SOMETHING FISHY: MORTIMER AND WHITEHOUSE IN DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY

 

National treasures Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse are achingly funny guys in their own right.  Put them together on a fishing trip and sit back and listen to the banter, and they become positively hilarious, especially when joined by the funny-looking but endearing Ted the Dog.  The duo are currently on season 6 of their popular Gone Fishing series on BBC.  Each episode features a river in a gorgeous part of the country, and a variety of fabulous accommodation offerings.  Episode 2 of series 6 features two striking properties in Dumfries and Galloway, where the pair head in search  of pike, this time without Ted in tow.

Their first overnight stay, following a fishing session in a secluded pike lake in which they fail to find any pike, is in a haunted castle, Spedlins Castle (aka Spedlins Tower).  The castle, a typical Scottish tower house dating from 1450, overlooks the River Annan, north-east of Dumfries and just off the A74(M).   The castle is available as holiday accommodation and sleeps 14, so heaven only knows how much it would have cost Bob and Paul for a 1-night stay.  As for the ghost, the story goes that a local miller called James Porteous, nickname ‘Dunty’, was left locked in the dungeon with no food or water when the castle’s 17^th-century owner Alexander Jardine had to leave for Edinburgh.  The Jardine family were so traumatised by the antics of Dunty’s ghost that they moved away from the castle to escape him.

Spedlins Tower 2011. Photo by Beshoffs, via Wikimedia Commons.

 The second property featured in the episode is Kinmount House, where Bob and Paul head to for their second day’s fishing.  This 19^th century country house 3 ½ miles west of Annan was designed by Sir Robert Smirke for the 6^th Marquess of Queensberry on land which was granted to the Carlyle family in the 13^th century.  Its extensive grounds include the lake used by Bob and Paul for their fishing, where they finally catch their elusive pike.  Kinmount House is today used as a luxury wedding venue.

Kinmount House. Photo by Barry Dale, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of Spedlins Castle and surrounding area.

Map of Kinmount House and surrounding area.

 

VIRGINIA SEES THE LIGHT: TO THE LIGHTHOUSE/GODREVY, CORNWALL

 The writer Virginia Woolf was born in London, the daughter of Leslie and Julia Stephens.  Although the family lived in London, during the 1880s and 1890s, for three months of every year, they would decamp to St Ives, staying at Talland House.  Anyone who has been to St Ives will be well aware of the magnificent views along the coastline.  One notable feature on the horizon is Godrevy Lighthouse, just offshore a few miles up the coast from St Ives at the eastern end of St Ives Bay.  The lighthouse was clearly visible from the family’s holiday home, which sat above Porthminster Beach.

Talland House, St Ives, Cornwall - May 2022. Photo by Mutney, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

The lighthouse formed the inspiration for the story Virginia considered her best, ‘To The Lighthouse’, which was actually set on Skye in a location visited by the Ramsay family, for whom the lighthouse was an ever-present draw.  Virginia describes the lighthouse as ‘hoary’ and ‘austere’, and she refers to the ‘green sand dunes with the wild flowing grasses on them’.  This is a good description of the coast surrounding Godrevy Lighthouse, which is dominated by the sand dunes of Gwithian, and which is managed by the National Trust..

Talland House is on Albert Road, above the railway station which forms the terminus of a delightful short branch line from St Erth.  The house is not open to visitors, but there is a  blue plaque commemorating its association with Woolf and her family.

Godrevy Lighthouse has an octagonal tower 26 metres high, designed by architect James Walker and opened on 1^st March 1859.  It was built on Godrevy Island,which lies 300 metres off Godrevy Head.  The lighthouse is well placed for protecting shipping from the hazardous Stones Reef.  The light was deactivated in 2012 and replaced with an LED light mounted on the rocks on a platform, but the lighthouse tower is still retained by Trinity House as a daymark.  There are boat trips out to the lighthouse from St Ives.

Map of St Ives.

Godrevy Lighthouse by Barbara Ashley.

A RAILWAY ROMANCE: BRIEF ENCOUNTER/CARNFORTH

 

Brief Encounter, a 1945 film directed by David Lean about two married strangers who meet by chance on a railway station, is highly evocative of a time when everyone travelling by train seemed to be dressed up to the nines and speak with cut-glass accents.  Just as evocative is the location of much of the film’s action, a train station full of period touches such as those which can be found on heritage railways up and down the land.

The opening scene takes place on a station platform with a steam train rushing past and a vintage round clock with Roman numerals hanging from the platform roof.  We are then shown a sign with a hand pointing to the ‘Refreshment Room’.  This was before the days of Costa and Starbucks, when everyone drank cups of tea served from giant tea urns.  Here we get our first glimpse of the star-crossed lovers of the ‘brief encounter’ in question, Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) and Dr Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard).  Later, the film backtracks to the moment the pair first met, and during this scene a sign comes into view saying ‘Milford Junction’.  This is the name of the station in the film, but in real life it is Carnforth station. 

