Return to Skenfrith - Amy's Choice

The third and final part of our trip down to Cardiff saw us take a detour on the way home to one of my favourite previously visited Doctor Who spots, the little village of Skenfrith.

Skenfrith doubled as 'Upper Leadworth' in Series 5 Episode Amy's Choice. Both times I have visited this village the weather has almost mimicked that seen in the episode - murky, dull and grey. Plus, there really hasn't been anyone around - which always freaks me out slightly - cue scary old aged pensioners. But that isn't to say the place isn't special - in fact I would love to live in such a peaceful little village with its own history and its very own castle. It really is a beautiful place, even under the dullest of skies, a real gem to visit.

You can read my previous post here.

This visit saw me equipped with my trusty iPad with the episode downloaded and ready to try and take some more accurate shots of the place - prepared, eh?!

The central point the town is built around is the ruins of Skenfrith Castle, which is free of charge to wonder around and park next to as long as there are no events.

It's really worth having a good wonder around as the crew captured virtually the whole village on film, so every where you look you can picture a scene from the episode.

As you can see, there are only minor changes made to the village for the filming such as the white fence around the old peoples home, the park on the green area next to the castle and extra benches and plants dotted around. But you can definitely recognise every aspect of the village as what you see on screen.

Luckily no-one was creepily peering through the windows at myself and Luke! It would be good to know if the interior also doubled up as the old peoples home for the episode.

A lot of the village is used in the episode, so it is well worth going for a wonder around the area. You will recognise a lot of it as Upper Leadworth!

See more footage of the village in the video I captured here:-

Anyway, I hope you can gather a better picture from the village from these series of photos and film. Its so lovely to visit so I definitely recommend it even though it is slightly off the beaten track. Any questions about getting there let me know.

So this post has been a long time coming, and before I can even catch my breath its the Doctor Who Festival this weekend! Who's going?! I am heading there on the Saturday in the Cyberman stream. Let me know your plans. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to wear... I am very much looking forward to meeting Peter Capaldi for the first time and I managed to get my hands on Jenna Coleman photo opp tickets too so I shall be meeting her again which I am very excited about as it will be the last time to meet her as the Doctors companion. 

So what have I been up to...? Well I am still working in marketing which is pretty excellent, and I've just turned 25... which has made me feel super old. I mean, if I went for the X-factor I would be in the "overs" category... and that's kind of depressing. 

Its been lovely to write here again, blog to you again soon!

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The Three Bear Caves: Robots of Sherwood and Sherlock's Hounds of Baskerville

Following on from our date night in the restaurant from the Doctor Who episode 'Listen', we got up early and headed off to our first stop of the day - Castell Coch in Tongwynlais. We've been here before as it was the location used for Hedgewick's World in Series 7 Nightmare in Silver, you can find the link here; its one of my favourite locations to visit. However, this time we weren't here to see the Medieval castle in all its glory, oh no, we were instead heading north to follow the Forest Fawr country park trail.

A few wrong turns and a couple of disagreements later about Luke not being able to follow a simple map, I was eventually proved wrong when we spotted the carved statue of a bear and its cub guarding the entrance to one of my most-wanted-to-visit Doctor Who locations ever: The Three Bear Caves.

I would love to tell you how I got there, but seeing as we seemed to be walking for over an hour to find it, the Doctor Who Locations website has better instructions than I would be able to draw up. I am continually amazed how the locations experts scout these little nuggets out for film.

The caves have featured in numerous television productions, most notably to me is the Doctor Who series 8 episode Robots of Sherwood, BBC Sherlock series 2 episode The Hounds of Baskerville and SkyOne's Stella. I love spotting these familiar locations throughout all my favourite TV shows!

I decided against heading down towards the caves as the ground was very unsteady and damp; After all, I didn't want a bear to come out and grab me if I was to trip and fall. Instead, I took some pretty cool pictures from above, and sent Luke down for a closer look. I do wonder how all of the actors and film crew manage to clamber all of their equipment down to areas like this, when I can't even manage it in my sturdy military boots!

