A Date in the Restaurant from 'Listen'

It was back in February when I last did some Doctor Who location hunting during Valentine's weekend. This is part one of what's going to be a three-parter blog post.

Luke took me out to a restaurant of my choice down in Cardiff Bay. I wanted to do something different than our normal Zizzi's meal so we decided on Mimosa, which happens to be a key Doctor Who location from Series 8.

Mimosa was the location of Clara Oswald and Danny Pink's dinner date in the hauntingly popular and personal favourite episode from Series 8: 'Listen'. After requesting ahead of time the same table sat on by the two characters, we soon realised when we arrived that the restaurant is laid out slightly differently when not being filmed, so we were shown to a table elsewhere. However, I did my best to capture some of the interior to give you a good feel of the location itself. See if you can recognise some of my amateur (badly taken) shots from the episode...

Notice the blinds behind Clara in the second image, our table was located just behind Danny Pink

The key part of the shot to look out for is the white railing. It looks as if the furniture was changed for the actors, but we can still work out the position of the table in regards to the bar behind located in the back of the shot.

Again, notice the position of the white railing as Clara steps up to meet her date. Orson Pink emerges from the back of the shot in the first image

 Told you they were badly taken! However, you get the feel for the restaurant I hope, and I am glad I went so I could see what the place was really like. Mimosa is a lot smaller than it looks on screen. In fact at first, I thought we may have arrived at the wrong restaurant. It is also very busy on a Friday night as we found out, and popular with students and couples. Not our usual romantic valentines day meal, but me and Luke aren't really into the lovey-dovey stuff anyway.

Here's the trailer from the episode 'Listen' as a reminder...

In reality, the only downside of our evening was the pouring rain outside which can't be helped - typical UK!! But also the wait for our first drink - it took 20 minutes to come to the table, and we were so thirsty after running through the stormy weather!

We finally ate and to be honest the food was delicious, paid, and headed on to Eddie's Diner for a cocktail. After all, I can't have a trip to Cardiff without stopping off here.

If you haven't already, check out my latest YouTube video which incorporates everything I did this weekend for a sneak-peak of whats to come in part 2+3....

I hope you are all having a relaxing summer. I have just got back from an amazing two week holiday in Cyprus, but its back to reality now, and back to being super busy at work. In other news, I have just booked a weekend away in August. I will be heading down to the glorious Valleys in South Wales yet again on the hunt for more Doctor Who locations. If you have any ideas or requests please send me a comment below, tweet or ping me across an email.

Who's heading to the Doctor Who Festival in November?? I managed to get myself a ticket and also a photo opportunity with Peter Capaldi, I can't wait to meet the man himself. Are you going? What are you most looking forward to? Are you team Dalek or team Cyberman?

I look forward to writing parts two and three for you shortly - hopefully before series 9 starts! In the meantime, tweet/facebook/email me, I'm always plugged into my phone even if I am super busy!

Blog to you soon...

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"What’s that in the mirror, or the corner of your eye? What’s that footstep following, but never passing by? Perhaps they're all just waiting, perhaps when we're all dead... out they'll come a-slithering, from underneath the bed."

Locations from Missy's Heaven, The Girl Who Waited and BBC Sherlock S2

Hi All,

Doctor Who Series 8 is over now, and we are just eagerly awaiting the Christmas special. And how good does it look?! If you saw Children in Need a few Fridays ago you will know what I am talking about. The clip they showed has got me very excited for christmas! I can't believe that when it is broadcast, it will be a whole year since Peter Capaldi made his first proper appearance as the Doctor.

Anyway, I am here to blog to you about my recent return to South Wales. I decided to head down there for my 24th birthday, and booked a lodge in Swansea with the boyfriend. It was the third time we have stayed in these lodges, as we find they are in the perfect location to get too and from anywhere in the area. Plus, each lodge has a hot tub! We got there on the Friday night which was my birthday, so I spent the majority of the night opening presents, eating my weight in food, drinking white wine and relaxing in the hot tub whilst watching Stand up to Cancer. 

The next morning I had a long, overdue lie-in and Luke rustled up a cooked breakfast - who knew he could cook?! We both got ready and headed out towards our first location. I had a whole list of places I wanted to go to, but Luke was moaning that the majority of them were in Cardiff, and he wasn't prepared to drive that far, which is fair enough I suppose. (Although we ended up just outside the city centre at our first location). 



