castle combe

the first stop on our mad max tour of the cotswolds was Castle Combe. it was the loveliest village we visited all day, and was truly out-of-the-way as we had to drive down single lane country roads to get there-- with traffic going both ways! the driver was so collected... i would have fallen to pieces driving like that. anyhow, the beauty of the place was somewhat enhanced and somewhat marred by the fact that they were shooting a film there that day called Stardust. the scenery was enhanced by the props you'll see in the following photos that looked hokey in real life, but photographed beautifully (i guess that's the point). the scenery was marred by the pylons, cables, clamps, stands, lights and everything else it takes to make the place into a living movie set.

the village is actually still inhabited by private residents, which i guess can be somewhat rare. other historic cottages and villages are owned by the national trust in the uk. there is a lovely manor house at the edge of town which has been turned into a posh hotel, the likes of which we could only hope to afford. turns out it didn't matter whether or not it was too expensive... the whole place was rented out by the cast & crew which included robert deniro, michelle pfieffer, sienna miller and claire danes. so, in a way, we got a bit of stardust ourselves.