Confessions of an amateur pap

I have a paparazzi confession to make.

I’m a costume drama pap and I have, on many previous occasions, gone in search of houses-made-famous-by-the-BBC.  Andrew Davies’s adaptation of Pride & Prejudice has a lot to answer for; I even considered getting married at Lyme Park.

Luckily, a National Trust membership and a car gets you access to most of the houses you see in TV dramas and films. But not this one……



Longbourn - The Bennetts



To get this picture I had to drag my other half on a 12 mile hike armed only with an OS map and a couple of cereal bars. It’s a private house and I had to get a leg up to peer over the wall for this shot. Worth it though wasn’t it?

On another occasion I tagged along with a reporter friend on the pretence of ‘work experience’ and tried to gatecrash Paul Scholes’ wedding so I could get a shot of the Beckhams, the Nevilles and Sir Ryan Giggs.

But my sister is MUCH worse. She drives around whole counties looking for houses that match the one she’s cut out of an OK magazine photo shoot. Well she did once anyway, it took all day and I was with her (for moral support).

Yep, him again.

She never did find his house or meet him, but my brother got to (at a fan club party my sister dragged him to so she didn’t look sad). HA.