In Episode Three, "The Rhythms of the Earth," we hear the chimes on the church tower ring, and the organ playing. As the rector walks outside, followed by his parishioners, we realize that the Sunday morning service has just ended.
Here he shakes hands with old Ned, who has kindly agreed to perform some maintenance on the large church clock. Audrey and her friend Marjory are happy to see old Ned, but Audrey in particular has noticed the absence of Richard Devere, the new lord of the manor.
So after asking old Ned to call by the old Lodge, and take a look at her grandfather clock, she heads off to the manor, to acquaint Richard with his lordly duties.
There she informs him that there is no time for him to gradually grow accustomed to life in the country. Spring has arrived, and there are any number of tasks he must get started on immediately.
On the day we arrived at St. Thomas Church, the clock on the church tower was keeping accurate time. It was good to see that Old Ned, or his successor, still kept the clock in good repair.
One thing I never realized was how far the entrance is from the church door. I love the way the covered entryway extends out, and the masonry opens outward, ushering you to step in out of the elements, before entering the covered walkway. This gives the church a nice welcoming feeling, which I always sensed before when I saw it on TV. Now I know why.
Spring had well and truly arrived at the manor when we visited, and the landscape looked beautifully maintained. Evidently Audrey's pep talk to Richard proved profitable. Grantleigh Manor always looked like such a beautiful place to visit on TV. I was pleased to find it even more beautiful than I had imagined.
Dragon Dave
In the beginning of Episode 2, "All New Together," the Vicar and Marjory Frobisher gaze down at the manor house from the end of the short drive. From there, the manor is just a spot on the horizon.
When my wife and I arrived at the entry to Cricket St. Thomas, we thought of stopping and looking around the Old Lodge next to the gate. But we really wanted to see the manor house first, and also try to find the church. Now that we knew where the Old Lodge was, we could return to it later. So we headed on down the long, winding, one-lane drive.
Time flew past as we walked around the manor, taking photographs, and reminiscing. We also spent a fair amount of time inside the old church. By then we were getting tired, and decided to head back up the drive to see the Old Lodge. Even if the interiors were filmed in a studio back in London, we were really looking forward to seeing the outside of Audrey's residence-in-exile.
As we neared the entryway, with the gates still open, we stopped and I took a few photographs of the Old Lodge from the back. It was a pastoral place, and better maintained than in the days Audrey and Brabinger lived there off her slim savings.
But it looked different somehow, and when we pulled up in front, it struck me that this couldn't possibly be the Old Lodge. At least, not unless it had been significantly remodeled. So I got back in the car and we consulted a crude map I had found online.
Sure enough, this wasn't the Old Lodge: that lay in the opposite direction, along the narrow, winding one-lane road we had entered along. To visit the Old Lodge, we would have had to turn around, and head back, and drive well past the manor to find it. The drive each way would probably amount to thirty minutes, plus the time we spent there. Given our predilection for exploration, we figured the trip to the Old Lodge would take up at least an hour. Then we'd need to hit the road again. But we were already tired, and jet lagged after our long flight from San Diego to Heathrow the previous day. (Actually, I think we lost a day in the process). And after our nightmare journey from Heathrow to our first hotel the previous night, when our GPS refused to work properly, we were still a little iffy about driving along English roads. So reluctantly, we decided to leave the Old Lodge for a return journey to Cricket St. Thomas. After all, we have to leave something new to discover, if we want a reason to return, right?
Assuming the Old Lodge still stands, it's not situated with a view of the front of the manor house, but well behind. (At least, according to the map I found). So it can't have the view that Marjory and the Vicar had. Nor can Audrey look out her back porch through her binoculars and see the the front of the manor.
I wonder how they filmed that scene at the beginning of the episode, with Marjory and the Vicar standing outside the Old Lodge. I can only assume the production team must have placed a large green screen behind the actors when they filmed at Cricket St. Thomas. Then, back at the studio, that the special effects people used a process called Color Separation Overlay, or CSO, to insert a view of the manor house onto the green screen. This process was regularly used back then on such TV shows as Doctor Who, and is still used today in making TV shows and feature films. Blue or Green Screen technology was used in making Star Wars, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies, and even, I believe, in the western Appaloosa. But it's odd to think that the Special Effects department played such a role in making a sitcom.
But then, that's the magic of television.
Dragon Dave
In Episode 2: "All New Together," Marjory Frobisher and the Vicar meet outside the Old Lodge. They gaze down the drive at the manor, where a moving company is packing up Audrey's personal possessions. They represent the local community, who never suspected Audrey's husband was deeply in debt, or the day would come when the fforbes-Hamilton family would leave Grantleigh Manor.
When the time comes to depart, Audrey and her butler Brabinger are waved away by the Vicar, Marjory, the cook Mrs. Beecham, a housekeeper, Old Ned, and Linda Cartwright.
At this point, they don't know where Audrey is moving to, as she has kept her new residence a secret.
To everyone's surprise, they see Audrey's old Rolls Royce stop at the end of the drive. Out pop Audrey, Brabinger, and Audrey's dog Bertie. Suddenly, Marjory realizes the truth: Audrey has used her residual savings, after the sale of the manor, to buy the Old Lodge.
The group outside the manor then greet Richard Devere and his mother as they arrive at their new home.
On the day we visited Cricket St. Thomas, it was already afternoon. We had spent all morning, and the early afternoon at Stonehenge. We hadn't been sure if we would be allowed to enter the grounds, as we were not paying guests. But thankfully the gates were open, and we were allowed to drive down the long, wandering, one-lane road to the manor.
I had read that the manor house lay much farther away from the Old Lodge than it appeared on TV. Still, I was surprised.
But then, that's the magic of television, right?
Dragon Dave
