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When Lark Rise Came to Box Mike Pope Recalls the Television Programme which was partly filmed at Hatt Farm, Box June 2015 Left: The cottage gardens (Carol Payne) All photos courtesy Mike Pope and Carol Payne |
Who would have thought that nearly seven million people would tune in on Sunday evenings during 2008-11 to see a programme featuring Hatt on prime time BBC1 TV? It was a remarkable tribute to the rural character of the area, not least because Flora Thompson's "Lark Rise to Candleford", written after 1939, was set in Oxfordshire.[1]
The storyline involved a young country girl, Laura Timmins (Flora's maiden name was Timms), who left her family in the hamlet of Lark Rise to work at the post office in the nearby town of Candleford in the 1890s.[2] There were a variety of characters: postmistress Dorcas Lane (who so mirrors Box's Esther Fudge) [3]; and a variety of farm workers, craftsmen, and local country inhabitants.
The storyline describes an important time in rural life when local rural culture, based on the natural world and folk magic, gave way to our modern society through the developments of agricultural mechanisation, and the flight into towns.
Mike Pope tells the story of this unique time in Box.
The storyline involved a young country girl, Laura Timmins (Flora's maiden name was Timms), who left her family in the hamlet of Lark Rise to work at the post office in the nearby town of Candleford in the 1890s.[2] There were a variety of characters: postmistress Dorcas Lane (who so mirrors Box's Esther Fudge) [3]; and a variety of farm workers, craftsmen, and local country inhabitants.
The storyline describes an important time in rural life when local rural culture, based on the natural world and folk magic, gave way to our modern society through the developments of agricultural mechanisation, and the flight into towns.
Mike Pope tells the story of this unique time in Box.
Building the Set
Early in 2007 the BBC approached us about building the hamlet of Larkrise at the back of Hatt Farm. The television people rolled up in force with building crews, scaffolders and lorry loads of pre-made panels to make the houses. It was one of the wettest summers ever and in September the plaster on the newly constructed buildings refused to dry. The producer, Sue Hogg, said, We've lost about five weeks.
The BBC had looked for a ready-built community for Lark Rise but none was really suitable. So they built the cottages from scratch with the rural views being the deciding factor for their coming to Hatt.
You can enlarge the pictures below by clicking on the play button - photos here courtesy Carol Payne.
Early in 2007 the BBC approached us about building the hamlet of Larkrise at the back of Hatt Farm. The television people rolled up in force with building crews, scaffolders and lorry loads of pre-made panels to make the houses. It was one of the wettest summers ever and in September the plaster on the newly constructed buildings refused to dry. The producer, Sue Hogg, said, We've lost about five weeks.
The BBC had looked for a ready-built community for Lark Rise but none was really suitable. So they built the cottages from scratch with the rural views being the deciding factor for their coming to Hatt.
You can enlarge the pictures below by clicking on the play button - photos here courtesy Carol Payne.
Some of the buildings had to be pulled down and the white plastic gutters around the building had to be taken off. They also bought the 24 acres of wheat in the field behind the buildings as the wheat field was very much part of the story.
These photos show Hatt Farm being converted into Lark Rise, filmed from a sky crane 150 feet in the air (sky crane photos courtesy Mike Pope)
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Filming
Filming started in the third week of August 2007. The builders had put vegetable gardens around most of the houses. The gardens were the hardest bit to sort out for the actual filming because they often deteriorated between set-up and shooting the film. They all had to be replanted and there was a lot of waste. We started to do very well for fresh vegetables as they were left outside our back door after filming.
While they were shooting there would be up to 150 people around with separate lorries for the generators, make-up needs and special effects. The actors and the film crew used to pop into the house during series 1. Often they wanted coffee, sometimes to change costume or just to rest. Towards the end of the series, they used their own caravan, which obviously gave us greater freedom to live our normal lives.
There were numerous crises which required solving. Every time that they filmed a shot in the middle of our fields it seemed to rain constantly. The worst day was when they put down railway lines in the field and had to hire four 4-wheeled drive vehicles and I had to get them in and out of the field using our JCB loader. Another occasion I recall was when they wanted a boa constrictor to appear in our woods. They hired two snakes and brought them in hot boxes because the weather was very cold and wet. After a while the first snake got cold and stopped moving whenever the camera was on him. So he went back in the hot box and the other one took his place. After filming was over it started to rain again and the catering lorry, the generator truck and the other vehicles got stuck in the field. Finally they hired a motorway recovery vehicle to lift the equipment out. (Photos below courtesy Carol Payne.)
