Athelhampton House

Athelhampton House

Quarries and sandpits aside, the two places that really spring to mind when people talk about Dorset 'Doctor Who' filming locations are Shapwick ('The Awakening') and Athelhampton ('The Seeds Of Doom').

As a kid, the sight of the Krynoid squatting on top of Harrisons Chase's gaff was one of the most terrifying things I'd ever seen and encountering it lurking at the entrance to the Longleat exhibition was such a shock I almost didn't want to go any further inside.

Maybe these memories put me off visiting Athelhampton House, which is a shame as it's a lovely place and the reminder that Douglas Camfield (director of the story) was born on the 8th May 1931, made me want to give it a mention in the blog post for 9th May 2018...

'The Seeds Of Doom' is a story I've watched time and time again, so when Warren took us on a trip there, I thought I'd know my way around with my eyes closed, but there's a fair bit of cheating on the geography front when it comes to what's shown on the telly. There's no long winding drive from the front gates for a start and nobody ever dares to mention the River Piddle, which is understandable, I suppose.

 The pyramid-shaped trees are still there, as is the incongruous statue of Queen Victoria, and these familiar sights were obvious choices when it came to taking the odd photo or two. Indeed, the picture of us with our heads poking out from the hedges is on one of the mugs Warren had made for us and we hope our shameless overacting might raise a smile.

Also on the creative front, we tweeted an improvised story 'The Sullen Seeds' (later renamed 'The Ghastly Greens') about some unhappy plant life that was in the area, but everything turned out all right in the end.

One other thing I'd forgotten about was the fact that we had our one and only encounter with some Dorset Knobs. Readers may wish to make their own jokes at this point, but given that there's a Dorset Knob Throwing Competition, this stuff almost writes itself.

Apparently, Athelhampton House was often visited by Thomas Hardy, but whether he ever considered writing a story about aggressive rhubarb or homicidal gooseberries is sadly not on record.

Over 40 years later (ouch!) 'The Seeds Of Doom' is still a fantastic story for all sorts of reasons. A very strong script with a highly talented cast is brought to the screen by an excellent director. But let us not forget what a wonderful location Athelhampton House is.

Maybe we should pop back and do a video or two...

Hmm, that's not a bad idea...

(By Andrew Trowbridge)