I conquer the castle
 

Saw this movie. Location is in England somewhere. It looked green and lush, and the castle is old and rundown. any one know where it was filmed? It is definity a chick flick, but what gorgeous scenery.

Is the title of the film you refer to "I Capture The Castle"? If so, go to the Internet Movie Data Base" (IMDB) web site as a starting place. I couldn't find the name of the castle there, but there is a reference to "location shots on the Isle of Mann".

I have a 1950 printing of the book, and on the dustjacket is written by Dodie Smith:

"Many readers have asked me if the castle was drawn from life.
Well, the book certainly owes its existence to a real castle. My husband and I discovered it many years ago, late on a spring day, which we had spent driving through the Eastern Counties. It had been besieged and battered by Cromwell, but the massive gatehouse and two great walls in which were several round towers remained. And when we had passed through the gatehouse archway into the courtyard, we saw that a house had been built against the castle walls, probably in the reign of Charles II. With its diamond-paned windows and its overhanging gables, it might have been a picture in a fairytale.
The house was empty and we were able to explore it. Windows had been cut in the thick castle walls and we leaned out and fed the two swans on the moat with sandwiches. We clinbed the crumbling circular staircases in some of the towers. One tower opened into a bedroom, another led from the (very Victorian) bathroom out to the top of the high battlemented walls. from there we could see far across the countryside - fields, lanes, old farmhouses, a little village, all at peace in the spring twilight. We went on and came to a fine room high in the gatehouse. But I did not know then that Cassandra would one day face her violent father in that room, nor that she and Rose would hang their clothes in the six-hundred-year-old tower that opened off the bedroom. It was 3 0r 4 years before I first thought of writing a book set in the castle, and far longer than that before I finished it; indeed it must now be 12 or 13 years since that spring evening.
The castle in that book, which I know so well that I could explore every inch of it blindfold, has become more real for me than its original, which, I hope, may continue to stand for many more years, deep in the heart of the English countryside."

This would seem the castle is somewhere in East Anglia, but for some reason I had always thought - maybe I read it somewhere - that the castle was based on Scoatney Castle, in Kent; it is after all an eastern county.

No. It`s "I capture the castle". I did find it on Amazon. Julia, I would like to read the book, too, but our local library doesn`t have it.

I highly, even strongly, recommend reading I Capture the Castle. It is a purely wonderful book, and the movie, while nice to look at, is a near miss. It just doesn't do the book justice.

Pat, if your local library doesn't have it, you can try an Interlibrary Loan... just ask and they will get it for you from another library. If you are in the US, nearly every public library will participate in Interlibrary Loan.

Or try half.com or ebay.com for inexpensive copies. This is a book worth owning.

I rented the movie a while back and the credits said it was filmed on the Isle of Mann. The castle shots could have been else where.

A new copy of the book is available at Amazon, and I imagine an internet search at ABE or alibris will find used copies. It is truly a marvelous book.

"The family home location was provided by Manorbier Castle near Tenby, Wales"

this is a quote from:

http://www.writingstudio.co.za/page385.html

also try: http://www.castlewales.com/manor.html

I also like the film and should probably read the book.

pat, have you read/seen 'Cold Comfort Farm? I think it's in the same vein.

Also http://www.manorbiercastle.co.uk/accomodation.html.

You can stay there!

A quote from that website:
"In the 21st Century, the castle has been used as a film location for "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" 1989 and "I Capture the Castle" 2001. When the moat was refilled with spring water..."

I did read on Amazon that a lot of people think the book was much better than the movie. Of course, the book doesn`t have the scenery. Think I will order the book on Amazon. Thanks everyone for the info!

This is interesting for me as Manorbier is near my PILs' home, and my husband's grandfather was stationed there during WW2 ! I've been driven past but haven't yet visited it : must do so, perhaps after seeing the film. I wonder where exactly the troops (with their wives) lived ? Must enquire further.

julia_t, thanks very much for taking the trouble to transcribe that very evocative description.