A GOODBYE TO GRANDAD IN GAIRLOCH: WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY

 My husband and I did the North Coast 500 scenic road trip in Scotland for our holiday last year, and we were blown away by the scenery, especially on the west coast.  So when I recently saw that BBC4 were showing the film What We Did On Our Holiday, and that the filming locations included the coast around Gairloch I decided to watch it.  The film is about a warring couple (David Tennant and Rosamund Pike) travelling to Scotland with their children to visit Tennant’s dying father (Billy Connolly).  While there Connolly takes the kids to the beach, where the story takes an unexpected and shocking turn.

The magnificent coastline where the outdoor Scottish scenes were filmed is the area around Gairloch in Wester Ross, and the beach which is the scene of the film’s climax is Red Point Beach.  The beach, which lies a short distance round the coast to the south of Gairloch and just north of Loch Torridon, is a sandy beach backed by dunes with wonderful views across to the north of the Isle of Skye.

                               

Red Point Beach - geograph.org.uk - 1220306. Photo by Stuart Wilding, via Wikimedia Commons.

The village of Gairloch is the main tourist centre in the area, with a number of hotels and other accommodation along with a range of food outlets.  I can personally vouch for the Beachcomber fish and chips shop, and The Millcroft, where we stayed on our visit.  Near the Tourist Centre is the Gairloch Museum, which includes an exhibition space and displays on the life and natural history of the local area.

Map of Gairloch.

THE REAL MANDERLEY: MENABILLY, CORNWALL

I read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca for the first time recently during lockdown.  It made such an impression that I went searching for the film version starring Sir Laurence Olivier (as husband Maxim de Winter) and Joan Fontaine (as the narrator known only as the new Mrs de Winter – her first name is never revealed) and watched that for good measure.  I must say I have never come across a story quite like it.  A story of marrying into money, trying to live up to the late former lady of the house (the Rebecca of the title) in the face of a hostile army of servants, the sheer oppressiveness of living in a big house with said servants lurking on every corner, dark secrets from the past and a tragic, explosive ending. 

The bulk of the story is concentrated in the house and grounds known as Manderley in the story, on the Cornish coast.  The inspiration for Manderley was a property called Menabilly about 2 miles west of Fowey on Cornwall’s south coast.  Du Maurier was born in London, but she spent much of her life in Cornwall, and she became fascinated with the Menabilly estate, which had belonged to an influential local family called the Rashleighs since the 16^th century. 

                                       

                                                                         Menabilly, c. 1820

By the time Daphne discovered the house, it had fallen into disrepair, and Daphne used to sneak into the grounds, dreaming of being able to live there and restore the property.  In fact in 1943, following the success of Rebecca the book and the film, she managed to persuade the Rashleighs to let her and her family live there as tenants.  They stayed for 26 years until the tenancy ended in 1969, during which time she worked hard at the restoration work.  She then moved to nearby Kilmarth in Tywardreath near Par, but the memory of Menabilly no doubt lingered on, just as it did for the heroine of Rebecca, evident from the unforgettable opening line of the story: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again”.

One place which features heavily in the story is a cove at the edge of the Manderley estate.  This is where Rebecca would retreat to a cottage on the beach, and where the new Mrs De Winter encounters a local simpleton called Ben.  It is also where a ship goes aground, leading to a grisly discovery revealing dark secrets from the past.  There is a cove on the coastline which forms part of the Menabilly estate called Polridmouth Cove, which was the inspiration for the cove in the story. 

                              

Approaching Polridmouth - geograph.org.uk - 1239664. Photo by Derek Harper, via Wikimedia Commons.

Fans of Rebecca who want to visit Menabilly will be disappointed, because the property is privately owned, still belonging to the Rashleigh family, and not open to visitors.  However, there are a couple of holiday lets on the wider estate.  Kilmarth is also privately owned.

Map of the area.

