Many local people avidly watched the three-episode costume drama, ‘Sense & Sensibility’ when it was televised on BBC One on New Year’s Day, and Sundays 6th and 13th. With this article prepared before the final episode was televised, it has been fascinating to see the production, so much of which was filmed here in Hartland and without doubt a real star has been the scenery!
Many local people avidly watched the three-episode costume drama, ‘Sense & Sensibility’ when it was televised on BBC One on New Year’s Day, and Sundays 6th and 13th. With this article prepared before the final episode was televised, it has been fascinating to see the production, so much of which was filmed here in Hartland and without doubt a real star has been the scenery!
For a three-week spell back in May last year BBC TV were here in Hartland filming for this latest costume drama of an Andrew Davies adaptation of the Jane Austen book. With the film unit based at Hartland Abbey, the cottage at Blackpool Mill was transformed as the exterior for the Dashwood family’s home at ‘Barton,’ Devon, where they found themselves moving to when in straightened circumstances.
Choosing such a remote location in which to film, Rupert Bray, the location manager, had the tricky task of arranging the logistics and at the beginning of May the set builders, carpenters, painters, gardeners, and set dressers moved in and for a week worked their magic on the cottage, as can be seen below!
After a busy week of preparation, on, 9th May the rest of the 70-strong unit arrived, transforming the west park at Hartland Abbey into a ‘TV Village’ with countless vehicles loaded with props and equipment, costume storage and workshops, dressing rooms and everything else needed on location, as well as three-star catering facilities! Much has been made in the press coverage of the fact that on the arrival of the unit, the weather changed and they were bedevilled with a mixed bag of pretty awful conditions when it just rained and rained, interspersed all too rarely with warm and sunny spells for the whole week of filming!
Chosen for its stunning scenery, as well as its remoteness, the location became a logistical nightmare in the wet and muddy conditions! It has been amazing to see just how gloriously the camera captured the beauty of the scenery in such weather!
The filming here at Hartland was outdoor linking shots, in readiness for the interior filming done in the studio. The actual interior of the cottage was much too small to be used and so this was completely built as a set in the studio. As well as Blackpool Mill and the beach, numerous other locations were used, including the cliff-side paths on either side of the cottage, the Warren and also in the Vale. Everything down to the last smallest detail was in keeping with the period, and horses and carriages were brought in for the filming.
As mentioned above, the Jane Austen book was adapted by Andrew Davies, who visited the Hartland location during filming and was very impressed by the area.
‘Win a ‘Sense and Sensibility location getaway’
The Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph launched a promotion to coincide with the TV screening, offering the opportunity for some lucky reader to ‘Win a ‘Sense and Sensibility location getaway’ by just returning two of three tokens printed on 5th to 7th January. The lucky winner will be able to bring up to seven friends to stay at Blackpool Mill Cottage for a week from the 20th to 27th June. If you have copies of the Telegraph there is still just time to enter the competition, for they have to be in by 21st January! As we go to press Lady Angela Stucley tells us they have been absolutely inundated with requests for the cottage – over 700 email enquiries and the phone hasn’t stopped ringing – and that’s after just the first two episodes!
BLACKPOOL MILL COTTAGE – On the left, the cottage as it appears as ‘Barton’ and on the right, stripped of the set decoration.