TV locations for the Famous Five series

Discuss the television and film adaptations of Enid Blyton's stories.
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by number 6 »

Top pic.. St Leornards farm outbuildings seen in the opening scenes in the Finniston Farm episode. Bottom pic showing the wall where Mr Henning & his ghastly Son Junior climbed over, & ran away down the road at the end of the above episode. :D


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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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I was disappointed when I first saw the pool at Dancing Ledge as it was so small, as I'd expected it to be large enough to match the Malory Towers pool and fit a whole form inside. The boys' preparatory school at nearby Langton Matravers who swam there in the 1900s-20s (Durnford House, I think, on the track called 'Durnford Drove' that leads S off the village street up to the modern car park and Spyway Farm) apparently included the James Bond author Ian Fleming (born 1908) as one of its pupils. Nude male swimming was relatively unremarked on in the Edwardian era - the poet Rupert Brooke was an enthusiast - and I have read confirmations that this was the case at this school.

I have now matched the sites for the beach scenes in the 1978 series' version of Kirrin Island Again (aka 'Kirren Island', presumably a slip by the writers) with Lepe Beach. The scene near the start where Julian, Dick and Anne cycle down the lane to the beach is just W of the Dark Water bridge on Lepe seafront; you can see the coastguard cottages in the background. The scenes where they are on a beach near a cliff , with pines on top, and then scramble up a cliff path is about 1/4 of a mile West of this, close to the boundary of the Inchmery House grounds. In the scenes where Mr Curton is sitting outside a cottage adjacent to the beach and talks to and then spies on them the cottage is the 'boathouse' cottage nearby, now under scaffolding. Also, the beach near this (with the rectangular house with a little tower on the cliff) was filmed in some of the Fall Into Adventure scenes and some of the Go Down to The Sea scenes (where the tower is used for the Wrecker's Tower with the light signalling). The semi-dark scenes in the latter can be seen as this bit of beach due to the pines on the low cliff; the scenes with rocks, no sand, and bare cliff were shot at Dancing Ledge. In Go Down To The Sea, the roof balustrade walk scenes include a shot of the roof at Exbury House looking South across the fields to the Solent and the Isle Of Wight.
The growth of shrubbery in recent years now cuts off view from the Exbury-Lower Exbury/Inchmery Lane of the greenhouses E of Exbury House where the 'butterfly farm' and 'Mrs Janes' cottage' were shot in Billycock Hill; it is also more extensive outside 'Timmy's cottage' (in 'Kirren Island') in Exbury village street. The SW end of Blackwell Common by Gatewood Bridge, where the circus camp is in 'Go Off In A Caravan', is now seriously overgrown and parking vehicles there would be impossible!
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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Thanks for the update, timv. You've certainly been busy since your last post! I'm quite familiar with the areas you've recently visited, but it's always nice to hear of people's experiences. It's great to wander around Lepe, then circle round to take in Gatewood bridge & Exbury gardens, etc. It's been 3 or 4 years since my last nosey around, so I think I'm more than overdue a return visit sometime soon! :D
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Interesting details, Tim. I'm sorry to hear the boathouse cottage at Lepe is under scaffolding at the moment. I hope it's only being patched up and not altered as it's one of my favourite buildings from the series.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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Here's a few pics to compliment timv's post regarding Lepe. Both have been posted before. The top one is Lepe house, which was the residence of Red Tower in Fall into adventure. Interestingly, Jane (Owner of DPF) informed me that the house is now owned by TV Presenter & Historian Dan Snow! :shock:
The bottom pic is the Watch house, which doubled as Mr Curton's abode in On Kirrin Island again! :D



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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Thanks, Number 6. I'd forgotten the boathouse cottage was called the Watch House. It looks very appealing - snug yet adventurous.
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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Thanks for the photos, Number Six. The boathouse/ 'Watch House' in your photo certainly looks spick and span compared to what it did yesterday; it was a bit frustrating to head to Lepe to photograph it and then find it under scaffolding. Possibly the gales and rain in the past couple of years have affected it as part of Lepe beach appears to have deteriorated too. There are now more defensive lines of little posts hammered into the beach to stop waves hitting the soft low cliff here than there were a few years ago, at the point where the Five go up the cliff in the Kirren island episode. Down the coast at Pylewell there has been the same problem.