Dyffryn House was the first place on my wishlist. We had been here before, but the house was closed to the public as renovation work was taking place. Luckily, the house and grounds were open during this visit, so we headed in. Prices are £7.40 for an adult and £3.70 for a child. Dyffryn House is very grand, with huge stained glass windows, but due to the renovation work parts of the manor are unfinished, so we spent most of our time in the gardens and grounds, which were beautiful. This is where a lot of the filming for Doctor Who has taken place, as illustrated below. Please note that this location has also been used in both Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, which I am still yet to view in full. 

I was keen to find the small garden which featured notably in Series 6 'The Girl Who Waited' and Series 8 as Missy's heaven in 'Deep Breath'. However, the gardens are packed together and very maze-like, a beautiful maze at that. We followed the map which led us down a pathway to some steps and entered the pretty little garden.

 It was deserted, I felt as if I had just walked into my television the moment Amy Pond enters the garden of Apalapucia only to be stalked by the hand-bots. Although the gardens were all beautiful, this little courtyard in particular felt like it was on a different planet to the others, tucked away and hidden from sight unless you were lucky enough to stumble across it. We took plenty of photos, and Luke even made me skip around the fountain mimicking Missy in Series 8 episode 1 (albeit the wrong way!!). The only thing to add here was that the production team would have added a lot more to the garden to make it more heavenly. For example, during the episode, the fountain is in pristine condition with water flowing, surrounded by flowers in bloom. Whereas, we visited this location in late Autumn, so not only was the fountain filled with dirty rainwater, but the gardens were damp and muddy, plus the flowers were wilted or nowhere in sight. However, considering all this, the location was still wonderfully special; I could've sat watching the world go by all day. I can definitely see why people choose this place as a wedding venue, there is something very special about it. 

Shots from "Deep Breath"...

 Shots from "The Girl Who Waited"...

And the shot taken from the back of Dyffryn House for "The Girl Who Waited"...

Shot taken from Series 2 "The Girl in the Fireplace"...

And a shot taken from Series 4 "Forest of the Dead"...

So it was on to our second location for the day, and this time it was a Sherlock filming spot, seen in Series 2 Episode 2 'The Hounds of Baskerville'. Named The Cross Keys in the episode, otherwise known as the Bush Inn pub, is located in the quiet little village of St Hilary, just outside Cardiff. Due to it being a busy weekend, we decided against going into the pub as it sounded very busy, plus I was adamant I wanted to visit the next location before sunset. It was a cosy, picturesque pub in an idyllic quiet little village, no wonder they chose it for the series. I definitely recommend heading there if you are in the area. We took a few photographs before we left, seen below. I will have to visit this pub again for some inside shots when I have chance to grab a drink there as well, next time I head down to Cardiff. I was very irritated that I hadn't watched the episode recently, before heading here. If I had have done, I would have known that the church next to the pub was also used in the episode, when Sherlock and Watson walk from the entrance, down the courtyard and into the pub. If I had known this, I would've taken more photographs to match this entire scene - there's always next time!

So, the final location for our Saturday down in South Wales was my favourite of all time, the fantastically beautiful Dunraven beach/Bad Wolf Beach/Dårlig Ulv Stranden. I know, I know, I've already blogged about this place hundreds of times before, but the fact is, I love it here. I love just sitting on the rocks and chilling out. Its so peaceful and wonderful and probably one of my favourite places in the whole wide world. If I could visit everyday I would, and I wouldn't get bored. Next time I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to take an ipad and blog whilst I'm there, I may actually be able to get a post out when I said I would! The only difference this time is me and Luke had a wonder up the hill next to the bay to have another view of the beach, and wasn't it just wonderful. We managed to get here just at the right time, the sun was setting which made for fab pictures. However, we nearly got washed away by the tide which was a teeny bit scary, as I went wondering off not realising the tide was coming in very quickly so I had to make a run for it back over the rocks - never has my adrenaline been so high before - what a rush! So yes, as I have reiterated in the past: wear suitable footwear as the rocks are very slippery, if you are not great on your feet or have little mobility I would not suggest going too far on the beach as it is just as difficult to get back to even land! 

You can find more information and more detailed accounts of my previous trips to the bay during my older blog-posts HERE and HERE.

So, apart from dipping in and out of the hot tub for the rest of the night, enjoying a lovely chinese takeaway, and getting rid of a mouse that had managed to get into our lodge (yes, really!...sqeeeeee!!) that was it for our first day at the lodge. More to come on my post to follow, which will include locations from a popular Series 7 Doctor Who episode.

Blog to you very soon

                                            
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