Thame is 14 miles east of Oxford, 10 miles south-west GUIDED TOURS OF MIDSOMER of Aylesbury and 47 miles from London. It is well connected FILMING LOCATIONS IN THAME to Birmingham and London by the M40 motorway and just an hour from Heathrow. NORTH BRILL NETHER WINCHENDON M40 TO CUDDINGTON AYLESBURY B4011 DINTON CHEARSLEY A418 B4027 STANTON ST. JOHN LONG CRENDON WORMINGHALL TO A418 HADDENHAM OXFORD A40 THAME A4129 J8 A418 TOWERSEY THAME PARK GREAT MILTON J7 B4012 B4009 A40 GREAT HASELEY SYDENHAM B4445 CHINNOR J6 A329 LITTLE Why not join a tour led by one of our knowledgeable Midsomer HASELEY tour guides? Tours for groups of up to 15, lasting up to 1¼ hours, M40 run at 2pm every Wednesday between April and October. LEWKNOR J5 SOUTH The tours start from outside Thame Town Hall, High Street, ACCOMMODATION Thame, OX9 3DP. In the town centre, the Spread Eagle Hotel has been used as a Midsomer filming location. Tickets cost £10.00 each and may be purchased online at Near Thame there is a wide choice of hotels, ticketsource.co.uk/thamemidsomer. Tickets may also be inns, B&Bs and guest houses to choose from, purchased online on the Thame Town Council website or on including Midsomer locations such as Long the Thame Museum website. Crendon Manor and the Pointer in Brill. For further information on where to stay go to - For more information visit thametowncouncil.gov.uk/ THAME thametowncouncil.gov.uk visit-thame/midsomer-murders, thamemuseum.org or TRAIL INSIDE visitmidsomer.info visitmidsomer.info visitchilterns.co.uk visitbuckinghamshire.org Two thirds of the proceeds from Midsomer tours goes to charitable causes. GUIDED TOURS EATING & DRINKING AVAILABLE There are many excellent choices for eating and drinking in Thame, Grateful Thanks including a varied selection of pubs and restaurants and Atalays, twice voted the best kebab van in Britain. Why not try Midsomer locations such We are grateful for the support of all the Midsomer filming locations mentioned in this leaflet as well as THAME as Rumsey’s Chocolaterie, where you can sample delicious Barnaby Buns the support of these organisations served with jam and cream, the Black Horse Pub & Brasserie, the Spread OXFORDSHIRE Eagle Hotel, or the Coffee House on Buttermarket? MIDSOMER MURDERS TRAIL There are also plenty of great pubs, gastro-pubs and restaurants in nearby Follow filming locations in and around villages, including Midsomer locations the historic market town of Thame such as the Plough at Great Haseley, the Old Fisherman in Shabbington, and the Angel and the Eight Bells, both in Long Crendon. SHOPPING The town centre boasts a fantastic range of independent shops, boutiques and artisan food specialists, as well as high street names. We are also grateful to Bentley Productions, producers of Goods on offer range from beautiful handmade jewellery and ceramics Midsomer Murders, for their kind assistance. to local produce such as award-winning cheeses and traditional pies and quiches. More information on shopping in Thame can be found at Design by visitmidsomer.info thametowncouncil.gov.uk thametowncouncil.gov.uk THAME AND ITS MIDSOMER MURDERS FILMING LOCATIONS MIDSOMER WALKING TRAIL There have now been well over 120 episodes. John Nettles played DCI Barnaby for the first 81 episodes, stepping down in 2011 at the OF THAME TOWN CENTRE end of series 13. Neil Dudgeon has played Barnaby ever since. Midsomer Murders is based on the novels of Caroline Graham. Thame has featured in 16 episodes, in some briefly but in others, The original pilot programme, The Killings at Badgers Drift, was such as Picture of Innocence, Midsomer Life and Vixen’s Run, it aired on 23rd March 1997 and the four episodes of the first full features heavily. Episode 1, series 20, screened in 2019, features series in 1998, Written in Blood, Death of a Hollow Man, Faithful the gatehouse of Thame’s Prebendal and nearby cricket ground. Unto Death and Death in Disguise, were based on her books. Elizabeth Spriggs was a leading actor in the first episode and is The walking trail takes just over an hour and features all the buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Thame. locations used in the town centre. The suggested starting point is Thame Town Hall. 1 THAME TOWN HALL 8 MARKET HOUSE - MONTESSON SQUARE 15 THE BLACK HORSE As you walk along the High Street, you will see a large red Market House became the offices of the local magazine, This pub and brasserie featured in Death brick building facing you - Thame Town Hall. In Days of Misrule Midsomer Life, in the episode of that name. When the in the Slow Lane. It was Neil Dudgeon’s