Which lake was Swallows and Amazons filmed on?

The original movie ‘Swallows and Amazons'(1974) was filmed mainly on Peel Island on Coniston Water in the southern Lake District. It is here that you find the Secret Harbour described in Arthur Ransome’s books. He explained, ‘no island on Windermere has a harbour quite so good.’

Swallows and Amazons 1974 - Simon West, Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Sten Grendon in Secret Harbour — Simon West, Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton and Sten Grendon in Secret Harbour

The BBC Television adaptation of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ made in black and white in 1963, starring Susan George as ‘Kitty’, was also shot at Secret Harbour. The director said he wanted to dynamite some of the rocks, which did not go down well with the Ransomes.

The entrance to Secret Harbour can’t easily be seen from the shore, which of course is what makes it so secret. With the right vessel, you can go there yourself, but it has not been possible to camp or light a fire there since the property was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1932.

StudioCanal have recently made this photo of Captain John available as a print from their website where you will also find the photo of Secret Harbour above.

You can attempt to swim to what is known in the books as Wild Cat Island, but only if you are hardy and used to cold water. I could hardly manage a few strokes.

Falcon with Amazon in Secret Harbour: photo Geraint Lewis

The appearance of the natural harbour changes dramatically depending on the level of the lake. Rocks are revealed as water levels drop. The inlet can attract a number of canoeists but if you arrive early, you should be able to explore the island for yourself.

Sophie Neville and Simon West in Swallows and Amazons 1974 — Sophie Neville (Titty) with Simon West (John) looking down into Secret Harbour

See if you can find the steep rocky cliffs of ‘Wild Cat Island’. Does this shot, above, appear in the original film?

The rocks at the end of Peel Island where the Collingwood family traditionally had picnics

We filmed the ‘Not a breath of wind’ scene on this lookout point to the right of the photo above.

See if you can find this tree that Titty tried to sleep in.

Sophie Neville up a tree on Peel Island — ‘Up a tree for fear of ravenous beasts’ ~ photo: Daphne Neville

The shot of Nancy and Peggy surrendering to the Swallows was taken from the lake showing the mossy rocks to the western side of the island.

Lesley Bennett and Kit Seymour as the Amazon pirates dancing with rage on Peel Island

We discovered rocks on the eastern side were easier for collecting water and gutting perch for supper. This shot shows us behind-the-scenes.

Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton, Stephen Grendon, Lesley Bennett and Kit Seymour with David Blagden on Peel Island on — Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton, Stephen Grendon, Lesley Bennett and Kit Seymour with David Blagden on Peel Island Coniston

This is the scene that was improvised after Susan showed Roger how to fill the kettle.

Sten Grendon, Suzanna Hamilton and Sophie Neville on Peel Island. This photo is available as a print from Studio Canal

The landing place today looks very different to what you see on the film as the shingle beach built up by our art department has all-but washed away.

Simon West as Captain John rowing towards the Landing Place

Claude Whatham and David Bracknell with Swallows, Amazon and the 35mm Panavision camera at the Landing Place on Peel Island – photo Richard Pilbrow.

Arthur Ransome may have had in mind the beach at Low Peel Near on the mainland opposite the island, which would match his illustrations. This is where Houseboat Bay was set in the 2016 adaptation of ‘Swallows and Amazons’. Sponsored by Yorkshire Film, they used Plumpton Rocks in North Yorkshire for the campsite as it has interesting rock formations. You can read more about the locations they used on Visit England’s website here.

The camp site featured in the original film can be found in the middle of Peel Island. The secret here is that a couple more trees were ‘planted’ so that the tents could be strung up in line with descriptions in the book. As children we never knew this but I worked it out on a later visit.

Sophie Neville playing Robinson Crusoe in the movie Swallows and Amazons (1974)

You can see the pine tree next to Captain Nancy is listing to one side in this shot.

One secret was that the night scenes set at the camp site were shot inside Mrs Batty’s barn at Bank Ground Farm.

The art department cleverly set up tents there and lit a real fire.

In 1973 there were no tall pines on Peel Island. A huge effort was made to take a lighthouse tree there, but the scenes ended up being shot on Friar’s Crag on the mainland above Derwentwater.

It was here that the ship’s lantern was hoisted up the tree.

A different location again was used for the lighthouse tree when the Swallows first spot the Amazons as the houseboat needed to be seen beyond them.

The Swallows at the Lighthouse tree Lookout point — Simon West, Suzanna Hamilton, Sophie Neville and Stephen Grendon as the Swallows at the Lookout Point on Wild Cat Island

The secret is that this tree was no more than a log planted by the prop men. You only ever see its base.

The island first spied by the Swallows is Rampsholm on Derwentwater with the Borrowdale Fells rising behind it. It makes an iconic shot for the opening titles..

Title graphics for 'Swallows and Amazons' 1974 — ‘Swallows and Amazons’ 1974

You can also see it in the background of scenes shot near Cormorant Island.

Amazon moored near Cormorant Island on Derwentwater with Rampsholm in the distance

Rampsholm was portrayed as Wild Cat Island in the 2016 film adaptation of Swallows and Amazons produced by Nick Barton. You can see the photos and find out about the locations used on the National Trust website here

Arthur Ransome was also inspired by Blake Holme on Windermere, which he would sail past in Swallow II. It is a small island near the shore where the 1963 BBC drama was filmed but by 1973 it was felt to be too close to the caravan park on the mainland.

