OUR HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
It’s not unusual for dad-of-two David Sumsion to pass a famous actor on the stairs of his sprawling country pile... and even Nessie’s a visitor
OSCAR-winner Colin Firth once roller-skated around the gardens while the normally suave Bill Nighy found himself locked in a kitchen cupboard. And while the saying goes that every home tells a story, for stunning Ardkinglas House, on the shores of Loch Fyne, each chapter requires its own rolling credits.
The sprawling country pile in Argyll has been a filming location for a number of hit movies and TV shows.
It is now taking centre stage once again as the prime setting for new Hollywood romantic comedy Then Came You, starring Elizabeth Hurley, Scots comedian Craig Ferguson, Still Game’s Ford Kiernan and Glasgow actress Phyllida Law – mother of Emma Thompson.
The house’s owner, David Sumsion, has revealed he has been happy to have his home provide a backdrop for everything from Nazis to Cockneys... and even the Loch Ness Monster.
The 62-year-old architect inherited the Edwardian mansion from his uncle John Noble, the founder of the world-famous
We had to hastily reassemble bits of a butchered stag for filming
Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, in 2002. It is first and foremost a family home, which he shares with wife Angela and their two daughters, but he is happy to have it take on a supporting role as a film set.
In Then Came You it is used as a historic hotel, where grieving widow Annabelle – played by US talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford – visits during a trip around the world to scatter her husband’s ashes.
It is her first stop – and she soon falls in love with innkeeper Howard, played by Ferguson. But she has a love rival in the form of Hurley, who posted photos of the Ardkinglas grounds on her Instagram along with the caption ‘beautiful Scotland’.
Mr Sumsion believes the film – described as a love letter to Scotland – shows off Ardkinglas to its best advantage.
He said: ‘I met Kathie when she first came to look for locations nine months before the shoot. She was immediately taken by the place. She was great fun and it was great she liked the place so much. The film should show the house and garden well.’
Mr Sumsion was still a teenager when the house started to be used for filming. He watched in awe when, in 1977, BBC Scotland shot The Mackinnons, starring Bill Simpson, about a vet in the fictional Argyll town of Inverglen.
While the show, akin to Dr Finlay’s Casebook, never really took off, it is etched in Mr Sumsion’s memory.
He said: ‘I took my summer holidays in the house and it was quite something to watch the crews that year. It was my uncle’s idea to invite the TV crew there and the location worked well. A year earlier, the estate had been used for a BBC John Buchan drama, John Macnab, about three eminent members of the English Establishment who poach on Scottish land.
Mr Sumsion said: ‘They needed a dead stag for one of the scenes about a stalking expedition and the communication with the gamekeeper didn’t go too well.
‘He thought they had already used it for filming so then butchered it. There was panic and it had to be hastily reassembled with bits of bracken used to cover the joints.’
Ardkinglas was chosen again in 1996, for the award-winning TV series The Crow Road, featuring Joe McFadden, Dougray Scott, Alex Norton and Peter Capaldi.
It served as Gaineamh Castle, the home of character Fergus Urvill.
Three years on came My Life So Far, starring Colin Firth and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
Mr Sumsion said: ‘It had the working title World of Moss and they used the main family house in the film and were here for a month or two altogether. It was probably the most ambitious set I’ve seen. They landed a beautiful biplane in front of the house and there was a lot of excitement in the village.
‘They had a huge crane and built an observatory on top of the tower and accessed it by the narrow spiral staircase. They had an ice skating and curling theme as one of the characters falls through the ice, and in the 19th century walled garden they built an ice rink.
‘It was a huge project but when it came to freeze the ice and switch on
the refrigeration unit it didn’t work. They came up with a solution at the last minute so, instead of water, they put down a shiny plastic covering and gave the skaters, including Colin Firth, rollerblades. They also had curling stones made from fibreglass and put castors on them. It looked very good.’
Scotland’s unpredictable weather also caused problems for the Lovejoy TV crew in 1992.
Mr Sumsion said: ‘They wanted to use the loch for filming but there was some sort of a tech problem. It took them a few days for the whole set-up and they had to create artificial rain because the forecast changed. Very often if they want rain, there isn’t any – but it’s more difficult to get rid of rain when you don’t want it in the filming.’
The $40 million blockbuster The Water Horse: Legend of The Deep was also filmed at Ardkinglas – and brought a monster of a star to the grounds. The 2007 film starred Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin... and our very own Nessie.
Mr Sumsion said: ‘It was the same producers who had done Lord of the Rings. They also filmed landscape scenes in New Zealand because they felt it looked more like Scotland than Loch Fyne.
‘The film is about a boy who finds an egg which hatches into a little animal and grows into a huge dinosaur – the Loch Ness Monster.
‘A lot was added as special effects so the actors had a lump of cloth which was meant to be the creature. It was quite funny watching them acting with an invisible actor. They also dug a huge hole in the car park in front of the house and constructed a real fountain with running water.
‘They had real fish in it and had to put netting on it to stop the seagulls or herons eating the fish. It was made of plaster, so came down after they finished. We get people coming here who have seen [the film].’
Soap fans might recognise the house from the EastEnders’ Hogmanay special in 2003 – when Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson) was pushed off a cliff by new bride Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks). He stumbles at the nearby Rest and
Be Thankful. The couple marry at Ardkinglas before bumbling Barry meets his tragic end.
Mr Sumsion, who had never seen the hit soap before the episode, said: ‘It was a surprise to us as it wasn’t an obvious location for the soap.
‘The house was made to look like holiday accommodation and they set up a bar upstairs for the centre of the action.’
Ardkinglas has also proved popular with European film crews and appeared in the 2008 German movie Ein Ferienhaus in Schottland and in 2008’s Max Manus: Man of War, a biographical film about the Norwegian resistance fighter.
Mr Sumsion said: ‘The beer and wine cellars were used as a prison, the dining room as an office and terraces as a Second World War camp. They made an assault course in the garden and all these extras, the prisoners, stripped down to their waist, were fighting off midges constantly.
‘A lot of our corridors have white glazed brick work, not ceramic tiles on the walls. Glazed bricks were used in prisons at that time, so the kitchen has often featured in films as a prison.’
The unique brickwork attracted the makers of the 2018 BBC miniseries Ordeal By Innocence, based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.
Mr Sumsion said: ‘There is a scene with Bill Nighy locked in one of the corridors by the kitchen. It was
The actors had a lump of cloth meant to be the Loch Ness Monster
exciting to have him around and we exchanged a few hellos.
‘It does feel nice to have production crews here or people like Tilda Swinton modelling for a campaign.
‘There are moments when it can get a bit too disruptive but generally it’s enjoyable.
‘If there are night shoots or loud scenes we sometimes move to a relative’s house but most of the time we are still living there.’
As well as Then Came You, Ardkinglas has another new starring role, in upcoming Netflix thriller Behind Her Eyes. The house was surrounded by artificial coloured clouds to portray ghostly spirits.
Mr Sumsion admits hiring the property out helps to fund its maintenance costs.
He said: ‘It’s not easy to make the finances of a Scottish farm and estate add up and this is a great way of making it work. We enjoy having film crews around and we have met some good people through it.
‘It generally is a great boost for the local economy and has a knockon effect for local hotels, caterers and suppliers.
‘Inevitably we pass people on the stairs going in and out, crew and actors, but we do try and keep out of the way as much as possible.
‘I have no desire to be an actor or end up on screen.’