Filming started in the third week of August 2007. The builders had put vegetable gardens around most of the houses. The gardens were the hardest bit to sort out for the actual filming because they often deteriorated between set-up and shooting the film. They all had to be replanted and there was a lot of waste. We started to do very well for fresh vegetables as they were left outside our back door after filming.
While they were shooting there would be up to 150 people around with separate lorries for the generators, make-up needs and special effects. The actors and the film crew used to pop into the house during series 1. Often they wanted coffee, sometimes to change costume or just to rest. Towards the end of the series, they used their own caravan, which obviously gave us greater freedom to live our normal lives.
There were numerous crises which required solving. Every time that they filmed a shot in the middle of our fields it seemed to rain constantly. The worst day was when they put down railway lines in the field and had to hire four 4-wheeled drive vehicles and I had to get them in and out of the field using our JCB loader. Another occasion I recall was when they wanted a boa constrictor to appear in our woods. They hired two snakes and brought them in hot boxes because the weather was very cold and wet. After a while the first snake got cold and stopped moving whenever the camera was on him. So he went back in the hot box and the other one took his place. After filming was over it started to rain again and the catering lorry, the generator truck and the other vehicles got stuck in the field. Finally they hired a motorway recovery vehicle to lift the equipment out. (Photos below courtesy Carol Payne.)
Rural Props
Filming was usually done from June to the end of November and we never saw the crew until the following year. In 2008 they wanted to film another twelve episodes. The set had taken quite a battering over the winter months, as the farm is 550 feet above sea level. The original buildings were made of painted plaster on pieces of plywood fixed to scaffolding poles. Bits of roof had blown off in gales and the paintwork had faded. They were so damaged that the BBC decided to start again making the walls and roofs in fibre glass, which survived much better.
There were other difficulties in series 2 which was filmed in high definition. Previously the wild roses growing up the cottages had been painted on but they weren't sufficiently realistic for the new format, so the film crew had to buy in real plants each year. It was very costly for background scenery but necessary to preserve authenticity.
In August 2008 we got covered in snow thanks to the BBC filming a Christmas Special when they blew artificial snow everywhere. They also filmed all through the night which made for some interesting sights with the night-time glow from the cottages and the fires. In series 3, the scripts were amended late in the filming process which delayed completion until the third week of December.
The actors were hugging hot water bottles to stop shivering and one extra had to be treated and an ambulance rushed to the site.
Filming was usually done from June to the end of November and we never saw the crew until the following year. In 2008 they wanted to film another twelve episodes. The set had taken quite a battering over the winter months, as the farm is 550 feet above sea level. The original buildings were made of painted plaster on pieces of plywood fixed to scaffolding poles. Bits of roof had blown off in gales and the paintwork had faded. They were so damaged that the BBC decided to start again making the walls and roofs in fibre glass, which survived much better.
There were other difficulties in series 2 which was filmed in high definition. Previously the wild roses growing up the cottages had been painted on but they weren't sufficiently realistic for the new format, so the film crew had to buy in real plants each year. It was very costly for background scenery but necessary to preserve authenticity.
In August 2008 we got covered in snow thanks to the BBC filming a Christmas Special when they blew artificial snow everywhere. They also filmed all through the night which made for some interesting sights with the night-time glow from the cottages and the fires. In series 3, the scripts were amended late in the filming process which delayed completion until the third week of December.
The actors were hugging hot water bottles to stop shivering and one extra had to be treated and an ambulance rushed to the site.
In 2009 another series was filmed and various spin-off programmes. We also had Victoria Wood make a comedy spoof programme and Sir Terry Wogan making a short film for Children in Need. (Photos above courtesy Mike Pope and below Carol Payne.)
The Characters
The characters altered over the years but the following were some of the main participants who featured in many of the series:
Dorcas Lane - Julia Sawalha
Laura Timmins - Olivia Hallinan
Robert Timmins - Brendan Coyle
Emma Timmins - Claudie Bakley
Queenie - Linda Bassett
Twister - Karl Johnson
Caroline Arless - Dawn French
(Photos below courtesy Carol Payne and Mike Pope)
End of the Day
In July 2010 the BBC came back to do the film set for the fourth series but it was only six episodes and this proved to be the finale of their filming. There is nothing left of the film set any more and everything at the farm has been put back to its previous condition. All we have left is the memory of these times, the programmes themselves and the pictures we have recorded here (below courtesy Carol Payne).
References
[1] The village of Candleford was built in the grounds of Neston Park.
[2] Plot summary courtesy Wikipedia.
[3] See Box Post Office
[1] The village of Candleford was built in the grounds of Neston Park.
[2] Plot summary courtesy Wikipedia.
[3] See Box Post Office