it appears in the Christmas scene, with Joyce Barnaby singing murderer was arrested, she was led from the building via first episode as DCI Barnaby and he carols round the Christmas tree outside Causton Town Hall. what are in real life the public toilets. In Vixen’s Run, Market decides to visit a local Causton pub. He is The Town Hall was again used as Causton Town Hall in Shot at House was Causton Library. seen approaching it and standing at the Dawn and Not in My Back Yard and as Causton Arts Centre Built in the eighteenth century, Market House has, over the bar chatting with the barman and one of in The Maid in Splendour. Across from the Town Hall, Connells years, been a baker’s shop, an inn, and a Methodist chapel. the locals. Estate Agents appears as Causton Bookies in a sub-plot of Market House today houses Citizens’ Advice as well as the Cross the road into Cornmarket Days of Misrule public toilets. There has been a building on the site of the Town Hall since 16 OXFAM BOOKSHOP 9 1509. The current building was built in 1887, using local brick, to RUMSEY’S CHOCOLATERIE This was the Cover to Cover Bookshop in Vixen’s Run. It was celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. In Picture of Innocence, Madrigal’s camera shop was what is managed by Jenny, thought erroneously to be the love child Looking to the left you will see – now Rumsey’s Chocolaterie. At the time of filming, the shop was of Sir Freddy Butler who dies early in the episode. Before he passed away, he set her up in Cover to Cover, now the Oxfam 2 TIM RUSS & COMPANY empty: having been Jordan’s Delicatessen it was to become Rumsey’s. Madrigal’s was a traditional photographic shop in the Bookshop. In The House in the Woods Tim Russ & Company Estate Agents village of Luxton Deeping, and the owners were bitter rivals of became Harriet Davis’ Estate Agency. Harriet Davis is involved Quikpix, a digital camera shop in a neighbouring village. 17 THE SPREAD EAGLE HOTEL in a plot to acquire a derelict building in the woods. However, it The Spread Eagle became the Morecroft doesn’t end well for Harriet. 10 JORDAN’S YARD Hotel in Midsomer Life. It also featured The pedestrian street to the left of the Town Hall is Buttermarket – In Vixen’s Run, Barnaby is seen turning into Jordan’s Yard in Vixen’s Run, being used for the interior to visit a solicitor’s office. The woman who was riding along shots of the Swan Hotel, where Lucinda 3 BUTTERMARKET Buttermarket goes to see the solicitor regarding her late and Simon were staying. This pedestrian street appears in many episodes. In the opening husband’s estate. There is a break-in at these offices and, later The Grade 2 listed hotel dates to of Vixen’s Run, it is dressed for the 1953 Coronation. A woman still, the solicitor dies in a fire at his cottage. the Georgian period. Between 1922 is seen riding a horse along the road. She is on her way to meet and 1932, John Fothergill, legendary a lover. In Picture of Innocence Buttermarket becomes a street 11 THE SWAN HOTEL innkeeper, chef and wine connoisseur, made it the place to market where Barnaby is kissed by a complete stranger – this stay and dine in the UK. Outside, it is instantly recognisable by In Vixen’s Run, Lucinda and Simon are staying at the Swan. ft incident is photographed, and the picture develops as a plot the 30 original sign depicting the Spread Eagle crest. They are trying to find clues regarding Lucinda’s father’s line. In Midsomer Life, a tipsy barmaid from the Morecroft Hotel estate and later go into Causton Library (Market House) (the Spread Eagle) is seen staggering along Buttermarket. In 18 OXFAM SHOP for information. The clues are found in an edition of Rupert Dead in the Water, Jones and Barnaby take coffee with Hattie Brooke’s Collected Poems. The Oxfam Shop appeared as another charity shop in They Trent at the end of Pump Lane. The Swan Hotel (currently closed) dates from the fifteenth Seek Him Here, which revolves around a remake of The Scarlet Pimpernel. In this episode the shop was raising funds 4 THE COFFEE HOUSE century. The frontage was later altered to become the present Georgian façade. Inside this Grade 2 listed building for a hospice. In Picture of Innocence, Barnaby is sitting in the Coffee House there is a sixteenth-century painted ceiling. looking at the picture of him kissing a woman. He notices 19 CHANCELLORS ESTATE AGENTS faintly in the background the sign on the health food shop 12 THE AGA SHOP Chancellors Estate Agents was used as the offices of The called Now and Zen – actually the side entrance to what is Causton Advertiser in Last Year’s Model.