My first instinct is to type ‘words fail me’ in relation to the Chateau de Pierrefonds – but that is obviously nonsense, and I’m gonna go ahead and disprove it right now! The Chateau stands in for the castle of Camelot, and helps make our medieval fantasy feel like a solid reality.
If you’ve seen anything at all of Merlin, you won’t fail to recognise Camelot! This amazing place was created out of medieval ruins in the latter half of the 19th century. The show couldn’t possibly be the same without it, as the amazing castle that brings our Camelot to life. It’s the seventh (or eighth, if you count the Dragon) member of the cast.
We have created a number of icons using our own photos of Chateau de Pierrefonds. Feel free to snag them for use as icons or avatars!
The iron-ore rich Clearwell Caves in the Forest of Dean were used in three second-season episodes. In The Curse of Cornelius Sigan, workers are digging day and night in the caverns below Camelot’s castle, keeping poor Arthur awake. They stumble upon the tomb of an evil sorcerer, and a plot ensues.
I’m sure we all remember that Arthur and Merlin rode through a lake and then a waterfall on their way to Morgause’s castle in episode 208 The Sins of the Father. The actual scene with Bradley, Colin and their horses was filmed at the Etang de Carandeau, near Compiegne in France.
Like any tv show, Merlin uses a few main filming locations that appear in each episode, and then various alternate locations for single episodes. One unusual feature of Merlin, however, is that the episodes are filmed in blocks of three or four; an alternate location might therefore be used for two or more episodes in one block.
Not only does Merlin have beautiful and intriguing locations, the show also has a beautiful and intriguing cast! I was lucky enough to see them all when I visited Pierrefonds in June 2009.
And not only does Merlin have a beautiful and intriguing cast, the show also has a beautiful and intriguing crew! When we visited Pierrefonds in April 2010, I was lucky enough to take these photos of the cast, crew and extras during a few days and nights of filming. These are some of the better shots; there are a lot more available on the Merlin Locations Flickr group.
Gosh. So the Merlin Locations team spent most of last week in Pierrefonds, meeting up with old and new friends, and watching the Merlin cast and crew filming for season three. While I don’t go into a lot of detail, if you want to avoid spoilers stop reading now!
These photos were taken in the town of Pierrefonds and in a village nearby. It’s a beautiful place, and there’s lots of colour there! The region of Picardie is, of course, well worth a visit in its own right.
So at some stage, when you are done ogling the pretties and roaming the castle, you may find yourself wondering… what else is there to do in Pierrefonds?