TV locations for the Famous Five series

[FiveFanDownunder]

Thanks for your pictures Jon, really enjoyed them. Very glad you've worked out image hosting. Kind of you to thank me, though I only spent two minutes typing! I got the same help myself for the same problem three or four years back ...

[jon81]

Not at all, pleased that I managed to figure it out! going back to your earlier comment about the BH farm yard scene with the 5 and UQ that I asked about, I have noticed further back on thread that someone said that this location is actually 'Lepe Farm' and not 'Gatewood'

[FiveFanDownunder]

Hmmmm the plot thickens ...

Unless I've misunderstood you, its definitely Gatewood, in front of the garage from memory. Lepe Farm was used once only as far as I know, as Jock's farm in Camp.

Let me double check ... in the mean time if you search for Gatewood House on this forum you might see that spot near the barn ...

[jon81]

Yes its on thread page 108 there is the said scene with photo and note that it was Lepe Farm.

[timv]

This is my photo of the barn at Gatewood House from our Society trip in 2022, taken looking SW from just off the drive from the Exbury-Gatewood Bridge road to G House. The drive , where the p. 108 film still was probably taken,-is behind the trees that you can see beyond the barn, running from left (E) to right (W); the house is just off shot of the pic, behind the barn and the trees. The trees by the barn have grown up a lot since 1978. This may make the location of the still posted on p. 108 of this thread clearer; the roof seems to be the same in the still as in my pic. (It has been damaged by fire since 2022, as we saw when we called in on our June trip this year.)

[FiveFanDownunder]

Hi all,

You've really got me thinking now, as the curved roof seems a good match for Lepe farm ... not sure now!! The other ( more likely? ) option would be Lower Exbury; the roof profile may be similar if they were a job lot around Exbury?? ... to go to Lepe Farm for just one shot over UQs shoulder sounds a bit much; and BH was 100% Exbury House and Gardens??

** EDIT ... can't be Lower Exbury ... there's a gate hard up against the barn ( visible in the first shot of the kids walking to camera ) and trees close behind, clearly not a match to the views of the same spot in Down to the Sea. I am not sure how it can be Lepe; there is a row of substantial ( and old ) buildings which would have been in shot, and it appears that there is a half height masonry wall ( like the wall at Lower Exbury ) running along the barn.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Well,

Have to say big thanks to Jon81 for throwing up a new puzzle. I had always assumed that red brickwork was Gatewood but I wasn't looking very carefully at all.

It's a real puzzle. There's not much of a look at the area but here is what I have listed so far. It's looking like a fairly promising match for Lepe Farm but I am not 100% convinced yet.

Pro Lepe Farm:
* downpipes external and black match both Camp and modern day photos
* brickwork including style of arched over windows is a very good match
* green discolouration on timber is a very good match to that seen on Camp
* open round roofed barn ( north-south ) was in place until sometime after 2012 and looks long enough ( must have at least 6 bays )
* small braces from uprights at roof seem a good match to Camp and modern day photos
* modern day photos show a path area in front of barn where children stand to talk to UQ that checks out OK

Problems:
* The modern roof ( before demolition ) appears to be metal sheet, in episode it is different, like a fibre sheet of some type ( looks the same as Lower Exbury, but that barn is not a match )
* Roof line and building behind UQ as he looks beyond camera toward the children ( not in shot ) cannot be matched to anything at Lepe Farm. There seems to be a double ridge line ( at least ) with gable end that adjoins a single ridge with dormer window, over a garage. A detached wooden shed is in front. If this is Lepe than the only possible building ( the south east ) must have been altered in some way since filming ( very possible of course ) as I can't see a clear match.
* Modern streetview imagery is quite obscured by hedges
* Substantial demolition has taken place post 2012 and the barn and many outbuildings are no more

I can no longer access the NF planning website, it doesn't seem to like non UK IP addresses. Is anyone keen to search for planning applications for Lepe Farm? Some 1970s 80s building elevations would be a nice find! Anything about extensions to farmhouse.

Lots of fun, we'll see if anything else can be turned up.

[jon81]

Interesting analysis FFDU, from what I've read on previous pages and think it was mentioned by Gary that Gatewood House was only used in Series 2 and where they all resided while filming ,where of course BH is from S1. From looking at the scene where Benny is dropped back by the 5 and goes to his Mum the front of house doesn't look like Gatewood as compared to where it's used in some S2 episodes.

[FiveFanDownunder]

No, you're right, not Gatewood. I was simply going by the colour of the bricks, but any sort of closer look shows that was a mistake.

However I am not 100% sold on Lepe either yet. Hopefully something will come up. If you fancy a bit of detective work, you can search historic planning applications via the New Forest Council web site ... it won't let me any more as I think it can tell I'm requesting the web page from Australia. You can see that the modern Lepe farm house has different windows, and I think any renovation or extending at all has to be approved by Council. In the past we have turned up some valuable information and confirmed places that had changed considerably over the years. Just search 'Lepe Farm' and see what you get.

I imagine the applications to demolish the outbuildings ( has been going on over the last few years ) would have to be there. The place is very different now ...

[timv]

If you look at the 1978 TV Billycock Hill episode at 17 mins, 36 secs in to 17 mins, 47 secs in you get a good view of the layout of 'Toby's farm' buildings, which could be used as a vital guide to where this was filmed. We see first Uncle Quentin coming out of the farmhouse and walking to the left to his car, with a view of the layout of the farmhouse's windows and front door. Compare to Lepe Farm farmhouse - on the UK Historic England website there is a (date unclear) photo of the farmhouse , at 'historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1094361'.

Then the camera pulls away, backwards, as UQ reaches his car, and we see an 'annex' building to the left of the farmhouse, with an open ground floor and brick upper floor matching the farmhouse; and then, at right angles to this and to the left of the camera, a wooden shed. The shed forms the upright of a sideways 'L' with the house. The children and Toby run into the yard to catch UQ, and the camera swivels round so we see the open, 'Dutch' barn as they pass this - it is next to the shed, ie at right angles to and on the left of the farmhouse. As the Five and Toby enter the yard and pass the barn, at 17 mins 44 secs, we see that they have come in via ?a low gate, with fences to either side; beyond is what appears to be fields and trees, but we cannot see if they have crossed a road or come out of a field. The trees etc beyond the gateway are more dense than the open vista at Lower Exbury of any shots taken by the farm buildings - and LE is right by the sea and has lower, more bent-over trees than the ones in the filmshot plus a wider vista over fields to the coast. Gatewood is even more thickly treed.

This Dutch barn and its surroundings does not match Gatewood's barn, which is in a 'fork' in the track up to Gatewood House (running Westwards from the Exbury to Gatewood Bridge road) - the barn is in the middle of the fork, with the Gatewood drive to its left (as you look West) and the track across fields to Exbury Gardens entrance to the right. Nor does it match the barn at Lower Exbury - that is adjacent to (West of) a small yard, but the farmhouse there is not at right angles to it but further West along the drive. The barn runs North to South; the North side of the yard, which if the episode was filmed here would include the house, is now empty and there is no indication that any building ever stood here. The house certainly didn't, and all the current buildings at Lower Exbury are on the West side of the barn and would not be visible if this episode was shot in this yard.

There has been no mention of Park Farm, which in any case I have only come across in Gary's callsheets as used in series 2 for Down To The Sea - and the layout of barns there does not match that of the Billycock Hill episode anyway. Lepe Farm is more likely, given that the 'butterfly farm' was just up the road at the Exbury House greenhouses and the
'Mr Gringle talks to the Five on an open lane with his butterfly net' scene was shot on the Lower Exbury to Lepe via Inchmery House lane , whose Eastern end is just down the road from Lepe Farm.

This should be of use and makes Lepe Farm seem more likely, though I am uncertain of the place's exact layout; you can't stop a car easily on the road as it is so busy nowadays in the summer when our Society trips take place ! It still means that the farm entrance (off the main Exbury - Lepe road) does not appear to be visible in the scenes in the yard at the farm. Was the 'UQ by his car in the yard' scene shot on the 'inside' side of the farmhouse away from the road, with the road out of sight on the far side of the house??

[janey]

Lovely seeing all these photos. I’m from Totton just on outskirts of New Forest so growing up for me visiting the places the 70’s show was filmed was so cool.

[timv]

This is a view of Lepe Farm from above taken for the Google Earth map, as altered by Adrian to take account of his own investigations on a visit to the farm a few years ago to check out the Billycock Hill 'Toby's farm and farmyard/ barn' scenes; thanks to him for permission to use this. The view is looking approx. North-East, with the Exbury (off photo to left) to Lepe (off map to right) road running along the bottom of the pic, and 'Lepe House' aka the farmhouse to the right. The house's main wing runs North to South, so the shot with Uncle Quentin outside it would be looking East to the front door; the children approach UQ and his car from the left (West) into the yard, and the shot of them arriving is looking West.

The 'X' marks the approx spot where they enter the yard as it existed in 1978, but the farm people informed Adrian that there had been some changes and demolitions since 1978 so we cannot use a pic of the yard as it exists now to do an exact match. There was a big barn, as indicated by A's rectangle, by the yard entrance which has now been removed; this was separate from the smaller barn-like building at right angles to the house, on its N side, which we see in the shots of UQ by his car. So there were two separate spots from which the 'farmyard' scene was shot , not one! The first was by the house and its adjacent shed/mini-barn, the second was a little to the NW of this looking W to the spot 'X' by the now demolished big barn where the Five and Toby walk from a field into the yard. The background to the latter shot is, as I thought, of a field (NW of the yard, in the top left of the Google Earth view) not of the road (S of the yard and house). Hope this all makes sense - it's real Sherlock Holmes-style detective work to sort it out, as far as we can!

It all goes to show just how cleverly bits of different shots were put together in the filming; and now we can see how the episodes were put together better. Even with much of the producers' material unavailable or lost (perhaps some of it will turn up?) and only sketchy callsheets available for series 1, we can get an impression of how it was done - and the complexity of it all.

[timv]

And this is Adrian's photo taken on his visit to Lepe Farm , which year I am uncertain but fairly recently, of the current yard, looking North from the road. The house is off shot to the right. You can see a view of the surviving barn; this is seen to the left as the camera pulls back from its shot of Uncle Quentin by his car and gives a view of the range of buildings N of the yard and at right angles to the farmhouse. The demolished barn was to the NW, ie off shot to the left behind the current barn's left hand corner, and the field is beyond that. The demolished barn was higher than this one, and there is a view of tall stacks of harvested corn bales in the barn in the shot.

[jon81]

Thanks for explaining all of that in great detail Tim, what looks fairly straightforward on camera was obviously quite complex. I guess with many of the locations some of the original buildings would have been either replaced or knocked down which has happened as per above. When I was down in NF back in 2020 I remember driving past the farm but I didn't stop there.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Thanks Tim for the intel. Great to see Adrian's excellent analysis.

I am happy to agree that the barn at Lepe looks the one ... but I cannot match the view of the house that we see behind UQ in the other shots in the episode. Will post here if I get any news.

And welcome Janey!