UNPRECEDENTED EVENTS IN A CATHEDRAL CITY: THE SALISBURY POISONINGS

'Unprecented' is a word we have been hearing a lot recently, with the unwelcome arrival of Covid-19 in all of our lives.  For the inhabitants of the charming Wiltshire cathedral town of Salisbury it must have come all too soon after a previous unprecedented event: the targeting of a Russian national living in the city with the nerve agent novichok, a news story which broke in March 2018 and was watched with horror by people all over the country and the wider world.  I remember feeling outraged at this unwarranted attack on not just one individual (and his daughter who happened to be visiting), but an entire English city, particularly when a perfectly innocent member of the public died after unwittingly coming into contact with the deadly substance, and a policeman ended up in intensive care. 

That sense of outrage was reignited recently with the showing of a 3-part drama reliving the events of 2018 called The Salisbury Poisonings, starring Rafe Spall as the policeman.  There were eerie parallels with the Covid-19 crisis, with talk of tracing individuals who may have come into contact with the nerve agent and shutting down businesses while a massive cleanup took place, so that what at the time seemed unreal and inconceivable now seems a fact of life.

Much of the filming of the drama took place in Salisbury itself, with some of the key locations of the real-life event making a prominent appearance.  The shopping area just off the city’s main square known as The Maltings was where the Russian victims Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found on that fateful Sunday.  Adjacent to the shops are a pub called Bishops Mill, and a branch of the Zizzi pizza restaurant chain.  These were visited by the Skripals before they were discovered incapacitated on a bench.  I have visited both of these establishments several times, and could hardly believe that they played a part in such a sinister episode.

The Maltings, Salisbury - geograph.org.uk - 1052564. Photo by Jonathan Billinger, via Wikimedia Commons.

One of Salisbury’s most attractive features, apart from its magnificent cathedral, is the expanse of open green spaces with the River Avon flowing through them, with an often astonishing number of swans in attendance.  This was where a dead swan was found near the Five Rivers Leisure Centre and was investigated in case it was yet another victim of the nerve agent.  The unfortunate swan, though dead, was given the all clear as far as novichok was concerned.

Salisbury Cathedral exterior 2. Photo by WASD, via Wikimedia Commons.

The decontamination effort, which caused untold disruption to the city’s businesses, and which saw the centre of this genteel cathedral city colonised by men in special hazmat suits looking like something out of a sci-fi movie, was finally completed nearly a year after the original discovery of the stricken Russians.  The bench at the centre of it all was removed, and there was talk of putting an art installation in its place.  One cannot help but feel for the city’s inhabitants, who came out of the novichok scare only to be confronted with covid-19 a year later.  Let’s hope the city can bounce back again this time.

Map of the city.

A TOUR OF ENGLAND'S FINEST CATHEDRALS: ELIZABETH AND ELIZABETH:THE GOLDEN AGE

Any film about events in English history will inevitably be chock-full of some of the finest examples of English heritage.  In the films Elizabeth (1998) and its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), both starring Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I, it is some of the country’s finest cathedrals that come to the fore among the locations used.

In Elizabeth, the coronation scene was filmed at York Minster, which proved a splendid substitute for Westminster Abbey, where the actual coronation took place on 15 January 1559.  The Minster lies in the centre of this historic city, and due to the flat terrain in the area surrounding it can be seen from miles around.  There has been a place of worship at this spot since the 7^th century, but it was not until 732 that the first Archbishop of York was recognised by the Pope.  The present building took a massive 250 years to complete, starting in 1220 and ending in 1472.  The Minster brought shocking images to our TV screens in 1984 when a fire which started in the south transept raged out of control, and firefighters were forced to deliberately collapse the roof to save the rest of the building.

York Minster from M&S. Photo by Matze Trier, via Wikimedia Commons.

The other cathedral which  makes an appearance in Elizabeth is Durham Cathedral.  The cathedral plays the part of the royal palace, and its distinctive pillars are seen in the scene where Elizabeth searches for Lord Robert after receiving a message.  Like York Minster, Durham Cathedral was preceded by a humbler place of worship known as the Saxon ‘White Church’.  The present-day building, which makes for a picturesque sight overlooking the River Wear, was built between 1093 and 1133, with further additions thereafter.

Durham Cathedral Nave. Photo by Michael D Beckwith, via Wikimedia Commons.