 Doctor Who: Robots of Sherwood (SERIES 9)

Sherlock: The Hounds of Baskerville (Series 2) 

Luke peered in the caves but it was too dark to see anything, unfortunately I didn't send him in against his will, so he just took some close-up photos for me. The flat area leading to the caves was much smaller than it appeared on camera, to my surprise, I wonder how they managed to get all the Doctor Who actors in shot successfully, along with all the props!

You can view more of the caves in this short video I produced from my weekend:

All in all, it was an excellent location to visit, and I would recommend anyone to go and explore. It is quite simply a hidden gem of Wales, and I feel so lucky that this hobby allows me to find all these weird and wonderful places. It's a free day out, dogs are allowed in the forest but remember to wear suitable shoes. I am sure this location will be used again in the future as it is so secluded and mystical. Look out for the Doctor Who crew there in the future! Plus, you could always explore Castell Coch at an extra small cost whilst you are on your travels. Let me know if you head there!

Oooh, we also visited the Doctor Who Experience shop where I treated myself to a new mug and t-shirt (see below). We also spotted a new edition to the props: Santa's Sleigh from the 2014 Christmas special Last Christmas.

Next, we took a bit of a detour on the way home, as we re-visited an old favourite Doctor Who location of mine, Skenfrith Castle. Read more about it soon.

Blog to you soon

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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."

Ghost-Busting "Hide" Locations at Margam Country Park

Hi All,


So here is the second part to my brief trip down to South Wales in October for my birthday. I'm afraid to say we weren't as successful on the final day of our stay, although we did get a pretty nice Toby Carvery out of the day... yum! 


We decided to venture to Margam Country Park, otherwise known as the primary location for the Series 7 Doctor Who episode, 'Hide', as Caliburn House and which has also featured in the series 4 two-parter 'The Sontaran Stratagem'/'The Poison Sky' as Rattigan Academy. It was about a 20 minutes drive from our lodge, and a ten minute drive from Neath. It was easy to find, as it is signposted straight off the M4. 

There is no charge for entry to the park and castle as it is free to roam around, but it will cost you around £4.50 to park your car. There are lots of ruins, a beautiful Orangery, fabulous gardens and greenery, a hauntingly gothic castle and a huge, splendid lake... no wonder the grounds were bustling with visitors! 

So, why did I decide on this location?.. Well, this was the first location that I saw photographs of Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman filming scenes together, it was also where their first official series photograph took place as Doctor and companion (see left). As soon as I saw photos of Jenna here I went out and purchased her dress from Urban Outfitters as I fell in love with it. And is exactly why I decided to wear it on this visit. I thought the episode Hide was eerily beautiful, and although it did scare me when it was broadcast (yes, I was 22 years old -wimp!), I thought the message behind it was clever and decent and was anchored by a brilliant cast, crew and writers.

Just to point out, that the main area which was used for a lot of the filming outside was unfortunately inaccessible as they were in the middle of building work, so I couldn't get as brilliant pictures as I wanted to, but I did try my best by poking my camera through the wire fence. 

Hide...

The following photos were taken at the side entrance to the castle, which acted as the entrance in this particular episode of Doctor Who. 

Below is the Orangery, which is huge and size and surrounded my magical gardens and a huge water fountain. It featured in the background of one shot in this episode of Doctor Who, and is located at the bottom of the stairs up to the main castle. 

The following photos were taken of the main area used for filming in this episode of Doctor Who, however the area was sealed off for building work, so we could go no further than the large tree which the TARDIS was parked under for photographs.

The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky...

A few snapshots from in and around Margam Country Park...

 The amazingly gothic interior of the castle... it was very eerie and scary. Reminded me of a vampire lair - loved it!

