BBC Merlin Filming Locations

The opening scene of the first episode of Merlin was filmed at Ivinghoe Beacon.  It's at the eastern edge of the Ridgeway Path and there were lots of hikers out enjoying the day. At first, walking down from the car park, it's hard to see where they filmed that scene but as you go over the first ridge and turn around, you see instantly where Merlin first appears. I admit it gave me a bit of a shiver to see it.

Plus it's a lovely area just to walk around and fairly easy, too.

Definitely at least 3 pointy hats and maybe more.

All of my pictures for this site are in the merlin locations flickr account.

merlocmod  and I got to visit Chislehurst Caves on a wet day in July but of course underground, it didn't matter. They have tours every hour but it's by lantern light so it made for an interesting journey. Now, I'm not fond of the dark or underground things so it was a bit scary for me but don't let that stop you. It was quite a bit of fun, too.

The caves are delineated as Roman, Saxon or Druids but that's not really accurate.  What is apparent is that the caves are extensive and have been worked for a very long time. They were used in WWII as underground shelters with each person assigned to an area. They even had mail delivery!

The guide was entertaining but when asked about Merlin, he didn't know much. He did take us to the area near where they'd filmed but alas we didn't see the little pool where they filmed the Avank or the red-eyed duck (from the video diaries). 

Beware, though. He did take all the lanterns away at one point and turn off the lights just to show that caves without torches/flames/light of some kind would be completely black (unlike the movies and our own Merlin show).  After a while, I cheated and turned on my camera (and was caught out about it).

I'd give it 2 pointy hats just because it was an historical site but I'd combine it with other things rather than a single trip on its own.