In Elizabeth: The Golden Age we are taken further south, with Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire playing an important role as the Palace of Whitehall, which in those days was the main residence of the monarchs of the day.  It is seen in a number of scenes, such as the one where Elizabeth confronts the Spanish Ambassador, and when Sir Walter Raleigh arrives bearing gifts from the New World.  Ely Cathedral is unusual in that, unlike most cathedral cities, Ely is the size of a small town.  In fact, the cathedral came before the town, which grew up around it.  There is a slate in the cathedral marking the location of a former shrine to Ethelreda, daughter of the King of East Anglia, who founded an abbey at the location of what is now the cathedral.  The building dates from 1083, and was granted cathedral status in 1109.

Ely Cathedral Choir East View. Photo by Michael D Beckwith, via Wikimedia Commons.

The sequel covers the period leading up to, and including the country’s spat with Spain, and Westminster Cathedral transports us over the water to the court of King Philip II, as it was where the scenes were filmed featuring the ranting king, plotting his invasion of England following the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.  As a Roman Catholic cathedral, Westminster Cathedral was a good choice.  The cathedral is much younger than the others used in the two films, with construction completed in 1903.  Its main distinguishing feature is the striped appearance of its exterior, fashioned from layers of brick and stone.

Westminster.cathedral.frontview.london.arp. Photo by Arpingstone, via Wikimedia Commons. 

One of the most dramatic scenes in the sequel is the attempt on Queen Elizabeth’s life by Thomas Babington (Eddie Redmayne), an event which is pure fiction, since in reality this particular individual did not get anywhere near the Queen, although it is true that there was a plot to assassinate her.  The scene in question was filmed in Winchester Cathedral.  Originally founded in 642 and known as Old Minster, the present-day cathedral was started in 1079 at a site nearby, and the Old Minster was demolished in 1093.  The cathedral has the distinction of being one of the largest in Europe, and includes many notable features, such as the 17^th century choir screen designed by Inigo Jones.

Winchester Cathedral Nave 1, Hampshire, UK - Diliff. Photo by David Iliff, via Wikimedia Commons.

Finally, for the main entrance to Whitehall Palace as seen in the sequel, the producers made use of Wells Cathedral, specifically the staircase linking the North Transept to Chapter House.  Like Ely, Wells is another unusually small cathedral city, nestling among the green fields of the Somerset countryside.  The cathedral was built to replace an earlier church which had occupied the site since 705, and construction spanned the period from 1176 to 1450.  One of the cathedral’s best known features is its astronomical clock dating from around 1325.

Wells cathedral chapter house brighter. Photo by Lamiai, via Wikimedia Commons.

THE REAL SOLDIER ISLAND: AGATHA CHRISTIE/BURGH ISLAND, DEVON

In January 2016 I blogged about an Agatha Christie special which aired between Christmas and New Year 2015.  It was a TV adaptation of And Then There Were None, a murder mystery based around an island called Soldier Island.  In the TV version an island off the south coast of Cornwall was used to depict Soldier Island, but Christie’s real inspiration for her crime story was Burgh Island off the south Devon coast.

Unlike the island of the story, Burgh Island is accessible at low tide from the beach at Bigbury-on-Sea.  There is a hotel on the island, and a pub, and visitors can get to the island via a strip of sand stretching from the mainland.  However, even at high tide a boat is not necessary, thanks to the ingenious “sea tractor”, a passenger vehicle which is high enough to stay above the surface of the water as it takes people across.

Burgh Island sea tractor. Photo by DeFacto, via Wikimedia Commons.

It is no surprise that Agatha Christie had Burgh Island in mind when writing her story, as she herself spent a lot of time at the island’s hotel, so much so in fact that a retreat was built for her.  The Beach House was built in the 1930s, and it was here that she wrote And Then There Were None.  The unit is now available as a luxury unit within the Burgh Island hotel complex.

The hotel has a star-studded history, having started life as a wooden house built by the music hall star George H Chirgwin for hosting weekend parties.  Its later incarnation as a more substantial Art Deco building was down to the film-maker Archibald Nettlefold, who bought it in 1927. 

