Castle locations/forest scenes
-
As promised, some photos from my recent trip to South Wales...
First I visited Llansteffan Castle, one of Smirkenorff's regular landing spots. Pics are here:
http://www.canadanne.co.uk/kmlocations/llansteffan.html
Obviously I couldn't make the photos match up with screencaps so precisely as I've done in the past, as this location only appeared in flight sequences and I can't fly. But I've done my best. The two external pics of the castle were taken from a moving train on the other side of the river!
I can see why Smirky often complained about the tricky landing at Llansteffan; it's very uneven and hilly in there, so probably not the easiest place for a helic-- I mean a dragon to touch down. The views are amazing, though, and it's a cool place to poke around, especially when nobody else is up there.
Next I went to Kidwelly Castle, which is awesome - I was there on a really wet day but still had loads of fun exploring its many rooms and passages. (It's a lot bigger than it looks!) Here are the Knightmare-related shots:
http://www.canadanne.co.uk/kmlocations/kidwelly.html
And finally I did a circular walk via Three Cliffs Bay and Pennard Castle on the Gower Peninsula, which you may recognise from another flight sequence that was used over the end credits in Series 5. Absolutely gorgeous area.
http://www.canadanne.co.uk/kmlocations/pennard.html
Once again I highly recommend all three locations if you're looking for a holiday destination! They can all be reached by public transport from Swansea. Oh, I also saw Merlin's Walk Shopping Centre in Carmarthen and a milkshake bar called The Mad Cow in Swansea!
-
Another fantastic set of photos! I'm ashamed to say that I've never visited these places despite living in Swansea for the first 18 years of my life and frequently visiting my folks who now live near Carmarthen.
A case of not appreciating your own back yard I suppose.
-
Some more location photos, if you like that sort of thing... you may recall I visited the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum last year, but it turned out they were filming in the Wolfenden bit, so there was a lot of junk in my photos and I couldn't go into all the buildings. I went again with more success earlier this month:
http://www.canadanne.co.uk/kmlocations/weald2.html
I didn't photograph absolutely everything from Knightmare this time, just the bits I either couldn't do before (like the Gateway Inn), or which had stuff in the way (like the views of Greenshades where a van was parked in the middle). It was fun to actually walk along Wolfenden High Street and have a proper look inside the shops. Didn't realise there's a library on the ground floor of the long building!
P.S. In the screencap of Duncan's clue objects by the arcade, I've only just noticed that the baskets on the left-hand side are floating in mid-air! Someone misinterpreted where the wall begins!
-
Thanks for these - they're very interesting to see.
-
OMG yeeeeeessssssssssssss
Google Images finally did the business. Warlock / Grimdale is Kentwell Hall & Gardens in Suffolk!
the table where Naila found a bag of silver (ep 707),
Described here as the bagpipe maker's shop. I think the building is the Great Barn.
the barrow where Julie met Romahna (ep 710),
This building is the Tudor Cottage - pics here and here!
the barrel where Julie chose Level 1 clue objects (ep 710),
This is the Bronze Foundry.
and Rothberry's stall visited by Naila (eps 707 / 708) and Julie (eps 710 / 711).
I suspect this was a previous version of the actual Alchemists' Hut seen here and here - this information sign sounds oddly familiar from Romahna's description! Not absolutely sure though, as it also resembles the building shown right at the end of this video, possibly in the Pottery Wood? Anyway, it's there somewhere!
That is one of the last great mysteries solved. Now if only we could identify Captain Nemanor's ship...
-
and Rothberry's stall visited by Naila (eps 707 / 708) and Julie (eps 710 / 711).
I suspect this was a previous version of the actual Alchemists' Hut seen here and here - this information sign sounds oddly familiar from Romahna's description! Not absolutely sure though, as it also resembles the building shown right at the end of this video, possibly in the Pottery Wood?
Just found an older photo (from May 2000) of what appears to be the building in the YouTube video - the wooden roof has obviously been replaced with tiles in recent years, and the original one looks like a perfect match with Rothberry's stall. The caption describes it as the Pottery. There are more views of 'Grimdale' in the same Flickr album.
-
Well discovered!
-
OMG yeeeeeessssssssssssss
Google Images finally did the business. Warlock / Grimdale is Kentwell Hall & Gardens in Suffolk!
Blimey. I visited Kentwell Hall. The summer after Series 7 was shown. In the company of a Series 7 contestant. I didn't make the connection and I don't think he did either. What hope is there?
Thank you, Annie. Excellent research as usual.
-
I know it's not the forest they used for the eye shield scene but the forest near Me (Dereham) errily looks very similar in some parts.
-
Blimey. I visited Kentwell Hall. The summer after Series 7 was shown. In the company of a Series 7 contestant. I didn't make the connection and I don't think he did either. What hope is there?
LOL! If either of you had, it could have saved me years of frustration.
I know it's not the forest they used for the eye shield scene but the forest near Me (Dereham) errily looks very similar in some parts.
The Eyeshield sequences in Series 4 were filmed in Hockering Wood near Dereham, if that's what you're thinking of?
-
Smirkenorff's flight over something resembling a salt marsh during the end credits of Series 6 episode 3.
I saw a programme about the salt marshes of North Gower this evening, and wondered if it might be where they filmed that flight sequence. And looking at this photograph, I am fairly convinced that it is - the pine clumps in the distance are exactly the same shape.
