You managed to squeeze a fair bit into the two days, did you find and access the bunker system near Joncourt where he and his company stayed just before their heroics and ultimately his posthumous MC?
As for Foresters house, I share your view and in truth the darn place was shut up. In the 6x I’ve been, we’ve only found it open twice despite correspondence about our schedule - we only wanted to take WO into the cellar but alas, no joy so we filmed near the lock house on the canal instead.
The areas around Serre 2, Sheffield Park and La Boisselle were emotional for those who’d not visited before - Sassoon efforts at Mametz on the first day of the Somme was great too, finding ordnance all over the woods!
We then moved up past Messines to Ypres and filmed at Tyne Cot, Menin Gate and Langemark to get a German perspective - hopefully we’ll get 30/40 mins of useable material but audio was challenging in ptc pieces in a strong wind
It was a bit of a push, but I know the ground quite well now, so by travelling light and just the two of us, we just about squeezed everything in, with time for two or three lovely walks. I have to admit to being unaware of the bunker system - I know that Owen's company billeted in and around the little hamlet of Magny the night before the attack on Joncourt, and that there is a particularly impressive bunker built into the railway embankment skirting Joncourt which repelled the initial attack of the Lancashires. The Manchesters actually skirted around the top of the village in their attack on the Beaurevoir-Fonsomme defences, where WO won his MC, and there's another smaller bunker or pill box sinking into the field on that route.
PR, I'm happy to say, shared my ambivalence about the Forester's installation, and we didn't attempt to get in. The weather was on edge, with an electrical storm brewing all of both days - we got absolutely drenched to our skins at Sheffield Memorial Park on the first evening, one of those where you end up just letting it happen, and laughing, but our 'billets' were close by with hot baths. On the second it just held off, thunder rumbling around all day, which was appropriately atmospheric.
The Sassoon location at Mametz is amazing - Bois Francais. The crater field in the wood is virtually unkown to tourists, and there are some very impressive holes. The trace of the British front-line trench is quite easy to follow in the paddock behind the wood.
I'm ashamed to admit that I've never been to Ypres, yet have been chasing ghosts in the Somme several times a year over the last few years. One for the future. I have an uncle still there, whose 100th I missed earlier this year.
Wind seems to play havoc with sound, presumably even the pro kit with all those vast 'dead cat' mufflers. I've only got a weedy Rode thing on my DSLR, so have to be very careful!
Very good news on the London Premiere, crossed over whilst I was typing this post.