View of the island from Bigbury-on-Sea

During its heyday, Burgh Island was visited by many famous names.  Noel Coward came for a three-night stay, but this turned into three weeks.  Other luminaries who have paid a visit over the years  include the Beatles, who stayed there when playing a concert in Plymouth, and Josephine Baker.  The hotel was even graced by royalty, in the form of Edward Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson, and Lord Mountbatten, second cousin once removed of the Queen.  The hotel also hosted a meeting between Churchill and Eisenhower in the run-up to the D-Day landings.

Needless to say, a stay at Burgh Island does not come cheap, but if you are feeling a bit flush and are a fan of Art Deco, a stay at Burgh Island is a must, not only for its sumptuous period decor but also the sea views from the rooms.

Map of the area.

ANOTHER DOSE OF CYMRU NOIR: HIDDEN/NORTH WALES

Six years ago I blogged about a Welsh crime series called Hinterland, which was compared at the time to some of the ‘nordic noir’ series from Scandinavia such as The Killing, and was filmed mainly in the West Wales county of Ceredigion.  With Hidden we get another dose of ‘Cymru noir’.  This series, starring Sian Reese-Williams as DI Cadi John and Sion Alun Davies as DS Owen Vaughan, takes us a bit further north to Bangor and Snowdonia, which provides a suitably chilling backdrop to many of the scenes in the series.  For this piece I am concentrating on series 1, first shown in 2018.

The series kicks off, predictably, with the discovery of a woman’s body, but the locations used for this part are further south than Snowdonia.  The crime which led to this discovery is committed at the scene of the highest waterfall in Wales, Henrhyd Falls, which is further south than the fictional location in the series, in the Brecon Beacons.  The waterfall plunges into the Graig Llech Gorge at the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in the county of Powys.  The viaduct visible in the scene where the discovery of the body takes place is also further south.  The Pontsarn Viaduct near Merthyr Tydfil was built in the 1860s to carry the Brecon and Merthyr Railway over the Taf Fechan river.

Henrhyd falls (9165). Photo by Nilfanion, via Wikimedia Commons.

Back in Snowdonia, one beautiful sight which appears again and again in the series is the wonderful Menai Strait with its two bridges.  The Menai Strait, which is 25 Km long, separates the Welsh mainland from the charming island of Anglesey.  The island is linked  to the mainland by two bridges, the Menai Suspension Bridge, opened in 1826, and the Britannia Bridge, opened in 1850.  The city of Bangor lies on the mainland side of the strait, and is the location of a university which was founded in 1884.  The university features heavily in the storyline of Hidden, as one of the main characters, the self-harming Megan Ruddock (Gwyneth Keyworth), is an undergraduate there.   

Interwoven with the crime story is the story of Cadi’s family with its trials and tribulations, including her worries about her terminally ill father.  The location of the house her father lives in is provided by Ynys Castell, a home on a tiny island in the Menai Strait.  For around four hours twice each day the island can only be reached by boat as it is cut off from the mainland.

Ynys Castell - geograph.org.uk - 586428. Photo by Eric Jones, via Wikimedia Commons.

North Wales, like most beautiful and touristy parts of Britain, is an area of haves and have-nots, and this comes across in the series with some of the characters living in poor, run-down looking villages and estates, albeit with the ever-present backdrop of Snowdonia. The Maes Padarn estate in Llanberis is a typical example which features heavily in the series.  The estate is on the outskirts of a touristy town with a number of attractions for visitors, such as the Llanberis Lake Railway and the Electric Mountain hydroelectric power station visitor centre.

However, the most depressing and menacing property seen in the series is the remote cottage surrounded by dark woodland occupied by suspect Dylan Harris (Rhodri Meilir) and his mother Iona (Gillian Elisa).  The house was actually purpose-built for the series and its location is a secret, however Dylan’s workplace was filmed at the Llechwedd Slate Caverns. The cafe where Dylan meets an almost-victim is the former Eric Jones Cafe and Campsite outside Tremadog, now closed but turned into a drive-thru.

Llechwedd Slate Caverns 002. Photo by Matěj Baťha, via Wikimedia Commons. 

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.