Director Claude Whatham watching the Swallows arrive at the jetty in Bowness-on-Windermere.
It was a big day with the camera initially set up on a pontoon out on the lake.
It was a hot, humid day but great fun, preserved on film forever more. My mother had driven to Gloucestershire the night before to appear on the HTV magazine programme ‘Women Only’ with Jan Leeming. She interviewed someone about potted plans and presented an item on peg dolls. This was a pity as she would have loved seeing the donkeys. Later that year her only donkey mare, Lucy, gave birth to a spotted foal she called Leopard.
‘So lucky the old Victorian boatsheds were still there then.’
There are more photos of this glorious day here
You can read more in ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons (1974)’ available from Amazon Kindle here:
Sophie Neville 