This coming Sunday 9th May, BBC Antiques Roadshow returns to Windermere Jetty in the Lake District at 7.00pm, with the episode featuring Swallows and Amazons movie memorabilia, writes Sophie Neville…

Swallows and Amazons fans expressed great excitement when an episode was first broadcast from the museum on Sunday 21st February as they featured Swallow, the dinghy from the original film, which was made on location in the Lake District in 1973 and brought to cinema screens in 1974.

‘Such an iconic film,’ the expert Rupert Maas, commented, admitting that it once inspired him to sail across the Atlantic Ocean.

He chatted to Rob Boden who looks after Swallow for the organisation Sail Ransome before placing a pretty high value on the old girl.

They had just enough wind to sail off into the sunshine.

I had been invited along to BBC Antiques Roadshow for the second episode, recorded the next day, when it was pouring with rain.

Rupert Maas was busy valuing a painting by the waters edge but came along to say hello in the café at Windermere Jetty while we watched the expert, Marc Allum, value another item.

Marc later walked over to meet us and see my collection of movie memorabilia relating to the film of Swallows and Amazons (1974), filmed partly on Windermere nearly forty-eight years ago.

The camera crew seemed adept at keeping their equipment dry, but lining up shots was tricky since everyone had to be carefully distanced.

I knew that signed, first edition copies of the book Swallows and Amazons are worth up to £11,000. A note sold in an envelope addressed to Cartmel, postmarked 1939, and accompanied by a small card signed by Arthur Ransome, with a pen and ink sketch of a sailing boat, sold recently with an estimate of £1,000-1,500 – but I did not think my collection of movie memorabilia from the early 1970’s would be worth that much.

Marc Allum lining up a shot with Sophie Neville

Marc invited me to take up the bow an arrow, whittled on location during the filming and fletched with feathers from a ‘Red Indian Headdress’ purchased from a toy shop in Ambleside in 1973.

Marc Allum and Sophie Neville with the director

I suggested that the director might like to take a shot of the ML Tern as she passed but visibility was too low. Marc concentrated on my collection, which I had to admit had nearly been thrown out in a fit of de-cluttering. He valued it at far more than I ever would have imagined.

But, will my item be included? I was thinking it could easily hit the cutting-room floor until a kind reader alerted me to the Radio Times billing here.

To see more photos of BBC Antiques Roadshow at Windermere Jetty, please see the previous post here.

Detail of an original Swallows and Amazons (1974) movie poster hanging at Windermere Jetty Museum

You can read more about how Swallow was bought at auction with the assistance of the Nancy Blackett Trust and restored here, in Yachts and Yachting and also on the Sailing Swallow website.

You can also buy my book about the Making of Swallows and Amazons from the Nancy Blackett Shop, which supports the work of the Trust.

The original version of this story was published by Sophie Neville in May 2021.