![Spotlight on Kirkby Lonsdale](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/9335/394762/5dfcc9222eeaa/Spotlight-on-Kirkby-Lonsdale.jpg)
‘It was a fantastic experience,’ said John Strange who until recently ran the Crossing Point Cafe. ‘It was very exciting and I can’t wait to see the film.’
The cafe catered for the crew and, like all premises in Market Square, it was transformed for the movie, becoming Cropp & Watson Royal Hatters.
The film is a re-working of the classic Hugh Lofting book about an eccentric doctor who finds he can talk to animals. One scene, featuring a police chase involving a boy and a giraffe, is understood to be pivotal to the plot which is music to the ears of Kirkby Lonsdale’s town and tourism manager, Janet Nuttall.
‘It was great publicity at the time of the filming and will continue to be for years,’ said Janet. But it’s not the first time drama has come to Kirkby. In 2014, it featured in a television adaptation of Jamaica Inn.
The historic nature of the town, which is in Cumbria Council area yet has a Lancashire postcode and also lies in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, is one of its attractions. And heritage is the focus of many projects and events lined up for 2020.
Five of the information centre’s 30 volunteers have recently been trained as town guides to lead free Vault Walks. The walks start at The Vault, an innovative attraction which opened in 2018 at the information centre which is housed in a former bank. Visitors choose an item from The Vault, place it on a table and magically, audio-visual dramatizations of historic events in the town appear.
This story is from the January 2020 edition of Lancashire Life.
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This story is from the January 2020 edition of Lancashire Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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