Penelope Keith 'was like part of the family'

The former owner of the estate where Dame Penelope Keith filmed hit BBC television series To the Manor Born has paid tribute to her after she died at the age of 86.

John Taylor used to own the Cricket St Thomas estate and wildlife park near Chard in Somerset, where the show was filmed during the late 1970s and early 1980s

He said: "There was no bad side to Penny, she was just an ordinary nice girl. I remember her as jolly, funny and we used to laugh a lot together.

"They were like part of the family while they were here. We used to party and we used to have skittle matches between the estate staff and To the Manor Born people. My heart goes out to her family."

Taylor said the idea of To the Manor Born came about after his brother-in-law, Peter Spence, wrote a pilot script and pitched it in the BBC in the late 1970's.

"Peter met Penny up at a lunch party or something in Sussex and she liked what she heard and they went to the BBC and the rest was history.

"I think he, like all writers, they see what's going on and sparked ideas. So a lot of the storylines, I know where they came from. They come from right here in Somerset!" he added.

Taylor said visitors to the estate still talk about To the Manor Born even today.

"Lots of the hotel guests that come here are all of a generation that remember it and are always talking about it. There's lots of photographs in the house and scrapbooks of the show."

The last episode of the first series in 1979 received almost 24 million viewers - the highest audience for any non-live event on British TV in the 1970s.

The land at Cricket St Thomas was originally a wildlife park. It was also briefly Mr Blobby Land in the late 1990's before Taylor sold it to a hotel chain in 1999.

Taylor reminisces how he got involved in filming during the series.

"I was a stuntman for Peter Bowles when they did the horse on the carriages scenes," he said.

"There was a nasty bit where we had to go through the water and it was very slopy and I said to the cameraman, 'I'm only doing this once so you better get it right'. They did thankfully!"

The programme remained so popular the BBC brought it back for a 25th Anniversary special at Christmas in 2007, filmed again on the estate in Somerset.

Taylor said: "It was lovely to have her back for that special - it was like the old times.

"It's really sad, her death. Unfortunately, we do lose some legends from time to time."

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