The Enid Blyton Society

Was the filming inside the castle, was it actually inside Rhinefield house or Exbury house interior?

I'm not 100% sure on this one, but I think it was filmed at Exbury House. However, our good friend Gary Russell drops in from time to time, so he will be able to help you out. Watch this space!

Gary might be assured of reading it, if it was under the 70's F.F. thread. Just a thought.

Now this is interesting. I was about to give my standard reply of "it's all Exbury, with the caveat that the interior of Terry Kane's cell was indeed Rhinefield". But now I'm thinking that the staircase shot may be Rhinefield too - based on memory alone, no solid evidence. Hmmm, leave this with me. I have the call sheets for this ep, so I will doublecheck

Thank you for checking Gary. Be interesting to know. I was watching it yesterday afternoon and if sprung to mind. I'm off to stay at Smuggles top again! As I call it.... Burley manor in 2 weeks, and I want to stay at Rhinfield too, I'm sure it's completely different inside now 3 decades on! But would be lovely non the less to stay there after 1 of my favourite episodes

Gary has got a great memory for detail, so l'll bank on him being right!
I'm quite envious of you, Helenbee! I've been to Burley Manor & Rhinefield House on a few occasions, but I've not had the chance to stay the night at either. Maybe you could post a few photos of your stay & see how things have changed over the last 30+ years!

Well well well as far as I can see, Wonderful Time seems to be the *only* episode out of 26 in which absolutely *no* filming took place at Exbury House at all. A telephone box exterior was filmed in Exbury Village, everything else was either Gatewood doubling for Kirren Cottage and then Rhinefield for all the Faylights Castle stuff, and circus grounds. Lordy, that's a surprise.

Edited to add: Hmmm, now I think I nneed to see how much of Demons Rocks and Down to the Sea used Exbury because maybe they didn't either... Oh if only someone would write a book that was full of this information...

Very interesting, Gary! Thanks for looking up the details.

Enjoy your stay, Helenbee!

Wow! Great stuff, Gary. I actually thought that at least some of the interior scenes were filmed at Exbury! It'll be fascinating to see if you're right about Demons Rocks & Down to the sea. The one scene that always sticks out in my mind whenever I think about the latter, is where Yan is standing by a hugh rock & the waves are crashing all around. This was filmed at Dancing Ledge in Dorset & can only be accessed by foot. Wonder if Gary has any memories of walking down to the ledge to shoot the scene with the others?

Nope none whatsoever, which is really weird. A rare thing that I can look at the photos of that and think "I don't remember that at all". Everything else - the farm, the horse, the bus, the actors - total recall. Even the long (for us) drive to Christchurch I can remember. But the actual "down to the sea" is just gone from my memory. It's entirely possible that my never-ending teen-hero worship of Rupert Graves blotted everything else out on that day.

Was Rhinefield derelict when filming took place there, Gary, the same as Highcliffe Castle was?

I see that Rhinefield is a lovely hotel, I just wondered if it was a hotel back in the filming year?

https://www.handpickedhotels.co.uk/rhinefieldhouse" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you for the in slight Gary. Really interesting to know these details & also if your able to find out about Demons rock and Down to the sea.
Talking of Down to the sea......were the Barnsleys an actually touring show along with the bus or all purely actors?
It would be great if a book did come out, seems to be enough interest on here.
Watching these were a great part of my child hood, now I'm 33 years old they still are! Guilty pleasure on an afternoon.
Also for a new generation too, my niece is 8 and absolutely loves them, the hours of joy she gets, like I did.
Sure @ number 6 I will try to upload my pics from Burley if I can work out how too from an iPad! Any guidance will be greatful!

Gary Russell wrote:Nope none whatsoever, which is really weird. A rare thing that I can look at the photos of that and think "I don't remember that at all". Everything else - the farm, the horse, the bus, the actors - total recall. Even the long (for us) drive to Christchurch I can remember. But the actual "down to the sea" is just gone from my memory. It's entirely possible that my never-ending teen-hero worship of Rupert Graves blotted everything else out on that day.

Blimey! That Rupert Graves has certainly got a lot to answer for! To be fair, though, I find it incredible that you can still remember so much from the series after 30+ years. Whereas I struggle to remember what I've had for breakfast!

Julie2owlsdene wrote:Was Rhinefield derelict when filming took place there, Gary, the same as Highcliffe Castle was?

I see that Rhinefield is a lovely hotel, I just wondered if it was a hotel back in the filming year?

https://www.handpickedhotels.co.uk/rhinefieldhouse" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't think it was derelict per se but certainly wasn't a hotel back then

number 6 wrote: Blimey! That Rupert Graves has certainly got a lot to answer for! To be fair, though, I find it incredible that you can still remember so much from the series after 30+ years. Whereas I struggle to remember what I've had for breakfast!

oh I can't remember twenty minutes ago - but 40 years ago, generally no probs!