Right, so... a summary, for those whom are interested:
Thursday - trained to Bournemouth, checked into basically Fawlty Towers B&B (these people were some
real characters, but that's a whole nother story), then headed off to the New Forest, which is gorgeous; just got named as a National Park, and it's full of wild horses who graze along the roadside, so careful while driving! Met a young Kiwi guy who's a semi-pro Polo player who took me through the steps of Polo, put me on the most mellow horse in the world, and we went out onto the practice pitch, and though I had a few 'Bridget Jones' moments, I did end up hitting the ball a few times! Then off to Chez Fred, labeled as the 'Best Fish and Chips in England' for filming a fish n chips dinner.
Friday - filmed breakfast in the dining room, then off to the beach to film shots of the boardwalk and the beach huts, etc., then to the University to record the voiceover for the film, then off to a tour of a private English garden - part of the Dorset Garden Scheme, where people open up their homes and gardens to the public and give tours for a small fee which goes to charity. She served us gorgeous cream teas (tea, homemade scones and raspberry jam, double-clotted cream - which I suffered for later, but we won't go into that
).
Saturday - off to Weymouth Beach to film one of the last remaining Punch and Judy shows on the beach, and interviewing the guy who does it (who was much younger than I'd expected); then off to another private garden tour, which was quite the opposite of the previous day; an English man (not exactly a gentleman, but another real character) whose garden I would describe as extremely ecclectic. When you walk in, you're met by a statue of a Roman Centurion... and it goes on from there. Bizarre, but interesting. Then back on the train back to London.
Sunday - trained it out to Maidenhead, to view a Cricket match, and meet one of Cricket's biggest fans (he actually travels the world following the England team), who
tried to explain the ins and outs of Cricket to me over a pint. Then back to London.
It was an absolute blast, everyone was lovely, and Chris (the director) is now nervous that so many people are anxious to see it! He panicked a bit when I told him I'd been talking about it on here!
But it should be quite good...
