade I listed terrace  houses.  For those wanting to immerse themselves in the Georgian spa town experience, part of the crescent has been given over to Bath’s poshest hotel, the Royal Crescent Hotel and Spa.  The Assembly Rooms, another National Trust property and designed in 1769, were the focal point of Georgian Bath’s social scene.  The building is used for functions and conferences, and can be visited when not in use.  There is also a Fashion Museum on the premises.  Both the Royal Crescent and The Assembly Rooms were designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger.

LOVE LETTERS TO YORKSHIRE: ALAN BENNETT/UNTOLD STORIES

Casting around for something substantial to read to help me through the coronavirus lockdown, I reached for a hefty tome bought some time ago in a charity shop.  Untold Stories, a collection of writings and diary entries by Alan Bennett, has served me well during this difficult time.  As well as being a trip down memory lane, the collection includes some wonderful descriptions of some of the country’s loveliest parts, with Yorkshire looming large as one would expect, with Bennett hailing from that part of the country.



The diaries part of Untold Stories include descriptions of lovely days out in Yorkshire and other places.  The entry for 15^th March 1998 describes a drive along a minor road from Hawes to Yockenthwaite to look at a Bronze Age stone circle, with snow drifts still present on the high ground.  The road follows the infant River Wharfe, prompting Bennett to complain about how busy the Wharfe Valley always is.  Then to the village of Hubberholme, where the church (St Michael and All Angels) has some interesting features, including a rood loft and woodwork by Robert ‘Mousey’ Thompson, so called because he used to include a carving of a mouse in many of his woodworkings, including in this case the church pews.  The church is also where J. B. Priestley’s ashes are buried in the church yard, and there is a memorial plaque inside the church.

All Angels Church Hubberholme - geograph.org.uk - 1365997. Photo by SMJ, via Wikimedia Commons.

During the October Half Term week in 2002 Bennett paid a visit to Fountains Abbey on a stormy day.  He describes the tower, marvelling at its height, and his delight at discovering the original greyish white paint overlaid with black lines.  Then he turns his attention to a hill south of the main buildings called How Hill where in the 12^th century monks from St Mary’s, York, camped out before founding the abbey.  Bennett is impressed by the fact that the two surviving yew trees here have survived the building of Fountains and its dissolution.  What Bennett does not mention is that there is a tower on the hill and that recent archaeology has unearthed what is believed to be a medieval chapel built by the monks and dedicated to St Michael the Archangel.  Also the fact that there are views from the top of the hill stretching over fifty miles.  This plus other information about the site is available on the website of the National Trust, which runs the property.

Fountains Abbey view 02 2005-08-27. Photo by Klaus with K, via Wikimedia Commons.

One of the latter chapters of Untold Stories turns its attention to Leeds.  Like Bennett, I am often dismayed by the sixties architecture blighting the towns and cities of this country.  However, in some of the larger cities one charming feature resisting the onslaught is the ‘arcade’.  Cardiff, for instance, has some nice examples, while the most famous one is probably the Burlington Arcade in London.  Bennett recalls how on his early trips to Italy he detected something familiar about the architecture, and the reason for this was the elaborate arcades he used to frequent as a child in Leeds city centre.  He singles out the Thorntons Arcade and the County Arcade for particular praise.  The County  Arcade was designed by Frank Matcham, best known for his elaborate theatre designs.

County Arcade, Leeds (14th November 2018). Photo by Mtaylor848, via Wikimedia Commons.

These are just some of the delights of Yorkshire described in Untold Stories.  It is a big read to get through, but for anyone planning to visit the region I can recommend it as a precursor to the experience.

THE LADY OF LINDISFARNE: VERA

ITV seems to have become the go-to channel for crime and drama series set or filmed in picturesque parts of the British Isles.  We have had Broadchurch set on the Dorset coast, The Bay set in Morecambe Bay, Deep Water set in The Lake District, Midsomer Murders filmed around the Thames and Chilterns area, and of course Morse and its spin-offs Endeavour and Lewis set and filmed in Oxford and surrounding areas.  These are just the ones that immediately spring to mind.



