Page 40 - The Local Eye - Issue 131 - September 2016

40

Project Indigo
One boy’s adventure through time and space!

Hi, I’m Tom, a local Doctor Who blogger & I write about my adventures online at
anadventurethroughtimeandspace.com
This time let’s go to Plas Brondanw Gardens in North Wales! We
are here to learn all about this Classic Doctor Who location where
The Five Doctors (1983) was fi lmed. This episode was made
to celebrate Doctor Who’s Twentieth Anniversary and featured
all fi ve of the Doctors from the fi rst 20 years. It would have
been hard to believe then that one day there would be thirteen
Doctors and a Fiftieth Anniversary celebration!
Plas Brondanw was the home of the architect Sir Clough
Williams-Ellis, who created the village Portmeirion. If you read
the last issue you may remember that Portmeirion is also a
Doctor Who fi lming location and the gardens and village share
the same style. Plas Brondanw is in the Snowdonia National Park
and was built by John ap Hywel in the 16th Century. Clough
Williams-Ellis was given Plas Brondanw by his father in 1908
when he was aged 25, with the aim to restore it.

When I arrived I explored the gardens fi rst. These were where the First Doctor was stolen
by the Time Scoop and taken to the Death Zone on Gallifrey. Sadly the actor William
Hartnell had passed away so Richard Hurndall was called upon to play the role of the First
Doctor instead.
Luckily for me there was no sign of the Time Scoop and it was very tranquil in the garden.
It was fun to spot the places where the Doctor had walked. I wonder what he was doing
there.
Next I went into the forest and up the hill to see Folly Castle. A folly is a quirky or
extravagant building or structure built for fun or to make a view more interesting. A plaque
says it was “a wedding present from the Welsh Guards to Clough Williams-Ellis and Amabel
Strachey in 1915.”
At the beginning of The Five Doctors the Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Tegan are relaxing and
admiring the view at the Eye of Orion aka the folly.
The Doctor said that ‘For some the Eye of Orion is
the most tranquil place in the universe’.
I loved the view too and felt a ‘high bombardment of
positive ions’ like the Doctor.
These scenes were the fi rst to be fi lmed but due to
a technical diffi culty they had to be reshot. Mark
Strickson, who played Turlough, had gone on holiday
when this was discovered and the BBC had to search
the country to fi nd him!
I had a lovely afternoon at Plas Brondanw, you
should go there too!

Thank you for reading and I hope you will join me again for my next
Doctor Who adventure.
Tom Project Indigo -- anadventurethroughtimeandspace.com
To advertise <> 08000 430485 <> email: info@thelocaleye.com <> www.thelocaleye.com

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