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I've seen a few people on my flist (*cough* ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fyrie *cough*) discussing squeeing over the BBC's Merlin, so I thought you might be interested in my pictures of 'Camelot'.
(And those of you who don't give a toss about Merlin but like castles might also be interested.)
As you may remember, back in April I went out to work for a camping company in France. Though I was mostly up near Calais, for the first few weeks I was based just north of Paris. One of the maintenance guys on site mentioned that there was shooting going on at a nearby Chateau for a new BBC series, and a few other people said they'd visited and been blown away by their first sight of the place. So on one of my very few afternoons off, I rented a bike and cycled the 12 miles or so to have a look.
They weren't exaggerating the impact when the castle first comes into view. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that because there wasn't a clear photo-suitable vantage point from the road. I guess the camera crews had the advantage of cranes and/or access to private property.
Also unfortunately, they weren't filming that day (so don't get your hopes up of seeing Merlin and Arthur having a secret snog) - but I did see a bit of the set. And nor did I get to go inside, as the bike I'd rented annoyingly came without a lock, and it was getting a bit late anyhow.
This is the main entrance from the village: the road in goes through the gate and winds left around the castle to reach the level of the drawbridge, which you can see above the gate. There's also a set of stairs further to the right that takes pedestrians straight up to the castle esplanade (erm, at least that's what the Edinburgh equivalent is called: my lack of knowledge of medieval military terms is letting me down here!)
Being a cyclist that day, I eschewed the stairs and took the long way in, winding up round the base of the castle. And boy, do those walls look imposing from below! This doesn't do it justice:
Jutting out from the walls are these creatures. Judging by the four episodes I've seen, the director liked them as much as I did (but had rather better equipment for filming them).
Having walked around 3 sides of the castle, I caught my first glimpse of the set:
'twas slightly more convincing from this angle:
And here's the street as Merlin saw it in the first episode, minus the too-clean faux-medieval type folk. The white notice on the right announces that this is the set for Merlin and that no photos are to be taken on pain of [something]. As there was a rather burly security guard watching me suspiciously from the end of the street, I decided to comply, though I did think it amusing that they hadn't put the notice further back down the road.
The castle entrance:
Past the gate and across the outer courtyard (was this where Merlin had his first encounter with Arthur?), we come to the drawbridge:
Above the drawbridge is this statue. George and the dragon, I thought at the time, but perhaps it's Uther in younger days? Certainly fits the series rather well, I think.
A view from the drawbridge, looking down at my viewpoint for the first picture. So although the castle itself is certainly a real place, the surrounding rooftops in the series are clearly not.
Moving across the drawbridge, we come to the inner courtyard, guarded by more stone beasties - the staircase on the far side is easily recognisable from the series.
On the left of this courtyard, as we look at it, is a kind of cloister, with carvings on the ceiling. Here's one - the dragon theme seems quite prevalent!
And this is the view to the right - another set of steps, more dragonny gargoles, and what I assume is a chapel in the distance.
This is the other end of the chapel (if indeed it is a chapel), seen from outside the walls.
I was intrigued by the figure gracing the roof - with my camera this was as far as I could zoom. Looks like a variation on the dragon-slaying theme.
And finally, my favourite creature of all. There were a number of these, if I recall correctly. This one is just inside the drawbridge.
fyrie *cough*) (And those of you who don't give a toss about Merlin but like castles might also be interested.)
As you may remember, back in April I went out to work for a camping company in France. Though I was mostly up near Calais, for the first few weeks I was based just north of Paris. One of the maintenance guys on site mentioned that there was shooting going on at a nearby Chateau for a new BBC series, and a few other people said they'd visited and been blown away by their first sight of the place. So on one of my very few afternoons off, I rented a bike and cycled the 12 miles or so to have a look.
They weren't exaggerating the impact when the castle first comes into view. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that because there wasn't a clear photo-suitable vantage point from the road. I guess the camera crews had the advantage of cranes and/or access to private property.
Also unfortunately, they weren't filming that day (so don't get your hopes up of seeing Merlin and Arthur having a secret snog) - but I did see a bit of the set. And nor did I get to go inside, as the bike I'd rented annoyingly came without a lock, and it was getting a bit late anyhow.
This is the main entrance from the village: the road in goes through the gate and winds left around the castle to reach the level of the drawbridge, which you can see above the gate. There's also a set of stairs further to the right that takes pedestrians straight up to the castle esplanade (erm, at least that's what the Edinburgh equivalent is called: my lack of knowledge of medieval military terms is letting me down here!)
Being a cyclist that day, I eschewed the stairs and took the long way in, winding up round the base of the castle. And boy, do those walls look imposing from below! This doesn't do it justice:
Jutting out from the walls are these creatures. Judging by the four episodes I've seen, the director liked them as much as I did (but had rather better equipment for filming them).
Having walked around 3 sides of the castle, I caught my first glimpse of the set:
'twas slightly more convincing from this angle:
And here's the street as Merlin saw it in the first episode, minus the too-clean faux-medieval type folk. The white notice on the right announces that this is the set for Merlin and that no photos are to be taken on pain of [something]. As there was a rather burly security guard watching me suspiciously from the end of the street, I decided to comply, though I did think it amusing that they hadn't put the notice further back down the road.
The castle entrance:
Past the gate and across the outer courtyard (was this where Merlin had his first encounter with Arthur?), we come to the drawbridge:
Above the drawbridge is this statue. George and the dragon, I thought at the time, but perhaps it's Uther in younger days? Certainly fits the series rather well, I think.
A view from the drawbridge, looking down at my viewpoint for the first picture. So although the castle itself is certainly a real place, the surrounding rooftops in the series are clearly not.
Moving across the drawbridge, we come to the inner courtyard, guarded by more stone beasties - the staircase on the far side is easily recognisable from the series.
On the left of this courtyard, as we look at it, is a kind of cloister, with carvings on the ceiling. Here's one - the dragon theme seems quite prevalent!
And this is the view to the right - another set of steps, more dragonny gargoles, and what I assume is a chapel in the distance.
This is the other end of the chapel (if indeed it is a chapel), seen from outside the walls.
I was intrigued by the figure gracing the roof - with my camera this was as far as I could zoom. Looks like a variation on the dragon-slaying theme.
And finally, my favourite creature of all. There were a number of these, if I recall correctly. This one is just inside the drawbridge.
