The Locations Team goes to Dorset

by Harriet on 17-Feb-09 16:09

It was a grim foggy day that we headed out on the A4, armed with dubious maps and a flagon of coffee to take on the villages of East Dorset en route to Future Film Focus event in Bournemouth.  Tackling the wiggly hairpin turns under the guidance from Rachel Limb, our incredibly helpful tourism officer at East Dorset District Council, I finally wiggled my way through snow speckled field to the beginning of my tour - the B3078 from Cranbourne to Wimbourne.

First up was a stunning 13th Century whitewashed church at Charlbury perched on a high hill overlooking the valley.  Unfortunately the weather was still grim and British, but the graveyard and austere ambience was touching, as was access and the solitude of the location.  An excellent find!

Following on from Charlbury I headed to nearby Witchampton, a charming village complete with thatched cottages, Medieval Church and original stone walling.

I must apologise for the light levels in these photos – they don’t do justice to the quaint picturesque street, but again, February noonday light in England is a force to be reckoned with!

Running on from here I drove into Wimborne for my first meeting with the lovely Emma Ayling from The Priest’s House Museum on Wimborne High Street.  This location was fascinating, a Medieval house with period Georgian conversions and full working Kitchen and Foundry I was taken with the attention to detail in each of the reconstructed rooms.  Though the place functions mostly as a museum with exhibitions for everyone on the buildings unique history, it also assists education programmes, and even contains a period Victorian schoolroom!

I followed up my visit here with a stroll around Wimborne and a visit to the Minster – interspersed with a brie and bacon panini, chocolate croissant, a quick charity shop and much needed coffee – and found myself quite taken with the place!

But I couldn’t dally too long because I had an appointment with Stuart Bevan, the manager of Wimborne Model Town.  Now this was quite something!  I wasn’t quite prepared for he scale of the place and the strict attention to detail taken over every shop frontage that was lovingly hand restored during the winter months.  Honestly, I felt like a giant (nothing new really) as I wandered through the replica village looking up to see the real Minster looming over me in the background.  Though Stuart mentioned that they had some filming there, mostly small documentaries or promotional productions – I couldn’t help but feel that I had stumble onto a winner – my dream set for an epic Godzilla style drama starring me and my enormous feet!

Note the real Minster in the background!

At last I was on the final leg of my journey – to the hotel in Bournemouth for a quick turnaround to the Futue Film Focus event and to set up for South West Screen.  Little did I know I would get hideously lost in the 10 miles between Wimborne and Bournemouth only to fail miserably in reaching my destination with time for a quick swim…. Grumble….

HM.

Tagged:locations, dorset

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