Hi everyone, following my post reviewing the
Doctor Who Experience I thought I’d share a stop-off point I had along the way.
As my route takes me through Newport on the
way to Cardiff, I had a quick check on the Doctor Who Locations website (http://www.doctorwholocations.net/) before leaving to see if
there were any spots to stop off at on my journey.
Luckily, I found out that the Hospital used in
Matt Smith’s first DW episode ‘The Eleventh Hour’ was just a short detour from
my intended route, located on the outskirts of Newport. It has also been used
for the new series 7, due to air on our screens later this year, marking the
end for the Ponds’.
Once I drove into the grounds it took quite a
while to find the hospital itself as it is hidden at the end of the winding
road amongst all the other buildings. I even asked my partner when we arrived
outside the hospital whether it was the correct building as it seemed to look
much smaller in reality than what we see on screen.
Unfortunately for us there was construction
work going on at the front of the building which meant a lot of the view is
hindered on the photos below by vans. I was also a bit apprehensive to go too
close as it is a hospital so I wanted to respect the staff and their patients.
Parking was simple though – lots of spaces
outside as the place was very quiet. I made the mistake when trying to get back
onto the motorway of following the sat-nav, which took me down country roads
which were difficult to drive through. Next time I will stick to the way I came
to avoid any nasty surprises!
More info on this location can be found HERE. My next post will be on Caerphilly Castle, also used in Doctor Who :-)
It’s late on a Wednesday night now, and after doing my weekly Zumba fitness class and tackling my next assignment question, I’m finally getting round to blogging!
In February this year, for Valentine’s weekend, me and my partner booked a lodge in South Wales near the Brecon Beacons (beautiful place), and it was the best weekend I’ve had in years!
We planned our route well ahead of ourselves, in order to see all the locations from Doctor Who we wanted in one journey. I stayed up for hours a few nights before, searching through the Doctor Who Locations. The site is absolutely brilliant for fans like me, who love going to all the locations!
So first we headed to Skenfrith, which was slightly difficult to find, the sat-nav was having a fit so we decided to ignore it most of the journey and make our own way there. And finally, many winding roads later we eventually found the small village!
Skenfrith was used as ‘Upper Leadworth’ in the episode from Series 5 – Amys Choice, featuring the dream lord. Although the Pond’s house is not on site, the rest of the village was used for the majority of the episode including the castle and the old people’s home.
Many of the following images are stills from Doctor Who, courtesy of the BBC ... contrasted with my own photos...
The village itself was a bit creepy to be honest, beautiful, but creepy. Arthur Darvill himself was quoted saying how deserted the place was, and the day we visited was no exception. We spotted two people the whole time we were there, and those were the builders doing construction work on the church around the corner! Also – as you can tell from the images, the small park based to the one side of the castle ruins in the episode were brought in by the Doctor Who Production Company. The weather was the same as it was in the episode – gloomy and damp, which added to the excitement of being in the location!
Next, off we popped to our next stop in Rhymney, to find Amy Pond’s house (from series 5). This location was slightly easier to find, as the Sat-Nav took us right to the front gate. It is located in the middle of a busy town, and does have someone currently living in it (I don’t know why I expected otherwise!) We noticed there was a car parked next to the house and smoke from the chimney, so we decided, out of respect, not to cross the garden to the front of house but to just take a photo from the gate, and from the end of the garden, through the trees.
I loved being at this location, there was something magical about the Series 5 opener which attracted me straight away, and to be where Matt Smith started as he crash landed into Amy’s garden was brilliant! Although I did come to realise that the Doctor Who Production company did provide a lot of the props to the house, the garden looked nothing like it did in the series, there was no shed, no shrubbery, and the house didn’t even have a blue front door!
Here’s ‘The Eleventh Hour’ – Part 1 (Matt Smiths first episode as the Doctor) to refresh all our memories. This is where he first came crashing into my life:
After all the excitement from the day, We then later arrived at our lodge, which was beautiful… and included a hot tub!! ... It also boasted a spare room, with bunk beds...
"Bunk beds are cool, a bed, with a ladder"
So that was our journey to the lodge, I’ll be writing part 2 within the next few days from when we visited more locations such as Bad Wolf Bay, Dyffryn Gardens and Neath Abbey… Plus, sites from Torchwood and Gavin and Stacey!
If you’re still reading this, thanks very much! I really appreciate everyone that takes time to look through my blog at my ramblings and who are interested in what I’ve got to say…!!
Could you recommend any Doctor Who locations?
Have you been to any of the sites?
Can’t wait to share the rest of my South Wales trip with you guys!
