In her new TV series Joanna Lumley reveals Eilean Donan Castle has a special place in her heart – it was the location where she filmed her first episode of the Avengers ( sixties TV series , not Marvel’s epic science fiction film series )
Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home – Travels in My Own Land is the new UK travel series on ITV.
After a lifetime of travels that have taken her across the globe, Joanna Lumley is making her most personal journey yet. Joanna Lumley starred as Purdy in the Avengers.
Over three episodes, she’ll travel from the Yorkshire Dales to St Michael’s Mount, from the Highlands of Scotland to the cobbles of Coronation Street, retracing old steps, meeting inspiring people, and exploring the wonders of the country she calls home.
Joanna Lumley said: “I seem to have spent a lifetime travelling the world, but as I get older, I realise there’s so much of my own country I haven’t seen. So, I decided that using my traveller’s eyes…I’m going to turn that vision onto this country, the place that I now call home.” .
Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home episodes 2021
Episode 1 – 2 February
After a lifetime of travels that have taken her across the globe, Joanna Lumley is making her most personal journey yet. Starting at Tilbury Docks in Essex she heads north, making a nostalgic return to Coronation Street, before ending the journey in Whitby.
Episode 2 – 9 February
This week Joanna travels through Scotland and Northern Ireland. Starting in the Outer Hebrides, she explores the Harris Tweed industry and drives a herd of Highland Cattle across the sands at low tide to their winter grazing. Next Joanna heads to Eilean Donan Castle, the location for her very first episode of the New Avengers, where she strikes some Purdy moves as she scales the battlements.
Crossing to Northern Ireland, Joanna visits the Dark Hedges, made famous in Game of Thrones, before having a laugh with one of the Derry Girls . She then meets the inspiring founder of the Children in Crossfire charity and finds out how a new generation is working to break down old barriers.
Eilean Donan Castle tours are available all year round . Phone +447305-294773 for details.
The Scottish castles collection features pictures of Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland by photographer David Rankin. Take one of our Eilean Donan Castle photo tours to visit the castle and get some great pictures of it .
Eilean Donan Castle was originally built in 1220 and owned by the MacKenzies of Kintail. The MacRae Clan who settled in the area came from the Beauly Firth where they had protected the Clan Fraser.
In 1719 it was held by Spanish Jacobites. Three English frigates sailed into Loch Duich and bombarded the castle with cannon fire until it was in ruins. The castle them lay in ruins for nearly 200 years. In 1911 John MacRae-Gilstrap bought the castle and start work to restore the castle over a period of twenty years at a total cost of a quarter of a million pounds. Local materials were used wherever possible.
More recently the castle featured in the film Highlander and a James Bond movie, the World is not enough .
Our James Bond tours feature a visit to the castle