Jun 2, 2009
I’d love to Enjoy England, just as soon as I can figure out where it is
Enjoy England, the domestic marketing division of Visit-Britain has got a new advertising campaign at the moment, which revolves around the idea of aerial views of landscapes, and the positioning of map pins. It’s an obvious next step for a tourism approach in these days of familiarity with Google Earth and LiveMaps, but it’s well done and there’s no denying that the photography is stunning.
Here’s the TV advert:
And on their accompanying blog, they provide details about the various filming locations used in the ad shoot.
I also spotted this poster next to the district line platform at Hammersmith tube station this morning:
(Please excuse poor image quality - iPhones have their limitations)
Which is a vast improvement from their previous rather politically-tinged ad campaign:
(Only kidding - that’s a sign around the back of their offices in W6)
But on their new poster, although there are a range of interesting suggestions about things to do - picnic, train ride, fishing, country walk - and the location itself looks beautiful, there’s no indication on the poster or on the site of where the location actually is.
Which leads to two possible conclusions:
One, that it’s not a real place, but a figurative one, made from a composite of some other places, in which case they’re going to get caught out as soon as someone manages to hunt down the elements used.
Two, that it’s a real place but they’re not telling where, in which case they’ve missed a trick because people might actually want to go there.
Either way, I’d be very interested to know.
Update!
The sleuthing powers of the internet know no bounds! Crouchingbadger correctly identified the location as the Larpool Viaduct over between Ruswarp and Whitby in North Yorkshire:
Good to know, but ever-so-slightly irksome that I didn’t spot it straight away since I’ve actually been there and walked over the viaduct with P (on our minimoon, I think):
Though they might be cautious of sending too many people to one place. Things like this remind me of Peter Mayle and his effect on Provence. Not quite the same, I’ll agree.
Interesting, I was going to suggest Berwick for the bridge:
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=55.771854,-2.014039&spn=0.007363,0.024462&t=h&z=16 … but it’s not right (and nearly not England either).
iPhones have limitations?! It does look like a lovely area.
Well, there’s a whole site devoted to the campaign, including the instigators profiles and email addresses:
http://www.enjoyengland.com/campaigns/value-campaign/index.aspx
So you could just ask them, but like you I was intrigued and kind of want to find out myself. So, it’s a steam railway (look closely at the picture) that bends around a river near a weir. It’s no the Bluebell Line, which *is* used in the TV campaign, but there aren’t that many steam railways in the UK. And Google Maps and a completely wasted couple of hours is our friend here. I will report back . . .
Three - That while people like me (ie. obsessive map geeks) are trying to work out where it is, we discover all sorts of great places with viaducts that we now want to visit - their original aim.
So far I reckon I want to go to Monsal Head, and take the Carlisle-Settle railway.
Crouchingbadger - well identified!
If you haven’t been to Ribblehead viaduct in Yorkshire on the Settle-Carlisle line, that’s definitely worth a visit:
Also, Glenfinnan: