Tag Archives: Dover Castle

Dame Maggie Smith at Walmer Castle

Posted on August 12, 2011 by | Comments Off

The beautiful grounds of Walmer Castle in Kent will provide a magical background for next Wednesday’s ‘pop-up cinema’ screening of Robert Altman’s film Gosford Park (organized by The Nomad Cinema) which I am hoping to get to.  Starring the cream of British talent (including my personal favourite Charles Dance) the 2001 film also starred Dame Maggie Smith who is returning to our TV screens this autumn in the eagerly awaited second series of ITV’s ratings busting Downton Abbey by Julian Fellowes in which she plays the indomitable Dowager Countess of Grantham.

 

Last year’s first series was the most successful British period drama since Brideshead Revisited (starring another personal favourite Jeremy Irons) back in 1981 with ratings exceeding 10 million viewers in the UK and 6 million in the USA.

Great films in great locations – al fresco and indoors – is Nomad’s remit, and English Heritage’s Walmer Castle is certainly one of Kent’s great locations. Built during the reign of King Henry VIII, it was originally designed as part of a chain of coastal artillery defences known as the ‘Tudor Rose’ castles because of their distinctive shape.  Another of these castles, Deal, is just a mile along the coast. 

Walmer Castle evolved into the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. The Duke of Wellington held the post for 23 years and enjoyed his time spent at the castle and in recent years Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother made regular visits to the castle. The armchair in which Wellington died and an original pair of ‘Wellington boots’ along with some of the rooms used by the Queen Mother are among the highlights.

The Kent coast is known as ‘The Defensive Coast’ .  From the great Roman fort at Richborough and the imposing medieval cliff-top ‘Lock and Key of the Kingdom’ of Dover Castle, to Henry VIII’s Tudor Rose fortresses. From the 74 Martello Towers surviving from the string built along the south coast during the Napoleonic Wars to the region’s 20th Century wartime defences, including the extraordinary Maunsell forts built on the ‘Shivering Sands’ off the coast at Whitstable to protect the Thames Estuary, it is a fascinating area to explore.

Sitting in Walmer Castle’s beautiful gardens next week, hopefully on a balmy evening, enjoying Charles Dance with extra-long headphones and a chilled glass of wine, it will all seem a very long way from the castle’s original defensive purpose.  Yet the atmosphere will be quintessentially English in a different sort of way, highlighting the glorious gardens, stately residences and fascinating social history that so many visitors to the South East come to enjoy.  Cheers!

       

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After The Open at Sandwich

Posted on July 16, 2011 by | Comments Off

It’s all happening in Kent this weekend despite the weather – well as we say you can experience a whole year of English seasons in a single day!

Henry VIII and his courtiers are gathering at Hever Castle for a pageant complete with jousting, have-a-go archery, Tudor dancing and minstrels; the Kent County Show is taking place at Detling and the world’s best golfers are battling it out against each other and the elements in the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George’s in Sandwich.

 

I was lucky to go to Royal St George’s on one of the quiet practice days earlier this week when although windy it was dry, and was rather over excited to be able to get up close to my personal legends Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Padraig Harrington and Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, particularly since, being a practice day, cameras were allowed.

   

We also got there early enough to follow Rory McIlroy for the last few holes of his final practice round.

When not spotting stars I couldn’t believe how many enormous bunkers there are, and how incredibly hilly most of the greens are – far more so than they appear on tv screens.

The BBC’s coverage of The Open has included some wonderful aerial filming to show how Royal St George’s is a quintessential links course located on land that was created when silting during the Middle Ages pushed the coast 2 miles away from the former seaport of Sandwich.  Apart from these enlightening aerial shots of the course itself (how do they hit the ball so far?) the filming has also lingered on some of the other, more permanent, highlights of this most beautiful and historic area of the South East of England. 

This morning’s BBC filler included stunning shots of Dover Castle (‘Lock and Key of the Kingdom’), the towering White Cliffs with stories of Ian Fleming and the Number 7 bus he would take into Canterbury, and a wonderful sequence over the extraordinary Roman Fort at Richborough – a real, but often overlooked, ‘must see’ in this part of the county.

One of the historic Cinque Ports, Sandwich is just along the coast from another – Deal, home to one of Henry VIII’s so-called Tudor Rose defensive forts – where many top international golfers have been spotted in restaurants this week. I understand that the cobbled streets of nearby Canterbury have also been filled with both golfers and their fans.

Next time you visit the South East of England, those of you who may only associate Sandwich with golf and bread must be sure to take a guided walk through the  narrow streets of this history-rich town itself and take time to explore some of the area’s other treasures.

 

 

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