I thought that today's post would be a little bit different and a little bit Hollywood!

With a remarkable stroke of luck I discovered that part of the new Robin Hood film starring Russell Crowe was being filmed down the road from where I live. 

What a great opportunity to go and have a nose, as how often does this happen? Well as i found out after quite frequently it turns out, as they have filmed parts of the Harry Potter films there too - think enchanted forest inhabited by large spiders - but that is beside the point!

So taking my younger brothers and armed with my camera we set off to the woods where the film crews had set up shop.

They were choosing the location as it was heavily wooded, with beautiful big pine trees and secluded and made a good scene for the shots in France. 

So they built the French castle/château and peasant village, and although the immediate set was fenced off from prying eyes and fingers, the public were still free to walk around the set and forest for another couple of days, before they closed the entire area off to the public.

It was very interesting to see how it was all created, and how much work they put into the sets. It also answered the question I often find myself asking in films, wow that castle/house/village is amazing i wonder where they found that....... now i know that there is a good chance, that they didn't stumble across something nestled in the countryside, they built it from scratch and then took it all down again after! They also filmed another part of the film at a separate location a few miles down the road in a small village we often drive through. There they actually did stumble across a beautiful abbey and medieval farmyard which was perfect. A place that i have often wondered if i would be allowed to go and photograph, but now it has been used in a Hollywood blockbuster may not be so likely!