Grasshopper Island News

As our time on Corsica was coming to an end, we thought it might be nice to re-visit some of the people and places that we had been so fortunate to encounter. The sun was bright in the sky – a welcome sight after some rainy days prior. This particular day had an added significance. It was Uli's birthday – and what better way to celebrate than a hike in the hills. But of course – this hike would have a purpose. We wanted to descend from Monticello and explore the small back roads, to see if we might find our final location – the Little House . To get to Monticello, we first took our favourite mode of transport “ U Trinicellu” – the little train – as far as L'Ille Rousse . On arrival it was fun to retrace our steps along the pier, once again passing the spot where Lupus and Mr. Button disembarked. The site of our very first discovery! From there we strolled along Promenade de la Marinella , an elevated walkway which takes visitors directly to the wonderful beach. It was 10a...

By now we had experienced many wonderful days reflecting on the success of our “Blue Button Expedition”, or Grasshopper Island Pilgrimage as we had begun to view it. Back at our base in Calvi we had acquired the evening habit of sitting with a plate of brocciu cheese and mortadella luncheon meat, coaxed down with an accompanying glass of rosé. On this occasion the sun was just beginning to kiss the rooftops of Calvi. It's Genoese fortress – the Citadel – becoming a silhouette against a haze of oranges and crimson as we too basked in the colours of our success. Admiring this captivating view, our thoughts turned to finding some of the last remaining Grasshopper Island locations. The next day as we walked to wait for the train we noticed something interesting. As mentioned already, we had grown very fond of U Trinicellu , the narrow gauge railcars that ran along the coast. Occasionally along the route, old railway station houses were left standing, some still in use while others...

The beach is a location which features prominently in Grasshopper Island. The spot where Toughy, Smarty and Mouse are seen celebrating their arrival to the “uninhabited Island”. This beach first appears in Episode 2 entitled The Elderly Boy . So naturally, finding this location was uppermost in our minds. As it happens – this location was the easiest one to find. While building our fan website – grasshopperisland.net – Uli had the idea of writing to Joy Whitby and was delighted to receive her support. Over the course of several emails, both he and I had opportunity to ask some specific questions about the production. Joy was very amiable and gave us some insight into how the TV production and the storybook came about. We were fascinated to learn that the majority of the production took place in Haute Corse (Northern Corsica). However some of the very early beach scenes, those featuring tall sand dunes and a tumbling Charles Hawtrey ( The Elderly Boy ), were actually filmed on a beach...

The search for our next filming location took us high up the steep mountainside to the picturesque village of Monticello - or Monticellu - as it is in Corsican. We had noted this place name from our conversation with Jean (the owner of Café des Platanes ) and with Hilaire, Toussant and Pierre. They had given us a name: "Jo Jo" and probably a lot more detail which had become lost in translation. They had mentioned these details initially as we spoke at the pier of L'Île-Rousse. Now just an hour or two later, having shown the footage of Place Pascal Pauli , we finished our coffees and reviewed the notes that I had written in my notebook. We needed to visit this new place – Monticello . But how to get there? We thanked our new acquaintances at Café des Platanes for the coffee and for their help with our mission to find our next location and bade them farewell. We had noticed a street sign that advertised the location of a tourist office nearby. We decided to visit and t...

Our next location search took us to Place Pascal Pauli . This is a wonderfully open town square, with a beautiful church, and many cafés and restaurants. Local people played pétanque beneath the shade of the venerable platane trees. A handful of tourists looked on while they enjoyed a coffee, a beer or some ice cream. So it was with great enthusiasm, stemming from our success at the pier, that we scanned the establishments along the southern edge of the square for an ice cream parlour. To our surprise there on the corner close to where we stood was La Glacier. As a reminder - the reason for this interest in finding an ice cream seller was to attempt to identify both the person in the photo and the exact location. Once again without any hesitation Uli made a direct path to the doorway of La Glacier and engaged the gentleman standing there in conversation. “Excuse me sir, I’m sorry but I do not speak French”, in what I would find to be a recurring mantra throughout our expedition! The ...