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| Tour Guide Dave and myself |
Just been on the Doc Martin tour and really enjoyed. Our tour guide, Dave, (see above) has actually appeared in some episodes, so he was right on the ball about showing us places where different filming took place. He told us many interesting things about the village itself, but the one that stood out for me was there were only 25 regular inhabitants in the actual lower village by the sea. Apparently there is a new development higher up the cliff but which has 700 people, but in the historic village at the bottom, the majority of houses are rentals or second homes. In his street there were only 2 permanent residents. Most of the homes used in the series are only fronts and the inside shots are filmed in a makeshift studio on a farm out of town.
He also said that the rentals usually were worth over £1000 per week during the peak season and, as he pointed out, you get lots of tourists looking in your windows, but they are not seeing what is shown on the TV.
Here are some of the places he showed us :
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| Original Pharmacy |
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| Doc Martin's house when he separated from Louisa |
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| Aunt Ruth's city house and next door - house of the old man |
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| Think this was the grocery shop?? |
He also talked a little about the history of the village which dates back to the 1300s. There are some very old houses here. He showed us the first place where the lifeboat was housed and it was half way up the hill and whenever there was a call for its services, the whole town had to come and move it through the town, where it barely fit in the very narrow laneways.
Here's a pic of that... you might have to enlarge it to see the writing..
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| Getting the lifeboat to the water |
I wish I had a recorder so that I could remember all the other interesting things he told us. He was a real local and knew heaps about the town and the series. It was £10 well spent!
Here's a pic of my hotel which is right next to the Slipway, hence the name! That's my window on the top left... hence my lovely views...
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| Slipway Hotel |
Might do a new post for the afternoon....
Your walking tour sounds very interesting Moira. Sam & I are fans of the walking tour having done them most places we went on our 2015 travels. We mostly did the "free" walking tours, so named because there is no charge up front. After the tour you give what you think it was worth. This works well for everyone because the guide is motivated to impress! The guides were always so passionate about the places with personal stories to connect (like your guide having been in episodes of Doc M). Look out for them in the other places you go. You can usually find them on Trip Advisor or Google "free walking tours". 🏃
ReplyDeleteYes that’s true about the tours. That’s how I found this one.
DeleteSome of those English towns are so quaint, just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYes especially port Isaac ... it’s so pretty.
DeleteI agree, the Walking Tours are fabulous. You and Dave seemed quite "cosy". I'm a big fan of the Doc Martin series, so you have captured it beautifully! Megs x
ReplyDeleteYes all of us on the tour were fans so we were all asking questions. He was very knowledgeable about the whole series.
DeleteI bet you will make a point to watch some Doc Martin episodes now just to reminisce about your visit. We found the lifeboat stories fascinating as you can still see grooves in the walls where it got a bit tight.
ReplyDeleteYes, funny you should mention that.... it certainly Is on my list of things to do to rewatch some episodes. The life boat was incredibly tight... the whole town had to come out and move it in an emergency... these stories are just sublime.
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