Used in episodes:
- Cromm Cruac
- Wickham for series 1 & 2
- Much's Mill
- Seven Poor Knights of Acre - Templar encampment
Here's a 2011 Mells Park location report from Dan Rendell and Janet Reedman. Our express thanks go out to them for their contributions to our site.
For the first series, Mells Park Estate near Frome, Somerset was largely used alongside Blaise Castle Estate and Leigh Woods in Bristol. Mells Estate is a large house & park, formerly part of the Glastonbury Abbey estate, and under private ownership. There sadly is no public access at all to any part of the grounds. Given that a large part of the estate woodlands is hired out for organised game shooting, it is not wise to trespass.
Fortunately Janet and myself managed to get permission to access part of the estate after explaining the circumstances of our special interest. To our surprise we got invited in and made our way to the estate, armed with a map of the rough area in the grounds where HTV had built most of the sets, along with various screen captures and photos. We had been guided to the area from some original HTV paperwork that we are lucky enough to own.
Upon parking up and making our presence known at the main house, were directed to the area we were interested in. After a short walk though the stable yard & gardens, we emerged on to a huge pasture. To the right stretched Mells River, with sloping woodland on the opposite bank, echoing with the sound of pheasants and the occasional shotgun fire!
The kind lady that met us explained that a lot of felling had taken place in subsequent years, so things weren’t going to look exactly the same. This was indeed correct, especially those overhanging the river and on the opposite side of the bank. This was probably done to give a better view from the main house out over the estate.
The first memorable landmark that we came to was the beautiful cascading waterfall, instantly recognisable as being in the first episode where Muchs parents’ Mill was located. This is where Ailric places a young Robin into the hands of Margaret & Matthew, who bring him up into adulthood when Ailric is killed by the Sheriff’s men."The first memorable landmark that we came to was the beautiful cascading waterfall, instantly recognisable as being in the first episode... "
The narrow stepping stone walkway across the waterfall to the opposite bank was sadly barred to us and had been gated, presumably to stop animals crossing & drowning. This meant that we were unable to explore the small island upon where they built the mill, with working water wheel. Looking from the opposite bank, a lot of trees and foliage had now grown up where the mill used to be. Standing on the banks looking at the cascade, we
realised we must have been standing in the spot where you have the classic HTV “pack shot” of Loxley and the outlaws posing from the first episode. They all looked so young! The other time in which you see the waterfall again is not until Series Three , “The Cross of Saint Ciricus” acting as the River Trent, where Gisburne borrows a raft to escape from Croxden after stealing the cross. Huntingdon swings across on to the raft from an overhanging tree on the opposing bank. He swings across just down from where Matthew’s Mill was located earlier. The two fight which ends up in the river. Scarlet pursues Gisburne and they both climb the falls from below, which had this time been decorated with extra “boulders” to make it appear different.
Turning around from where we were stood, we realised we were at the foot of a gnarly , old tree with wide and heavy overhanging branches that almost touched the floor. This we recognised as being where the outlaws climbed up into to observe the Templars in “The Seven Poor Knights From Acre.” Behind this, you can clearly see the escarpment where Loxley and Much run towards, pursued by the templars in one of the final scenes. Many of the trees have been cut down in this area where the outlaws ambushed the knights."...where Gisburne borrows a raft to escape from Croxden after stealing the cross... "
Following the line of the river upwards you come to the area where Loxley village was built. There is no sign of the jetty where the Normans knights disembarked but you can see the small inlet where it probably would have been, as well as the small island where they punted across from. Did you spot the wooden horses?
No signs of the huts remain. I believe that the design of the huts were cleverly constructed so that nothing went into the ground or made a permanent mark. It also meant they were entirely portable which was necessary as the huts were to be later moved around to form other villages. Further on in another larger area, bisected with a thin line of trees, was Bystead, the templar village. Sadly we were not able to wander much further as the owner was out in the field ahead of us, with a shooting party. Dotted around were the odd tree, some quite old, that most certainly would have been there at the time of RoS. Again, it was difficult with the limited time we had to reference anything specific to the episodes. A large, colourful red tree was always seen in the earlier episodes, which would have given us a good reference point, but sadly this doesn’t appear to exist anymore, or was the wrong time of year for it to be in bloom. We gave up here and retraced our steps.
It was clearly a shame that we could no longer progress to the opposite side of the river. Here amongst the woods was the setting of many scenes from Series One, including the narrow wooded paths where the soldiers would get ambushed. I’m reminded of the first episode where Marion is taken up into the trees to hide and the outlaws, decked in forest leaves, pick off the norman soldiers from their hiding holes. The scene of the notorious and il-fated mud fight was filmed here, when part of the river was especially dry and had turned to mud. We had a look for this area, but couldn’t be sure of where it was located.
"...I’m reminded of the first episode where Marion is taken up into the trees to hide and the outlaws, decked in forest leaves, pick off the norman soldiers... "
Presumably a part of the same river was used to place a log bridge over in Alan a Dale, where a mischievous Tuck takes on all challengers with his trusty staff!Having taken copious amounts of photos and video, and not wishing to outstay our welcome, we headed back to the car and out of the estate, thankful we’d been afforded the opportunity to witness such a picturesque and stunning corner of old England.
This is where RoS sort of all began in a way. We left sad, but with the memory of a thoroughly pleasant day in our minds. We would sincerely like to thank the owners of Mells Estate for allowing us permission into their home... NOTHING’S FORGOTTEN!
What a fantastic report from Mells, thank you to Dan and Janet.