 

 I hope you enjoyed my two-parter posts detailing my recent trip down south... I have two more blog posts lined up and will hopefully get them out to you as soon as I can, and before the Christmas period. One of which will detail my recent Clara cosplay, of which includes the dress I am wearing on todays post. I hope your christmas shopping is going well, I have lots of Doctor Who related goodies on my list, what are you hoping santa brings you? 

Tomorrow I start my new job which I am very excited about. It sounds like a brilliant opportunity and I can't wait to get stuck in. I have a really good feeling about this one. Lets keep positive.

Blog to you all soon, take care

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Locations from 'The Snowmen' - 2012 Doctor Who Christmas Special

Its been way too long since I went out and about exploring locations from my favourite television series of all time, so I thought I'd better set this right, for all our sakes. The truth is, me and Luke had planned and prepared a weekend in Cardiff back in February this year for a little valentines getaway, but the horrendous flooding which hit the UK hard during the early part of 2014 threw a stone in the works, and I was forced to turn the car around and drive back home barely 8 miles or so down the road.

 So we re-booked our trip for an early weekend in April which luckily turned out to be a sunny and dry few days. I decided to visit a few locations from the latest series of Doctor Who, due to the fact that I had followed a lot of the set reports on Twitter during the weeks of filming, so I had a good idea where a lot of the filming had taken place. After mapping out a few locations, me and Luke mutually decided to visit Bristol, which was used primarily in the 2012 Christmas special  The Snowmen. I had wanted to visit Bristol since I found out this episode was filmed here, so I could finally now tick it off my list of places to see.


 Since then I have been extremely busy with moving house (very stressful) and going away on holiday. So I have finally got round to writing this post for you.

 We arrived in Cardiff Friday afternoon, got changed and went for a meal at the lovely Italian restaurant Zizzis in Cardiff Bay. Luke had won a meal of up to £50 so he treated us both to a starter, main course and we shared a bottle of chilled white wine. We went for a wonder around the bay once we had finished and took some lovely photos of the sun setting and topped off the evening with a cocktail in Eddies Diner. It was a lovely way to spend our delayed valentines getaway together.

  Anyway, back on track, we were up Saturday morning a bit groggy from the previous nights drinks and headed down to the trainstation to catch the train to Bristol. We bought tickets for Bristol Temple Meads station after I googled the city map and highlighted the areas/location spots I wished to visit.

 We exited Bristol Temple Meads and immediately ran into trouble. You see, we aren’t the best couple at reading maps, and neither of us had been to the city before, so trying to find our way to the right locations was pretty difficult. Plus, I have never known a city to have so many traffic lights/pedestrian crossings. There are like four crossings just to get to the other side of a ring road taking about 10minutes! Anyway, we headed to what turned out to be my favourite place in the city, recommended by many of the locals; the docks. Unfortunately we picked a bit of a grey day, otherwise I’m sure the scenery particularly around this area would have been very pretty, plus Victoria Square looked like a lovely place to stop for lunch on a sunny day.

 However we headed over the footbridge and were greeted by a range of restaurants, but of course, we stuck to good old Weatherspoons! After re-energising, we went on the hunt for Bristol’s Cathedral, which only happened to be around the corner, and took some photos. A few minutes’ walk down the road we were heading to find some of the notorious graffiti artist Banksy’s work. We had a typical silly moment of looking left and right and on the sides of buildings, when the whole time the graffiti was pictured right behind us! Before heading to Bristol, I did a bit of research and looked into all the right places to visit, and a tour of Banksys art work was highly recommended. However, due to our lack of time, we opted to just look for any graffiti on foot during our mission around the city, but we did agree that if we went back to Bristol again, it is definitely something we would think about doing.

 Anyway, now for the real reason I’m blogging about Bristol: The Doctor Who location visits. As an avid viewer of any behind the scenes content the BBC Doctor Who team broadcast and an interest in any filming reports, I was aware the Doctor Who 2012 Christmas special was to be filmed in the city of Bristol.