When watching the film for the first time recently, I heard Laura saying she had popped into Boots for a book, and then there is a scene with her getting her book and moving to another section of the premises where there are toothbrushes and so forth.  I thought I was hearing things, but on doing some research I discovered that up to 1966 Boots the Chemist did indeed have a library service.  The street scenes in the film were shot a long way from Carnforth, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.  According to an online discussion about the location, the Boots of the film is now a Chinese restaurant.  A later scene involving a boating lake was filmed in Regent’s Park.  Another scene in the film whisks us off to the Lake District, where the little bridge seen in the film was filmed at Middle Fell Bridge. Langdale Beck. 

2018 at Carnforth station - the heritage centre. Photo by Geof Sheppard, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Film enthusiasts will be pleased to know that Carnforth Station has preserved the famous tea room as the Brief Encounter Refreshment Room, looked after by the Carnforth Station Heritage Centre.

Map of Carnforth.

LITERARY PUBS: THE ACORN INN, EVERSHOT, DORSET

Thomas Hardy’s novels featured many fictional towns, villages and cities which often had clearly identifiable real-life equivalents.  One such example was Evershead, which in real life is Evershot.  The Sow and Acorn inn in Evershead, which featured in a number of Hardy's stories, was inspired by the Acorn Inn, a 16^th century Grade II-listed pub in the village which was frequented by Hardy himself.

In Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, there is a scene in which Tess stops for breakfast in the village at a cottage near the Sow and Acorn inn; she avoids the inn itself, not being the pub-going type.  The inn is also mentioned in Interlopers at the Knap, in which Philip Hall collects Sally’s dress from the Sow and Acorn, and in The First Countess of Wessex, with Tupcombe indulging in a spot of eavesdropping from the inglenook.

Evershot, The Acorn Inn - geograph.org.uk - 3107193. Photo by Mr Eugene Birchall, via  Wikimedia Commons.

The present-day inn offers accommodation in rooms named after places and characters from Hardy’s novels.  The interior has changed somewhat since his time, being more open-plan now.  The village of Evershot is located just off the A37 midway between Yeovil and Dorchester, and around 30 minutes’ drive from the Jurassic Coast.  It is the second highest village in the county of Dorset. 

Map of the village.

LOVEJOY'S BIT OF POSH: BELCHAMP HALL, SUFFOLK

 The 1980s/1990s series Lovejoy somehow passed me by at the time, but, having since developed an interest in antiques, I decided to catch up on the series thanks to the wonders of modern streaming technology.  Most of the filming of the series takes place in Essex and Suffolk, with one property in Suffolk making a regular appearance.

The roguish antiques dealer Lovejoy (Ian McShane) keeps varied company, often straying on the wrong side of the law, while his line of work also brings him into contact with the upper echelons of society.  One particularly aristocratic friend of his is Lady Jane Felsham (Phyllis Logan), who lives at Felsham Hall.  Although she is married, Lovejoy is an attractive man who has a way with the ladies, and one gets the impression that Lady Jane is a little bit infatuated with him.

The real-life property used as Felsham Hall in the series is Belchamp Hall, a couple of miles west of Sudbury in Suffolk.  Located in the hamlet of Belchamp Walter, the building is a handsome red brick pile of the Queen Anne period, home to the Raymond family since 1611, which forms part of a historic country estate.  Lovejoy fans who are feeling a bit flush can book a variety of accommodation options.  The Hall is also available for corporate functions. 

Belchamp Hall - geograph.org.uk - 1000673. Photo by Keith Evans, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Although the series finished many moons ago, there are still relics of it on view at Belchamp Hall and surrounding area.  Lovejoy’s workshop from the last two seasons remains in the grounds, the Church of St Mary featured in an episode in which Lovejoy was due to get married, and the original ‘Lovejoy Antiques’ sign is also visible.  Lovejoy was a dedicated pub-goer, and the Half Moon Inn in the nearby village of Belchamp St Paul made quite a few appearances in the series. 

'The Half Moon' inn, Belchamp St. Paul, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 225903. Photo by Robert Edwards, via Wikimedia Commons.

Belchamp Hall’s more recent claim to fame is that the grounds of the estate were used in the filming of the ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ film.

The nearby town of Sudbury is a delightful market town on the River Stour near the border with Essex.

Map of the area.

LAUREATE OF THE LAKES: ROBERT SOUTHEY/KESWICK

 There is a painting in Keswick Museum of a rather attractive young man with rosy cheeks and lips, dark curly hair and brown eyes.  The young man in question is Robert Southey, one of a trio of 18^th/19^th century poets associated with the Lake District.   The other two are William Wordsworth and Southey’s brother-in-law Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who we previously met in this blog living in Somerset.  Southey was born in Bristol, but he moved to Keswick in 1803 and died there 40 years later, spending 30 of those years as Poet Laureate. 

