Lazy Day and The Fishermen's Friends

We were lazy and tired from our big day yesterday.  When we got up there was no water...period.  We talked to Susan and she said there was a water main break on the Platt that was gushing but workers had just arrived to fix it.  We hung around the cottage most of the morning, showered when the water came back on, fixed lunch then went out for a walk.  The weather said a front was moving in.  As with most seaside towns, you can see the fronts coming.  It looked beautiful when we left and we walked around the village taking photos, took a gift to Nicki B's (she was off), then stopped at Susan's.  They wanted a pint so we went next door to The Mote and she and David had a pint while Kay and I had hot chocolate.  I started back home while Kay wanted to walk some more..  I had just made about halfway up the hill when it started to rain and by the time I got to the cottage, it was hailing!  It was a very high tide late yesterday and with the storms it hailed off and on all night long.  I would wake up hearing it hit the windows and it was blowing really hard too.  We ate in and turned in before 11.

This morning we were up early looking out the window at the wind, rain and angry seas.  We decide this is a good day to drive to Wadebridge to see the movie called The Fishermen's Friends.  This was about guys who actually live and work in the village either as fisherman or business owners who started singing together just for fun at the Golden Lion which is the local pub.  They were so good that they were asked to perform on the Platt in the summer months and were invited to other villages as well.  So they have become quite the item around here and the movie about them was filmed here.
The weather has turned very cold and windy and has been coming through in waves of rain, hail and sleet.

Another day in the books.

Afternoon Tea

After our fun dinner with Susan and David Hill and Pat Turner at The Mote last night, I had a rough night.  I wasn't sure if I had too much to drink or to eat before bed but regardless it lead to a sleepless night.  We needed to finish putting things away and get ready for Ash Jackson and his wife and son who were coming for afternoon tea.  Ash is sort of the unofficial photographer of the Doc Martin sub groups of fans.  Everyone is anxious to see this house and Ash had never been here.  We managed to get showered and everything cleaned up by noon so we asked Susan if they would like to come up and look around.  They stayed until Ash arrived and then before we knew it, it was dinnertime.


At 6 the Location Manager for Doc Martin filming came by, Elle Parson.  She went over what time they would be here in the morning for filming.  After she left there were several emails back and forth between us that basically said that we needed to vacate for the day and we said no that wasn't the deal with the lady we rented it from.  Kay was adamant and we won.  Elle drove Kay up to the car park so that was taken care of before the morning.

They were there at 8:02 AM and actually bringing things up the hill before then.  I always feel bad for the guys that have to move that heavy lighting and camera equipment.  This hill is not for wussies that's for sure.  Carolina Catz, who plays Louisa on this series came about 45 minutes later.  Very sweet and somewhat shy which is unusual for an actress.  She did chat a few minutes with us and then started rehearsals.  It is amazing to watch them shoot the same scene from 10 different angles.
Also they change the inside of the cottage by physically closing off the staircase to make it look like a wall with a coat rack and cover the radiators as well.  Once they do that we can't get up the stairs until they finish filming.

When they finished here, they went down the hill and filmed John Marquez who is PC Penhale in fishmonger and Joe Absolom and Jessica Ransom as Al Large and Morwenna while Martin was filmed driving through the village as well as walking hastily through the village.  Later they moved the car to the countryside to film some scenes of him in the car.  I watched them trying to move that Lexus up and down the hill in front of the cottage without getting it scratched...I wouldn't want to do it.  They make driving that big car through the village look so easy when it is definitely not.

Kay and I took a walk down to the Platt and found Pat (Susan's mom).  The cast were having lunch by the time we got down there so we didn't see anyone.  Kay and I went and talked with Nicki B for awhile.  She said she saw on Facebook we were here and couldn't believe we hadn't been there to talk to her.  It has been a busy couple of days.  After visiting with Susan for awhile Kay and I headed back up to the "surgery".  They are returning at 7 to do some night filming with Martin.  Susan and David came by and then Martin came and I finally got to meet him.    David took photos of Kay and I with him.  Martin said the photos would be crap because we were using a flash.  The light guy came running in and used the huge filming lamps and turned it on us!  He signed my book and Kay's birthday card.  His wife, Philippa Braithwaite came with all four of his dogs and two of them were running around the cottage...Jim and Heidi.  Martin would chat with us in between takes.  By the time they finished, he was gone in a flash.  It took the crew another hour to get all of their lights, cameras and equipment out of here.  It was freezing in the house since the doors were open during filming.  So was my bedroom window as there was a guy in it holding a huge light out the window.

