RA FRIDAY - A TRIP TO DIBLEY - NO HANDSOME STRANGERS BUT SUCH A LOVELY PLACE!

It was just last Friday, 26th November. We had planned this trip in every detail and, though we had been warned  it would not be easy to reach the place, we definitely wanted to go. Against all odds, against the awful omen of the weather forecast: snow announced all over the country. But could we miss the chance to be in England, in London, not very far from the longed for destination and renounce before even trying? Our faith was rewarded: when we woke up on Friday the sun was shining high. It was the sign, we had to go.Where?  

To Turville aka Dibley!

You know how much I love Richard as Harry (if you don't, just read my post Richard & Harry) so you can easily imagine how excited I was.

From our hotel to Marylebone railway station, easy.  From there to High Wycombe by train , not difficult at all and neither very expensive! For the rest of the journey, we had been suggested to take a taxi at High Wycombe and that is what we did. 

"Where do you want to go"? -  the strange Indian driver asked.  
"Turville". 

"Treville"? 

Glom! He didn't know where or what it was. Never heard.  

"Why do you want to go to Turville"?

"What?Mind you own business!" we all thought while searching for a proper answer, " Ehm ... Because we like it!"

 

He started talking on the phone to get help and directions from his agency and we started praying we don't get lost in the countryside,  in Buckinghamshire, that is right in the middle of nowhere. But we were lucky and the funny kind  guy speaking a funny Indian English succeded in taking us there, where we wanted to be. At Dibley!

We were more and more excited. Everything was exactly as we expected. Or better as cute as but much smaller than I expected. Even the colours we had seen in the very familiar scenes were exactly the same! What a lovely, quiet, enchanting little village! What can you do there apart from dreaming of meeting a handsome stranger who'll sweep you off your feet?

 

And here we are at the vicarage. The door. That door. The small white one which made our gorgeous giant, I mean Richard Armitage as Harry Jasper Kennedy, bend and bow more than once. SIGH! The door of  Harry's saying  " I was just after some clarification RE dates and kissing..." or Geraldine " I really am the luckiest woman in the world ... mainly because I have you and with you I'm gonna be happy forever.." ,  then of the first little kiss we see between Harry and Geraldine after their "third date".  I've seen those scenes so many times and, of course, I was there staring and hoping... but no trace. No handsome stranger around.

Soon after we entered the church. How small it was and so less luminous (?) than I imagined. But again, we were so excited to be there! To be honest I started laughing because more than the romantic aspect of the wedding,  I was figuring other scenes shot inside that place in my mind: "It should have been me!" , the hilarious dance Geraldine and his male villagers perform, Rosie the bride lying on the floor after being punched , the reahearsal of the ceremony, Geraldine entering in her gaudy flowery pyjamas  on her wedding day. LOL! Here is silly me (below, on the right) laughing there just where Geraldine and Harry got eventually married.

After leaving the church we walked up and down the only street in Turville looking for the exact locations of Harry and Geraldine's encounters. Then we went up the alley of the Sleepy Cottage and... here's the red door! The Sleepy Cottage is actually the name of the first little house in that alley but we immedialtely recognized our "Sleepy Cottage", the one inhabited by the handsome stranger.

We went up the hill following a muddy path in a small grove and here we are in the open space of the beautiful hilly landscape all around the village. Silence, cows and horses, the blue sky and the green grass.  There was even the hole in the mud where Geraldine jumped into! Where was Harry, then?

Some photos of the odd wooden bench we had immediately recognized on our arrival, then to the pub!  

What about a bite of supper? Well, we had lunch. But it was exactly there, where Harry and Geraldine had  supper on their first date. "You're looking lovely ... I reckon you're a teacher ... "  We were so close to the square hole in the wall in front of which the little table for two had been put! The pub has been refurbished and the counter /bar has been moved but it was IT! It was THE PUB!

We had delicious fish and chips and a lager. Finally, at 2 p.m. it was time to go. Our taxi driver was back to fetch us.

 
Good-bye, Turville. Good-bye, Dibley. We really hope they will take the wrapped scenery  (they didn't burn on Richard's suggestion)  out for other special episodes on the Vicar and her husband's married life.
As for us, we  are back home and go on dreaming  of winning the lottery to be able to  buy a cottage in Turville as well as a flat in London. Who knows? To dream costs nothing.

A very good weekend to you all!
MG