Visit Cornwall Says Poldark's Association 'Will be 100 per cent with Cornwall.'

Port Isaac in Cornwall via Visit Cornwall

Two months will be spent  filming Poldark in Cornwall this year but despite this, many comments have been made on social networking sites about the use of Wiltshire rather than Cornish locations for Trenwith House (Chavenage House), Sawle Church (Chavenage Chapel) and Truro (Corsham).

Malcolm Bell, chief executive of Visit Cornwall however,says the filming in other locations will not affect the long-term impact Poldark will have on Cornwall's tourism industry. Mr Bell told the Western Morning News, “As far as the immediate economic opportunity is concerned with some of the production being filmed outside the county, it is a shame to miss out on that. But generally speaking the programme’s association will be 100 per cent with Cornwall, so that will be the viewer perspective - even if some of it is filmed elsewhere.

“We will benefit from a boost, definitely. The beauty of something like Poldark is twofold: one is the immediate effect the programme will have - the other thing is that hopefully there will be another series off the back of it.” He added that it was continuity that brought in the tourists, saying of Rosamunde Pilcher and Doc Martin, "People watch the first series, then watch the second one - and then they really get into the place. It builds up over two or three years.

“We would like to have seen them film all of Poldark down here, but the production crew is based in Bristol so it’s about cost. But we are pleased a lot of it is being filmed down here - the shots of the coast do it for us and obviously the mining is very much a Cornish thing.”

Addendum: It seems that it was the interior of Chavenage Chapel that was used as Sawle Church for filming, rather than the exterior.