It took us awhile to get warmed up but we were both exhausted from activities of the day and up early to be ready for them.  We both slept well this night.  Oh and obviously Kay and I won the deal with Elle!

Day 2 and 3 are now history.  Photos to come later.

Crossing the Pond

Kay left the day before me and stayed at The Ostrich Inn in Slough.  There apparently were several murders in this place 100 years ago and it is supposed to be haunted.  I landed at Heathrow on Friday and took the black cab to her hotel.  Both of us used our sky miles on different airlines to enjoy a first class ride on lay flat seats to London.  We compared notes on the experience over breakfast then loaded the car to head to Devon.  Kay had picked up the rental car when she arrived.  Neither of us had ever experienced an Audi before and this was a brand new one.  The handed her the keys and never explained anything to her.  The navigation system was stumping Kay and things just generally seemed to operate differently.  After an hour and a half sitting in the parking lot at the hotel trying to figure everything out we made it out of the parking lot.  I thought if we stayed much longer they were going to charge her for another day!

Sky Club is free to Upper Class Virgin Atlantic Passengers

Even has a nice deck

We made our way to Devon to Larkbeare where we had stayed once before.  This time we were going to spend the night in the B&B instead of the cottage.  This is a gorgeous piece of property and we love it here.  The owners, Julia and Charlie are fun and personable and just wonderful hosts.  We went to dinner at the pub in town and then had a good nights sleep.  Charlie fixed us a wonderful omelet for breakfast, we repacked the car and headed off to Port Isaac.  Today is Kay's birthday so she gets to pick what she wants to do.  Really we didn't have a hard plan in place but decided we would go to the Saturday market in Tavistock which is in Dartmoor.  We went to Dartmoor last time we were in Devon and were lucky enough to see the wild ponies.  Well we saw them again but I didn't get good photos of them this time.  It was very crowded but fun at the market and we did buy some meat pies to bring to P.I.  Lots of other things that looked interesting including baked goods and handmade items.  We had a birthday picnic in the car near Launceston on the way.  It is a beautiful medieval village wear a series called Delicious is filmed.  We were later than we wanted to be heading on to Wadebridge where we stop at Tesco to get groceries.  By the time we unpacked the car and it was time to head to The Mote for Kay's birthday dinner with Susan Hill and her husband David whom we met last time we were here.  She had her mum Pat with her band her dog Eddie.  We had a great night but way too much to eat and drink.  The walk back up the hill to the surgery was almost unobtainable...yikes.  It was so cold in this house and we couldn't figure out how to set the heat to make it work.  We went to bed and will deal with it in the morning.

Tavistock

Launceston

This is a Ford.  It was bigger than any we had crossed before.

Susan and David Hill

Day one and two are already in the books.

Excitement is Brewing

Plans have been finalized for quite some time now for our return trip to Cornwall.  Filming for Season 9 of Doc Martin is scheduled to begin the week we arrive.  Kay and I have splurged this trip as a reward for my survival of recent medical issues.  We have rented Fern Cottage which is known on the TV show as the "Surgery" in the series.  We are very excited to be staying there as well as meeting up with a friend we met last filming, Susan Hill.

Kay and I are not traveling over the pond together this trip.  We both had miles on different airlines to use so she will fly and arrive a day before me.  I'll meet her at her hotel when I arrive and we will drive to Devon to spend the night at Larkbeare Grange.  We are staying at the B&B this time rather than the cottage.  We are looking forward to seeing our friends Julia and Charlie.  They have a lovely property and are gracious hosts.  This will cut our driving time to Port Isaac on Saturday by more than three hours.  These are some of the reasons we came back to watch.

Packing and gathering is at full speed at this point and I'm wondering how all this will fit in the luggage....I'll make it work.