This would be flying roughly north / northeast from Llanmadoc towards Burry Port, with Whiteford Burrows on the left. More pics here, here and here. -
Ahahaha, it is ridiculous how lucky I get sometimes, finding these things by accident while I'm looking for something else. I was just on this page and noticed that the image on the left captioned "Paviland Cliffs and Caves" looked uncannily familiar:
This is the cliff where Smirkenorff was found on many occasions during Series 5, 6 and 7. It's just a random bit of coast, so I never thought I'd be able to identify it! There's a better shot here. Obviously Smirky was filmed from somewhere higher up, but you can definitely make out the same features in the rock, just down and to the left of where it says Paviland Main Cliff.
Beautiful Gower has a handy map showing the location of Paviland on the south coast of the peninsula (just along from Worm's Head), along with links to photographs of the other nearby Knightmare locations - Pennard & Three Cliffs Bay on the south coast and Landimore Marsh on the north coast.
-
Smirkenorff's flight over something resembling a salt marsh during the end credits of Series 6 episode 3.
I saw a programme about the salt marshes of North Gower this evening, and wondered if it might be where they filmed that flight sequence. And looking at this photograph, I am fairly convinced that it is - the pine clumps in the distance are exactly the same shape.
This would be flying roughly north / northeast from Llanmadoc towards Burry Port, with Whiteford Burrows on the left. More pics here, here and here.I am wondering if these are in fact the same pine plantations seen at the start of Duncan's flight on Smirkenorff (Series 5 episode 14):
They do fly over a bit of salt marsh, and the hill in the distance bears a certain resemblance to Cwm Ivy Tor? The steep hill they fly over could possibly be North Hill Tor, but I've yet to find any conclusive shots taken from the same angles. Hmmmmm.
This is the cliff where Smirkenorff was found on many occasions during Series 5, 6 and 7. It's just a random bit of coast, so I never thought I'd be able to identify it! There's a better shot here. Obviously Smirky was filmed from somewhere higher up, but you can definitely make out the same features in the rock, just down and to the left of where it says Paviland Main Cliff.
Annnnnd, these photos were taken at the top of Paviland Cliff (more here and here), and look extremely similar to the cliff that Kathryn is flown over in Series 5 episode 1:
I'm all but certain it's the same place. This video has some nice dragon's-eye views of the area.
-
In Series 5, I believe the lake where Smirkenorff takes off in Richard and Ben's quests is Llyn Brianne reservoir in Mid Wales, on the River Towy (which ends at Llansteffan Castle). I couldn't find any images taken from the same angle, but there is an aerial view here showing the road along the hillside. Smirky veers to the right and flies over cliffs:
...which appear to match the ones at Llyn Brianne. (I understand these resulted from rock being quarried to build the dam.) See photographs here, here, here and here. I have thought this was the right location for some time as it looked so similar, and now I've seen those rocks up close, I'm sure of it.
-
This is Smirky taking off at Llyn Brianne. I found some pics on Geograph which were taken at roughly the same spot:
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/540389
-
More location photos for ya! This time I went to Cardiff for a few days and visited two castles that appeared in Series 5 & 6.
The first of these was Castell Coch in the village of Tongwynlais:
http://www.canadanne.co.uk/kmlocations/coch.html
The shot outside the entrance was impossible to replicate exactly with my camera (there's a tree in the way, for one thing), but close enough! The Eyeshield sequence from the courtyard goes through the door to the Well Tower, and heads for the stairs that lead down to the awesome spooky dungeon, rather appropriately. It looks very different now as they've obviously plastered the wall since Knightmare was filmed there! Shame the main entrance was only half open so I couldn't quite manage the 'teams leaving' shot.
I then spent a day at Caerphilly Castle:
http://www.canadanne.co.uk/kmlocations/caerphilly.html
It took ages to take the photos of the approach to the gatehouse - first there were a couple of vans parked in the way (which thankfully left after a while), and then hordes of local schoolchildren turned up, so I had to wait for them all to go in! And it was really cold and windy! As you can see, a few little bits of this castle have changed since the Knightmare era too. There's now only one step instead of two in the passage leading from the South-West Tower, and that brick arch in the corner of the state apartments appears to have been rebuilt. It was really hard to line up the photos in that room, as the sun was so bright I could barely see what I was doing! You can actually see the sun rays in one shot, which amusingly looks like a patch of magical energy on the ground, right where Elita was performing her ritual. g The last photo, of the West Gatehouse from outside, was only ever glimpsed through the Descender windows at the end of one episode. I edited a bunch of screencaps together so you can see more clearly what it looked like:
-
I had the opportunity to visit Bodiam Castle for the first time earlier this month, and have just uploaded my photos:
http://www.canadanne.co.uk/kmlocations/bodiam.html
I'm pleased with how well they turned out, considering the place was overrun with people and it was incredibly difficult to get a clear shot of anything! Usually I'm quite methodical but this time I spent the whole day darting from one place to another, trying to grab a quick shot while it wasn't too crowded. (It was also really hot and sunny, so there were some lighting issues to contend with.)
You'll notice that a few things have changed since the Knightmare filming - some fences have been removed, the wooden balcony/railing has been extended with an additional staircase going down into the chapel, and they've added an extra rail around the well (presumably to stop kidsies from slithering underneath). I always like seeing how much the trees have grown in 20-odd years, too!
I was quite chuffed to find that wall they used all the time as a background shot for close-ups - there was no way of knowing which castle it was from, let alone which room, so I'd looked out for it on several trips without success! (It's the north wall of the stables, if anyone else cares in the slightest.)
Hope you like the pics.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login