The Holiday

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For those of you who have not seen the movie “The Holiday” with Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Cameron Diaz and Jack Black, you might want to stop reading now - because this the part of my trip I think I most looked forward to, yet is the least interesting for most people, which was visiting the area where they filmed in England! After doing my research (I know, I’m pathetic) I found out that the pub in the film is actually a real pub call the white horse inn in a small town called Shere in Surrey. Turns out it is just a 20 minute train ride from London!

One thing that is quite popular in the UK is “rambling” groups, which are basically walking/hiking groups. England has a huge network of walking/hiking trails and you can get tons of books/maps/guides with routes, complete with suggested lunch and tea stops along the way. So my friend Jen, who is an experienced rambler herself, told me that there is a walk between the towns of Guildford and Gomshall, passing through Shere. So I had to do it. The walk was amazing, through beautiful countryside (see pics). However the highlight was Shere and lunch at the White Horse Inn.

If anyone knows the movie very well, I’ve attached some pictures reflecting some parts from the movie:

Photo 1 - this is from a relatively obscure part of the movie when Iris (Kate Winslet) is walking home after finding out that Jasper is engaged (beginning of the movie) - she is walking through town (Shere) on her way home…..this is the where she walked.

Photo 2 - Rosehill cottage (Iris’s house where Amanda stays) was erected as a shell and taken down after the movie was finished filiming (interior shots were done in a soundstage in LA) but based on the shots from the movie it would have been built approximately where it is shown on the photo. I read that people actually called real estate offices in Shere after the movie came out to try and buy it, only to find out it didn’t really exist.

Photo 3 - The cemetery - I don’t have a picture of this because I wasn’t sure at the time - but I was actually standing exactly where Amanda (Cameron Diaz) is standing outside this graveyard.

Photos 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - The pub shots. I got some shots of the interior of the pub (Photos 4 and 5). They aren’t great because I was trying to not alarm the 70+ yr old locals in the pub with all my photo taking. It seems the young hip pub-goers shown in the movie (Photo 6) were not usual crowd for the White Horse! But you if you compare the light fixtures, etc. it definitely is the place. Photo 7 shows where Graham sat down with his friends just before realizing that Amanda had stuck around. And Photo 8 shows the same picture (how it should have been) super-imposing a photo of me taken just a few feet away from where he sat (thank John for the supurb photoshop work). I couldn’t sit exactly where Jude sat because, shockingly, there was 70 year old eating bangers and mash in that spot, and she likely had no idea the significance of her seat…..alas.

OK my obsessing over my “The Holiday” adventure is complete….for those who love this movie I hope you enjoyed this post (I know there are at least a few of you who continued reading after the first line), and hopefully the rest of you can at least appreciate the thorough analysis of the movie I did to get to this point.

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Comments

[JIm]

The film the Walk
Yes I have seen the film but not completed the actual walk. OK film and I agree there are some great rambling clubs out there although I normally take my boys out hiking and rambling. Thanks for the article - nice read http://ramblingwalking.blogspot.com