Robert Southey (1774-1843), Aged 31 John Opie (1761-1807) Keswick Museum. Via Wikimedia Commons.

During his time in the Lake District, Southey lived at Greta Hall, initially sharing it with the Coleridge family.  Occupying a position near the river in Keswick, Greta Hall was built around 1800.  The Hall was visited by a number of famous literary types including the Wordsworths, Charles Lamb, Shelly and Sir Walter Scott.  The Hall subsequently became a girls’ school and then girls’ boarding house, before becoming a private property when for a time it offered self-catering accommodation.  It was put up for sale in 2021 for £1.2 million and remains in private hands.

 

Greta Hall and Keswick Bridge by William Westall (1781-1850), via Wikimedia Commons.

I have struggled to find any poetry by Southey inspired by the Lake District.  His work covers a wide range of topics including various battles and wars, and the time he spent in Spain and Portugal, as well as the original version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  However, I found a poem by him titled “The Cataract of Lodore” (a Lake District beauty spot better known today as the Lodore Falls).  The poem was written in response to a query by Southey’s son, “How does the water come down at Lodore?”  The resulting poem comes across as an increasingly demented  but highly descriptive account of the descent of the falls, “smoking and frothing”...”striking and raging”...”swelling and sweeping”...”flying and flinging”...”heaving and cleaving”...”quivering and shivering”...”bubbling and troubling and doubling” – you get the picture. 

Lodore Falls 3. Photo by Antiquary, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

For those who want to check out this elaborate description for themselves, the Lodore Falls are near the southern edge of Derwentwater, just inland from the Lodore Falls Hotel and Spa. 

Map of the area.

WINGS OVER THE SOUTH-EAST: BATTLE OF BRITAIN

 As I write this, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, and predictably for such times there is a classic British war film on the TV: Battle of Britain (1969).  With a cast that reads like a Who’s Who of famous actors of the 60s – Sir Michael Caine, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Kenneth More, Ian McShane, Suzannah York, the list goes on – the film does what it says on the tin, telling the story of the struggle for air superiority over the Germans during the Second World War, culminating in the battle of the title.  Not surprisingly, the filming locations which feature in the film are mostly former RAF air bases – and with a pub thrown in.  There are also aerial shots of the south coast, with the white cliffs putting in an appearance.

First up we have Duxford, a former RAF/RAAF airfield in Cambridgeshire.  Filming took place there in 1968, seven years after it ceased operations as a military airfield.  Construction of the buildings on the airfield started in 1918, carried out by German prisoners-of-war.  During the Second World War the airfield played a crucial role in repelling air attacks by the Germans in the real-life Battle of Britain.  During the filming of Battle of Britain, one of the original World War I hangars was blown up, apparently without the agreement of the Ministry of Defence.  Nowadays Duxford acts as an outpost of the Imperial War Museum, housing The Fighter Collection and the Historic Aircraft Collection.  It is also the location of the American Air Museum.

Duxford, Cambridgeshire - geograph.org.uk - 2603257. Photo by Brendan and Ruth McCartney, via Wikimedia Commons.

Moving across to Essex, we come to RAF Debden near Saffron Walden, opened in 1937, which housed an Operations Block for No. 11 Group during the Battle of Britain, when it came under attack several times.  Peter Townsend, one time beau of Princess Margaret, was commander of 85 Squadron during the Battle, and he wrote a book about it called “Duel of Eagles”.  Also in Essex is RAF North Weald, established in 1916 and an important fighter station during the Battle of Britain.  More recently, the airfield has been used as a base for the Air Ambulance and the National Police Air Service.  Like Duxford, the airfield has its own museum, telling the story of the people who worked there during the two world wars.

Leaving Essex, we head to Kent and RAF Hawkinge, another with its own museum, run by the Kent Battle of Britain Musem Trust.  The base had already been in existence for 20 years when the Battle of Britain began.  Hawkinge’s significance in the Battle lay in the fact that it was the nearest RAF station to occupied France, located just inland from Folkestone, just 6 minutes’ flying time from the French coast.  Another  base which put in an appearance in the film was Bovingdon, a former bomber airfield to the south-west of Hemel Hempstead.

Finally, we come to the pub.  There is a scene in the film involving Squadron Leader Colin Harvey (Christopher Plummer) and his wife Section Officer Maggie (Susannah York), in which they argue about Maggie’s relocating closer to Colin’s posting.  The scene takes place in The Jackdaw Inn in Denton, a few miles north of Folkestone, Kent.  The pub makes the most of its connection to the film with wartime RAF memorabilia and vintage posters such as the one declaring “Don’t Help the Enemy!  Careless Talk May Give Away Vital Secrets”, a poster which can be seen in the background in the film sequence.

Denton, The Jackdaw Inn (geograph 3228308). Photo by Helmut Zozmann, via Wikimedia Commons.