Hearties Family Reunion, part 2 - Hope Valley

We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous day on Sunday (it rained ALL day on Saturday, but since we were inside for the majority of the day it wasn't a big deal). We were so excited to see the sunshine for our trip out of the city to the set of When Calls the Heart! 

The 450 Hearties were split into two groups, morning and afternoon, and then each group filled 4 buses for the 45-minute ride to the Jamestown Movie Set in Langley. The mountains on the way out of town were gorgeous! It really made me want to go skiing. 

When we got to the set, we were divided into 8 different tour groups, and then headed out around the set. Chaney got to meet Jack's horse after a quick bathroom trip - why, oh why, did I choose this ONE time to not go to the bathroom?! :) I did get to meet another horse when we got to the livery though.

The set looks just like it does on the show - at least, on the outside. Because filming was still taking place, they still had all the props, signs, etc., in place. In most of the buildings, the upstairs is false, sometimes set up for the camera crew to film from above. Also, the sets change periodically. The inside of the mayor's office was set up as the mayor's office when we were there, but it is also used as the living room for the scenes in Hamilton. The inside of the newspaper building is actually set up as a couple of different bedrooms - Elizabeth's bedroom at Abigail's house, and Cody's bedroom as well. But other buildings are actually what they say they are - the saloon, the mercantile, the jail, Abigail's Cafe, the row houses, and of course, the church/school. So without further ado, here are some scenes from around Hope Valley.

Saloon

The famous plank from season 1

Main Street

Jack's horse, trotting down Main Street

Jail

Mayor's Office

Mercantile

Of course I took a picture of the pickles! :)

 Miscellaneous buildings around town

 Cabin in the Woods (used for the Tolliver's hideout, as well as Laura's home)

Water Tower

 Abigail's Cafe and home

 Row houses (did you know there are only two, and the others are created with CGI?)

This is carved in a log out in the field by the rowhouses -
they tried to convince us it had been used in an earlier season,
but I've never seen it!

My favorite part of Hope Valley was the church - it is such a beautiful little building, I couldn't help taking a ton of pictures of it!

 

Inside the church = the school

I wanted my picture behind Elizabeth's desk, but that area was
blocked off for filming. I did get to ring the cowbell, though.

We spent about 2.5 hours exploring Hope Valley, learning about how they use the various buildings, changes they've made over the four seasons, and just enjoying the gorgeous sunshine that made the winter chill not quite so unbearable. This was the end of the Hearties part of the trip, and we really didn't want to leave Hope Valley. We loved stepping back in time and entering the world of our favorite television show, if only for one morning.

But I still have a couple of Vancouver adventures to share... coming soon.