First we headed up to St Nicholas Market on Corn Street to find the first Doctor Who location of the day. This location was chosen because of its Victorian streets which fit in perfectly with the story-line set in Victorian London, so it was easy to spot when walking through the city centre. The market was up and running once we got there, and it was as busy as ever, so I tried to take as many pictures as I could of the surroundings. 

From watching the behind the scenes extra show, I was aware that some of the alleyway shots taken near where we first saw Clara working in the Rose and Crown were located near the market. Me and Luke walked up and down a few different alleys in the area until we settled on one which I looked familiar. I had the episode downloaded onto my iphone, so I had a quick check, and although it was hard to tell at first because the ground wasn’t covered in *fake* snow, it was soon pretty obvious it was the right place. I think its pretty interesting that the show manages to find the smallest, insignificant spaces, and make them magical. If I didn’t realise Doctor Who was filmed in the city, I wouldn’t have looked twice at this little spot.

You can really see the added props and hidden shop signs which helps to bring a little hideaway alleyway to life, creating the look and feel of Victorian London. Luckily, this alleyway already contained a few features of old England - The historic buildings, iron gates and Victorian Lamp posts, for example. Oh, and here's me trying to recreate the scene where Clara decides to follow the Doctor on foot... cringe! :-

There were quite a few decent looking market stalls on the market, a lot selling Banksy memorabilia, Bristol are obviously very fond of their infamous graffiti artist, but we only got to purchase a drink each and we were off to find the next location.

Merging our 'fantastic' map reading skills together, and Luke yelling ‘Banksy!’ at everyone walking past to see their reaction (he was adamant that he wanted to unmask the artist himself), we took the 20 minute walk or so to Portland Square. 

Nestled away from the busy streets of the city centre, Portland Square is a small park area with greenery, trees and benches, located in the middle of very rich, tall buildings. A real little gem hidden away from the bustling streets of Bristol, I can see why this spot was chosen for filming, not just for Doctor Who, but also as a location for the Series 3 opener of BBC Sherlock, 'The Empty Hearse', where John Watson is trapped under a lit bonfire.

Back to Doctor Who, this location was used as the spot beneath where The Doctor has landed his TARDIS in the clouds. From here, the Doctor takes one big leap and pulls down a ladder to which he can then ascend the spiral staircase to his time machine. However, unbeknownst to him, Clara has secretly followed him every step of the way.

Five points if you can spot me in the photograph below! Yes, there were people in the park at the time, they must've wondered what on earth I was doing!

 Anyway, we had fun recreating these poses to try and match the episode as much as possible. Luke laughed a lot and made me jump in the air more than I needed to so he could ‘get the best shot’. I hope you enjoy looking through them as much as I enjoyed recreating them J Next time I’ll have to hire a period costume for the added ‘Clara’ effect.

 So that was pretty much is for our time in Bristol, as we navigated our way back to the station before the heavens opened, and left Cardiff by car before evening fell.

I hope you are enjoying the new series with our new Doctor. They seem to be reusing a lot of the locations I have been to previously for the new episodes, so I may have to use this as a valid excuse to revisit some of my favourites. I do, however, miss Matt Smith a lot. He was such a genius actor and a credit to the show. However, Peter is growing on me with every episode, last Saturdays Robot of Sherwood being my favourite so far. Jenna is still a perfect, witty, strong companion and I am excited to see how Danny Pink fits into the storyline. The story arc for this season also looks very interesting; I am keen to know who Missy is and what this so-called ‘promised land’ is. The Christmas episode is currently filming, so please keep me updated if you see any locations on the set reports you may think is worth a visit.

My next planned trip to South Wales falls in October, so I’m hoping to head to some of the more rural locations then as I stay in a lodge for my birthday in the middle of the Welsh hills. Hopefully then, my next post won’t take as long to put together, but with working such long hours right now it is hard to fit any time in for blogging unfortunately. If you have any good locations you would like me to visit, please let me know.

In the meantime, I will be updating my locations page with all the latest episodes as I go along. Feel free to have a nose:-)

Blog to you soon

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