With the Vera crime series, starring Brenda Blethyn as the motherly but stern lady detective, we are transported to the north-east, with its beautiful coastal and inland scenery and its wonderful local accents.  Of the many locations used in the 9 series so far televised, the most frequently seen is Lindisfarne, otherwise known as Holy Island, which is where Vera’s house is (Snook Cottage in real life).  Getting to and from  Holy Island involves a drive along a causeway which is engulfed by the sea at high tide closing it to traffic for several hours twice a day, begging the question how is Vera able to rush to the latest crime scene if the tide is up?  Something which is never really explained in the series.

Causeway and refuge Holy Island - geograph.org.uk - 971516. Photo by Chris Gunns, via Wikimedia Commons.

Holy Island is a feature of the Northumberland coast which is unmistakeable to anyone heading north from Bamburgh, largely thanks to the castle perched at one end of it, looking like something out of a fairy tale.  A fort dating from the Tudor period, the castle sits so naturally on its cone of rock that it almost seems an extension of the rock itself.  The castle was built in 1550 and by the end of the 19^th century it was a ruin, then in 1902 Edwin Lutyens restored it, converting it into a private house.  The property is now run by the National Trust, while the other prominent historical landmark on the island, Lindisfarne Priory, dating from 1093, is run by English Heritage.  There is a little village on the island with a cluster of cottages, a  handful of shops and a couple of pubs.  For nature lovers, the mudflats, salt marshes and dunes around the island form part of a National Nature Reserve.

Lindisfarne Castle in summer. Photo by Robert Eyers, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of the area.

FACING THE MUSIC IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE: QUARTET

Quartet, released in 2012 and directed by Dustin Hoffman, is based around Beecham House, a home for retired musicians, where the residents celebrate the birthday of Giuseppe Verdi every year with a concert in his honour.  This year’s concert is disrupted by the arrival of the ex-wife of one of the residents, Jean, a diva in the true sense of the word.



Jean is played by national treasure Dame Maggie Smith (alongside such luminaries as Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins).  Another national treasure plays the role of the residence in question: Hedsor House, Taplow, between Slough and Maidenhead, which was used for almost the entirety of the filming, along with Taplow’s St Nicholas’ Church.



Hedsor House, which stands in 85 acres of parkland overlooking the River Thames, forms part of an estate dating from 1166, when it was owned by the de Hedsor family.  During the 18^th century it was home to Princess Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales and mother of King George III.  The following century it was regularly visited by Queen Victoria.  Latterly, the house became the property of the Shephard family, being gifted to one of its number, Alexander Shephard, by his great grandparents as a wedding present.  The house was requisitioned during World War 2 for military use, then in 1952 the Americans moved in, using it as a secret communications base before it was returned to the Shephards in 2003.  The house has 100 rooms and features include a ballroom, a grand hall with a gallery and a sunken garden.



Alexander and his wife now live in a farmhouse on the estate.  The main house has become popular as a wedding venue, and for filming.  One of Alexander’s sons recalls walking into the kitchen in the farmhouse during the filming of Quartet to find Dustin Hoffman sitting there, having decamped to the farmhouse while a wedding was going on in the main house.  Hoffman apparently made the bride and groom’s day by posing for photos with them.  During the filming Hoffman had a summer-house built in the grounds, and he left this for the family as a gift.



Other films featuring Hedsor House include Legend (2015) about the Kray brothers, and The Golden Compass(2007), a fantasy adventure film starring Nicole Kidman.

Map of Hedsor House and environs.

Hedsor House, Hedsor Park, Taplow, Buckinghamshire-4879995433. Photo by Ami and Debo Mukherjee, via Wikimedia Commons.