Last weekend, after asking the landowner if it was OK, I walked along what remains of the platform at Buggleskelly Station.
The lime trees at the rear of the platform (and which you can see every time the platform is in shot in the film) are all still there. They are just three times the height now.
The next train had gone of course.
and did the land owner just stand there, watching you wasting your time?
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The lime trees you saw weren't in 'Oh Mr Porter'. 'Buggleskelly' station in the film was in fact Cliddesden railway station in Hampshire.
shareI've just got back from a round UK driving trip that included a visit to Cliddeston.
On arrival in the village I asked an elderly gentleman if this was Buggleskelly and where the railway station was, he laughed and said a film had been made there and directed me to Station Road.
I ended up at the community centre and was directed further along Station Road....and there it was, a small row of railwaymen's cottages and along side what is now left of the station platform that was Buggleskelly or in reality, Cliddeston Halt.
The trees are beech, huge and now 70 years older than when the film was made. The road bends and you could tell where they had allowed a pull-in from the lane for the entrance.
Part of the platform is left, where to track ran it/s been filled in, obviously no level crossing now to open or take off it's hinges but, the lay out could just about be be worked out.
I did not see the chocolate machine but it might have been there in the undergrowth! On the other side of the road there are some mature conifer trees which I think were planted later.
Just to think that I was there were Will Hay and Co actually filmed an important classic British comedy film just over 70 years ago was, for me,a real thrill.
There's a book to be written by someone about this film.
If I lived in the end cottage by the station I would call it Buggleskelly.
And yes, the next train had indeed gone, we asked the horse in the field opposite, probably right where were the signal box, where the tomatoes were growing.
The first time I saw the film I was fascinated by the station and that 3 people lived there. I thought what a great place to live It appeared to be an idyllic life I've been looking for it ever since........... If I could have a choice of living anywhere Buggleskelly Station would be my choice.
shareThanks for putting me right on the type of tree Chris. It was my ageing father who originally pronounced they were limes. I should have realised that, having lived all his life in urban Birmingham, he'd misidentify them.
shareThat's OK. I don't know one tree from another but when you get close up you can see the beechnuts which of course means conkers! which brings us back to Will Hay, didn't he/they do a scene with conkers in one of their films?
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