The Watch House reminds me a lot of Dylan Thomas' 'Boat House' at Laugharne in SW Wales, which I've visited, but is even closer to the sea. In storms it must be like Craggy-Tops, with the spray blowing in the windows.
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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Yes, I think you're right, timv. As you say, the winter storms have probably pummelled it & possibly undermined its foundations over the last few years. The last time I was there, the Watch house looked pretty good, but the wooden groynes (that help prevent erosion) looked battered & worn. Think they needed replacing for some time. If the beach has deteriorated, then the house will be exposed to the sea! :cry:
I can sympathise with you regarding taking photos. I've been to a few locations & found obstructions, etc, getting in the way. It's frustrating, especially when you've travelled miles to get there & only get one shot at getting a decent pic! :roll:
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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If you use the map in Number Six's post of 3 August 2017 , page 55 of this thread, you'll see an 'earthwork' on the map of Yew Tree Heath just east of the B3056, SE of Beaulieu Road station and beyond the junction with the side road heading East. I've been over this section of moor where it appears the Five were filmed for the credits at the end of Mystery Moor, and this is the only place that fits Gary's mention of a 'ramp' - it stretches from SW to NE along the edge of the ridge as you come out of the dip in the road halfway from the station SE to Pig Bush and is about two feet high in places. It is only on the E side of the road.
At present you cannot get to it direct if you walk SE from the car park on the far side of the road from the Station across the moor, as the stream in the dip is surrounded by bog. The only secure footing is by walking from the B3056 road at the bridge in the dip. Presumably the Moor is damper than in the 1970s after rain in recent years.
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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Thanks timv. Great update once again. I've been to that section in July &, yes, I think it does fit Gary's description quite well. However, I still think the only way we'll ever be 100% sure where the location is, is if Gary pops over one day for a good look around. Even then, time may have changed the outlook of the moor since the filming took place & maybe it won't be recognisable to him! :|
I know Gary is quite busy (usually counting the £Millions he made from the series! :wink: ), but I hope that we'll get him to the NF one day...by hook or crook! :)
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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There's a lovely little campsite at Lepe Country Park, which would be ideal for those wishing to visit Lepe, Exbury Gardens & other areas of the New Forest. According to their website, you can hire family tents that are already erected & are complete with beds & all the utensils you'll need! Great base for exploring the F5 locations. :D

http://www.eazycamp.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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Chrissie777 wrote: It used to take 7+ hours to get from London to Cornwall, but I think by car it's still not much less nowadays.
I doubt you could make it by car from London to Scotland in one day even if you could leave London around 6 a.m..
I hope going from London to the Yorkshire Dales next year will be doable in one day.
Chrissie, I don't know what car you have, but unless it is a pre-war Austin, your timings are way out! London (Vauxhall) to Bodmin, Cornwall would take 4'20" (M4/M5/A30). From Vauxhall to Hawes, Yorkshire would currently take 4'50" (A1M/M18).

As for Scotland, my brother used to live in Lochinver, Sutherland - 100 miles northwest of Inverness. We drove up one year, leaving home at 6am and arrived at his house at 11pm. I don't think I could do that journey in one go now!
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

Post by Eddie Muir »

I used to drive from Brighton to Glasgow (about 470 miles) in around eight hours. Mind you, that was about 30 years ago. I don't know whether or not I could do it now and I certainly don't fancy trying it on busy modern roads. When my son was studying at Plymouth University 1988-1991, I used to drive from Brighton to Plymouth and back in the same day. That was about a 450 mile round trip.

My apologies for straying from the subject of this thread. :oops:
'Go down to the side-shows by the river this afternoon. I'll meet you somewhere in disguise. Bet you won't know me!' wrote Fatty.

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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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Eddie Muir wrote:My apologies for straying from the subject of this thread. :oops:
You're OK, Eddie. I don't think anyone really minds! :D
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Re: TV locations for the Famous Five series

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Cheers, Number 6. :D
'Go down to the side-shows by the river this afternoon. I'll meet you somewhere in disguise. Bet you won't know me!' wrote Fatty.

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