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I am hoping to visit the area soon , can I please ask a couple of questions regarding Cleggy/Hobbo/Howard/Pearl's Houses . Clearly to take this shot you were in fact immediately outside the houses. I am sure I saw in a thread that the road is private did you simply walk along the road to the houses and ask at one if it was alright to take photographs ?

Is the road a private thoroughfare and therefore really off limits to the general public or can anyone walk along it to the houses. In terms of alternative access ,in a few episodes we have seen various characters come up the stairs [and a few fall over the walls ] . Do the steps simply lead to a garden area or do they go all of the way down to Scholes Road and the White Horse pub thus offering an alternative route to the houses . Thank you in advance for any assistance anyone can offer.
 
Hi Captain,
I hope you enjoy your visit and manage to get to see all the places you hope to,
I think the thread you mentioned may have been mine,as I had mentioned being put off visiting here,till I got some kind words and encouragement from Terry,and so glad I went,its my favourite location that I have visited,I think Ferret has also mentioned a couple of times about how he feels when the locations involve peoples homes.
Theres only one way to Cleggy/Howards houses,and that's along Hill street,just up from the White Horse,what always put me off is that its a narrow lane leading to residents houses only,and at the end near the main road theres a tiny hand made sign that just says "Private Road" and so I never went there,until Terry said he had been several times and the residents were always friendly,and there are several houses there,its not like a private road to a lone private house,and I think the sign may be intended for motorists anyway,to prevent them driving up it,its very narrow.
The day I took these photos the builders were in at Cleggys,and it was a busy thoroughfare from the main road past Pearls,so it didn't feel like I was intruding much anyway,
There is no access from what appear to be steps in front of Howards,I took a photo from there,nore is there any access from the other end of the lane where people in the show often walk from,its a dead end,its just the short lane that is Hill street,
I hope you manage to visit.
Pete.
Howards%20yard_zpspp27yhvy.jpg
 
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Attached is a crude screen capture of the dog at Cleggy's from "A Tale of Two Sweaters". It sure looks like they are shooting from inside the actual cottage of the private residence.
 

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Dennisbn514 said:
Attached is capture of the dog at Cleggy's from "A Tale of Two Sweaters".
Click to expand...

Yes, that's Archie. Used to live next door (on the side away from
Pearl and Howard). Long gone now. And yes, they had to be shooting
from inside Cleggies to get a pic of Archie. As I look back, many
of the shots taken from inside Clegg's were actually taken from
inside Clegg's. But when you looked out the front windows and
saw shmultz, that was prolly taken at a studio instead.
 
Dennisbn514 said:
Attached is a crude screen capture of the dog at Cleggy's from "A Tale of Two Sweaters". It sure looks like they are shooting from inside the actual cottage of the private residence.
Click to expand...

Could they have dressed just that corner of the room for that shot? Here's the ad presumably from when it was for sale last year. http://www.simonblyth.co.uk/property-for-sale/property/24237795/ The online multiple listing services have taken last year's ad down, but either the estate agent hasn't or it's on the market again. The built-in cabinet/sink unit can't have been in front of the entire bank of windows at the time that any of the filming looking at the (real) outside from inside was done, because we can see the very end of the window seat where the real estate agent's photo shows a built-in cabinet and counter.

Marianna
 
You are right Marianna. The sink unit was in front of the window. I think the counter sticks out too far and is too high to disguise it as a window seat. It would also have meant moving a lot of other furniture too which doesn't appear to be part of the contract with the owners.

I think Alan JW Bell answered this in his book though. Here's the quote:

"All of the houses at this new location had one think in common: the ground floor of each house was the kitchen/dining room. Behind every window was a sink and draining board. So every time we filmed there, net curtains were put up to mask them. This also meant we couldn't film an exterior scene where we could see completely inside, for what we would see wouldn't be the living room, it would be the kitchen. The only way to overcome the problem was to have a duplicate exterior built in the studio."

I don't think they brought Archie to the studio to lend authenticity to the exterior set, but I think they must have filmed through the door of the real house to get a realistic exterior shot and put that shot into the filming from the studio set. I don't know how they do these things, but I do know it can be done. I don't know how else Archie could have been in the shot. It also makes me think having Archie in the shot was deliberate and not an accident as most of us assumed.

I don't have copies of the later episodes but the 2001-2003 show ivy or some greenery around the door in all the shots from inside the house. The shot in A Tale of Two Sweaters, does not have that greenery and but it does show trees out the door which I haven't seen in the other shots.
 
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I will try and clear this up and I have emailed Alan Bell for clarity,they did some clever things in the later series,some examples are Truly and Cleggy standing in the Countryside in Happy Camping,they were not on set during that time, also in the final episode Truly and Cleggy in the back of the coach, one minute they were there on the interior shots then no longer there in the exterior shots of the back of the coach,once again they were never on set,nor where they on location in the pub scene
 
me2 said:
I know I've seen the episode with the dog running by the door, but I can't remember which one it was. Do you remember the title?

The shots I saw in these episodes were shot from various angles in the room - with the furniture and props all in place. They would have had to have been shot in the studio setting.
Click to expand...

Nice shot of the dog. Sadly, the entire bottom floor has been remodeled as a kitchen. I like the way it was.
 
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Adanor said:
Nice shot of the dog. Sadly, the entire bottom floor has been remodeled as a kitchen. I like the way it was.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if the kitchen/diner has always been on the ground floor. Originally, the lounge was probably there too, what the designers now call a 'great room'. The next floor was probably originally a single bedroom for part of the family and possibly a lodger. The front of the top floor would have been the weaving shop possibly with another sleeping space at the back, since there are only two windows on the back of the house. An earth closet somewhere in the yard. Probably a washtub hanging outside the ground floor door to be brought in weekly, placed in front of the fireplace and filled with water heated over the fire, with the entire household bathing in the same water, starting with the smallest child and ending with whoever had become the dirtiest in the course of the week. Reminds me a bit of a younger friend's childhood in Nuneaton.

There's nothing like the study of the history of 'ordinary' people to make me grateful for contemporary amenities!

Marianna
 
Dennisbn514 said:
Attached is a crude screen capture of the dog at Cleggy's from "A Tale of Two Sweaters". It sure looks like they are shooting from inside the actual cottage of the private residence.
Click to expand...

I had a reply from Alan Bell today which I have pasted below, it was as I suspected that it was done in the studio with some clever blue screen background shot on location

I only once filmed inside Cleggs - but it was more on the doorstep than being actally inside. I was pleased to hear that the dog had given a studio scene the appearance of reality' It was just an experiment to have the green screen outside Clegg's door in the studio - and a background (filmed srperately) instead of the usual painted background. It even fooled one of the BBC engineers who asked - "Are you filming the interiors on location now?" It was just that the dog made it so much more realistic.
 
maltrab said:
I had a reply from Alan Bell today which I have pasted below, it was as I suspected that it was done in the studio with some clever blue screen background shot on location

I only once filmed inside Cleggs - but it was more on the doorstep than being actally inside. I was pleased to hear that the dog had given a studio scene the appearance of reality' It was just an experiment to have the green screen outside Clegg's door in the studio - and a background (filmed srperately) instead of the usual painted background. It even fooled one of the BBC engineers who asked - "Are you filming the interiors on location now?" It was just that the dog made it so much more realistic.
Click to expand...

Thanks Terry ...... The mystery is solved. And thanks to Mr. Bell......Great work!
 
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