Movies, Anyone?

43°f/6°C, rain showers, overcast.

My post about authors' homes got me thinking about places I have visited where movies have been filmed. Of course, movies are made everywhere and often are filmed using multiple locations. But some stand out to me because of their location, and we have a few favorite movies or TV series that we have watched multiple times. I mentioned Cross Creek in the authors post, and Grantchester in my last post; I don't watch much TV, and didnt watch many movies until after I retired, so I find myself surprised at this list. Do you also visit places like this?

For instance, the Irish film The Matchmaker. We love that silly romcom and I cannot exactly pinpoint why. I think it is several things: the beautiful scenery of Connemara and the Aran Islands, the snarky humor, and the utterly believable characters. We watched it so many times, in fact, that the place it was filmed was the focal point of our trip! Roundstone is a small village, right on the water, and fishing was its main industry until tourism has sadly taken almost all the homes and turned them into rentals. (Click the link to see my post about Roundstone).

But when we were there in early October 2017, tourist season was over. We were pleased to learn from our Airbnb host that he had actually been an extra in the movie, so we had a great discussion about it with him. It was absolute joy to be in the town and to see all the things we remembered from the movie: the boat ramp where the bus and later the police car wrecked, the bar, the old souvenir shop...really, just the whole main street. Later we also visited Lisdoonvarna, the place where the actual matchmaking festival still takes place.

We were there during the matchmaking festival, and it was packed!

If I could ever get back to Ireland, I would want to go back to Roundstone. I think I left a piece of my heart there.

We also visited Cong on that trip, which is where the movie The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, was filmed. Now, I am no fan of John Wayne (big ol' draft dodger and a major player in thd Hollywood blackballing epidemic during the McCarthy era), and I had never seen the movie, but Cong is lovely, and when we got home I did watch the movie. Didn't make me a John Wayne fan though!

Then, on the Aran Islands, we saw several familiar things from the ridiculously funny Father Ted series. If you haven't watched it, well...it might not appeal to everyone, but we loved it. So we had to also visit the house featured in the series when we were exploring The Burren. (I had been to the smaller of the Aran Islands in 2015, and on that trip I first heard of Father Ted.)

Also in Ireland, when we explored the Ring of Kerry, we were surprised to find scenes from Star Wars had been filmed there. Apparently the rugged coastline and countryside were well suited to both The Force Awakens and Return of the Jedi.  

In Cornwall in 2019, my sister's and I visited many sites from the Poldark series. Judy is a huge fan, and before we left I binge-watched most of the series and really enjoyed it. I found that I had actually seen several of the sites during my visit to Cornwall in 2019, but seeing it all again with Judy was such fun. 

My sister's Theresa and Judy, caught by surprise when the pirate and I pulled a joke on Judy!

And in 2016, Larry and I made the trek to see Port Isaac, where the series Doc Martin was filmed. It's not an easy place to get to! They want you to park in a lot above the town because the lanes are so narrow and indeed, we saw several instances of traffic messes as we walked around! Well, if you have seen the series, you know. Seeing it all first-hand was quite a thrill, and remains a cherished memory. I would love to go back to see my favorite sea shanty group, The Fisherman's Friends, in performance, as that is where these guys are from, and where the movie about them was also filmed.

On that trip we stayed in a small stone shepherd's hut up on Bodmin Moor, a wild place that features prominently in both Doc Martin and Poldark. 

The Hurlers

In our little hut. 

What drew us to all of these places, of course, was the scenery---we just had to see it for ourselves because it seemed too beautiful to be real. But real it is, and boy would I love to see it all again.

If you want to see more, I have linked in this post to many of my blog posts about these trips.

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