Thanks for all this. Well Bob Cartwright and his team sure did an amazing job! I love that Secret Way entrance in Adventuring Again, the bookcase entrance in the study of Smuggler's Top and (in the same room) the hidden alcove that hid Solly Weston in Get into Trouble!Gary Russell wrote:Gatewood and Blackwater are private residences, so imagine if someone knocked on the door of your house one day and asked to look around. You'd probably say no, particularly after the 150th person did it. Exbury is now a big office complex, so internal access to the bits we used are now off-limits sadly.petejt wrote:
One thing I am wondering about is how to get permission to visit some of the houses? E.g. I read that Blackwater House Needs Ore Cottages (Kirrin Cottage) was sold about, what, October or November just gone? Also Gatewood House? And is there any chance that Exbury House would be open to the public? I would love to visit the basement where they made the secret passages and tunnels!
Ha! Yup, the same fifteen feet of tunnel was used in every ep with tunnels, just redressed slightly. It was part of the old Exbury House kitchens - and the steps you mention actually joined the "tunnel" entrance - all part of the same kitchenspetejt wrote:In fact, I was just watching Fall into Adventure where they go through the tunnels. I recognised it being the same tunnel used for On Kirrin Island that runs from Kirrin Castle Cellars to the mainland, surfacing near the beach on the other side of the ridge. I think it was also used in Adventuring Again as the Via Occulta Secret Way, the Finniston Castle cellars escape route to the chapel, and part of the Pirates Path/Wrecker's Way in Go Down to the Sea. There's a bit where they lay Timmy by a window in the stone wall, that leads to the outside. I can see hedges outside- like it's above ground!? I will post some screenshots later to illustrate.
Part of the same tunnel system we built. There's no real shafts in existence, they were all faked.petejt wrote:Another thing is a particular set of stairs that was often used in secret passages, with a tarnished black and white wall (I think the bottom half of the wall was roughly painted white). I think it was a servants back stairs in Exbury House. It was used quite a few times.
There was also a ladder shaft used most clearly in Go down to the Sea, where the Five climb up to the Wrecker's Light in what I guess is Highcliffe Castle in real life. It was also used in the Via Occulta.
I don't know where the underground vertical shaft is for the Secret Trail episode. Is that shaft still in existence at Exbury Gardens?
Again, all faked. No actual entrances, holes, shafts or tunnels existed - everything built by Bob Cartwright's fab art department teampetejt wrote:Also I am wondering about the caves behind the caravans in Five go off in a caravan. The entrance looked like some kind of hutch with doors that open, fairly poorly disguised underneath some bushes. The shaft seems to be on a slant that the Five and Nobby scatter down. Is that on the Common there near Gatewood Bridge?
Right now I am watching On a Hike Together, and just noticed how my sister's best friend physically resembles Maggie where she's in the boat on Gloomy Water with Dirty Dick.
Is the Two Trees interior the same as inside the Wrecker's Tower? I.e. Highcliffe Castle? Or the same place where George and Anne were held captive by the gypsies on Mystery Moor? That window that Sniffy climbed through seems familiar.