For many dedicated film fans, the opportunity to visit an iconic set location for their chosen picture is akin to a religious pilgrimage.
Cumbria has its fair share of pilgrimage locations for these hardy film buffs, but perhaps there is one site that trumps the lot.
Bruce Robinson’s cult classic film, Withnail and I, stars Paul McGann and Richard E Grant as out of work actors in the dying days of the 1960s who go on holiday ‘by mistake’.
Their holiday takes them to Uncle Monty’s cottage - Crow Crag - in the Cumbrian countryside which was filmed at the remote Sleddale Hall near Shap.
The film features plenty of drinking, an unfortunate romantic pursuit and a number of Cumbrian characters including a farmer, a poacher and a randy bull.
Over the weekend, I joined hundreds of hardy Withnail and I fans in their pilgrimage to Wet Sleddale to watch the film in the courtyard of Crow Crag.
The event is organised every year by Picnic Cinema which is run by Eden Arts Cente in Penrith.
People from across the country descended on this remote spot in Cumbria including from as far as Brighton, Somerset and Norfolk.
Since my teenage years I have been a devotee of this most quotable romp and a trip to Crow Crag had long been a bucket list moment.
The great fear of a bucket list is the potential of ‘the flop’. A lifelong dream which turns out to be a rather disappointing damp squib.
Thankfully for myself and the attendees there were no such fears as our pilgrimage to this most sacred site lived up to the expectation.
Cake and one or two fine wines and sherries were consumed alongside food from the Binsey Field Kitchen with expectation heavy in the air for the main event.
Prior to the film’s screening at sundown, we were royally entertained by the Picnic Cinema team whose enthusiasm and good nature helped make this extraordinary event possible.
The iconic setting is far removed from Hamlet’s ‘sterile promontory’ as delivered by Withnail but as I packed away my tent in the morning – albeit with a slightly thick head – I did feel I had “lost all my mirth’ having to leave the stunning setting.
I shall be back next year for another pilgrimage to Sleddale but until then, ‘my boys’, a sherry at home will have to suffice.
Cin Cin!
Share