The Coniston Launch Company have information on how to visit Peel Island here. Remember that is it located quite far from Coniston and that you can’t camp on the island.

The Gondola on Coniston Water today, re-built and restored by the National Trust and powered by steam.

The National Trust’s steam yacht Gondola will take you down the Coniston Water to see the island from the lake, although they never land there.

The author Jon Sparks has more information and amazing photos here.

The locations of the 1974 film ‘Swallows and Amazons’ have been examined on the website Reel Streets. Leave a comment if you can add to the story.

You can find a map of Arthur Ransome’s locations on Coniston Water on the cover of the ebook on ‘The Secrets of Filming Swallows and Amazons’ available for £2.99

It can also be found within the paperback on ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974) published by The Lutterworth Press

If you take the East of the Lake road along Coniston Water you will find Bank Ground Farm. It lies between Brantwood, John Ruskin’s former home, and Lanehead where Arthur Ransome’s friends the Collingwoods lived. Ransome was particularly good friends of Dora Collingwood, who married an Irish-Armenian doctor keen on sailing called Ernest Altounyan. They went to live in Syria but every five years or so would bring their children to visit their Grandparents for the holidays, once staying at Bank Ground Farm next door. Ernest bought two 14 foot sailing dinghies called Swallow and Mavis in which his family learnt to sail.

It was for the five Altounyan children, Taqui, Susie, Titty , Roger – and Bridget, the ships’s baby, that Arthur Ransome wrote Swallows and Amazons after they gave him a pair of bright scarlet Turkish slippers as a birthday present. I don’t think I knew that Titty was a real girl when I played her in the film, but I did know her character in the books and felt rather bad that I didn’t have her thick dark hair evident in Ransome’s illustrations.

Arriving at Holly Howe — Claude Whatham with Virginia McKenna ~ photo: Daphne Neville

Bank Ground Farm is much smarter now. Lucy Batty, who let us take over her home in 1973, has passed on but the farm is run by her grandson Jonathan. You can stay in the main house, where there is a lovely corner bedroom with views down Langdale, or take a self-catering flat, since they have been able to convert the barn and stables into further accommodation.

Bank Ground Farm the location used for Holly Howe

I’ve just received post from Peter Willis of The Nancy Blackett Trust who said, “I stayed at Bank Ground in the summer – it was utterly lovely, exactly as it ought to be – Jonathan Batty and his wife are really hospitable, and one of the great pleasures was the friendliness and interstingness of the other guests, who included a Japanese Ransome fan. Do have dinner if they’re doing it. Food’s great, but so’s the sociable atmosphere.”

Int: Holly Howe ~ Bank Ground Farm near Coniston

It was grey and raining in the Lake District on 15th May 1973. Instead of filming the scene when Roger tacks up the field, Denis Lewiston, the Director of Photography, lit Mrs Batty’s living room at Bank Ground Farm for an evening scene. Simon Holland, the art director, had dressed the room in the style of a Cumbrian farmhouse in the 192os with working oil lamps. Bob Hedges, the prop master, brought in all the camping gear we were to be packing while Virginia McKenna was having her hair done up and we had lessons in our red double-decker bus. Then we recorded a scene, the dialogue of which was never used in the finished film.

Int/Ext Holly Howe — The Screenplay: David Wood’s adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s book ‘Swallows and Amazons’

You do see Susan packing bars of soap and me making heavy weather of sewing our flag, my hair pinned back in a hideous way, with rather a modern reel of white cotton lying on the desk. John packed the telescope in a biscuit tin, which now seems a mistake as we used it on the voyage, very much not in a tin, but then one always re-packs many times before an important trip.

Virginia McKenna with Sophie Neville in 1973 — Virginia McKenna, as Mary Walker with Sophie Neville playing her daughter Titty Walker busy stiching Swallow’s new flag in preparation for the voyage to the island

After lunch, we shot the scene when Mother is teaching us how to erect a tent on rocky ground, as she did with Father when they were young. Titty asks if she is really old.

‘Not really. But I was younger then,’ Virginia McKenna replied looking dubious.

This is rather how I feel now, all these years later, especially when I walk into a room when people are expecting me as Titty. I’m not really old, but I do look different from when I was only twelve. This always happens when I return to Bank Ground Farm. Everyone is a bit taken back by my height but say I sound just the same. And I am married now with a family of my own. It is a bit like when Peter Pan flew back to see Wendy and found she looked just like her mother – not least because in the play the adult Wendy is always played by the actress who formerly takes the role of Mrs Darling.

Simon West, Sophie Neville and Suzanna Hamilton in the 1974 film of ‘Swallows and Amazons’

I was standing outside the front door of Bank Ground once, talking to Lucy Batty, when two Japanese girls arrived to stay at the farm. Fans of the film, they looked up at me and declared, ‘Ooo Titty!’ clasping their hands together in greeting. They had come from the other side of the world and yet recognised me immediately. Perhaps I haven’t changed that much after all.

The Walker family finding Swallow at Holly Howe

The weather must have cleared up a bit by teatime on 15th May as we recorded the scenes in the boat house when John discovers Swallow, brings her out to the stone jetty and steps the mast. They must have had to take the generator down to the lakeside as I’m pretty sure that the sunlight comes from an arc-lamp. Suzanna got her shorts wet as she pushed out the clinker-built dinghy but we loved being by the water.

You can read more in ‘The Making of Swallows and Amazons’ available online and to order from bookshops and libraries. It is now available as an audiobook.