EuroTravel Top 10
Dartmoor, Devon( Warhorse) Spielberg’ s movie adaptation of the children’ s book Warhorse by Michael Morpurgo was nominated for six Academy Awards. The producers chose to film the blockbuster in the beautiful moorland countryside of Dartmoor in Devon. A tribute to the courage of horses during World War I the movie was shot under secrecy using the codename Dartmoor. Filming also included locations such as nearby Hampshire where a cavalry scene involved 130 extras. Various scenes were cut so that more filming could take place in what producer Kathleen Kennedy described‘ so extraordinarily beautiful and absolutely perfect for the story’
Equally Spielberg sang the region’ s praises saying‘ There’ s no place like it in the world. It is extraordinary country’
Warhorse is one big international movie that has shown audiences around the world the idyllic beauty of places such as the quintessentially English village Castle Combe and Widdecombe-in-the-Moor. Dartmoor is managed by the Dartmoor National Park Authority and noted for its indiginous ponies. It is a popular visitor destination for leisure activities offering Whitewater kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, rambling or simply enjoying short breaks in the areas many guest cottages.
Cornwall( Straw Dogs) Sam Peckinpah’ s controversial shocker Straw Dogs( 1971) an urban western tale of bloody revenge and violence starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George was filmed in the unlikely setting of the West Country. Wakely St Buryan village in West Cornwall has been spruced up since the film was made but is virtually unchanged from its quaint origins forty years ago. Cornwall’ s stunning bays and dramatic coastal landscape have even played host to the Bond franchise when Pierce Brosnan as 007 hops ashore at Holywell Bay in Die Another Day. More recently Tim Burton filmed sequences for his surreal version of Alice in Wonderland at the 18 th century mansion‘ Anthony House’ at Torpoint where the movie made use of its beautiful ornamental gardens. Cornwall’ s means to provide harbours, fishing villages, towns, craggy coves and beaches has resulted in some very different movies shooting in the county, from John Badland’ s gothic horror Dracula( 1979) to wartime blockbuster The Eagle Has Landed starring Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland.
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