A Brief Writer's Guide to Camelot
While of course newkidfan's upcoming picspam is infinitely better than mine ( see here!), here are a few things about the Château de Pierrefonds (aka Camelot) that might be interesting from a writer's point of view. Never say I don't do anything for you.
This is a rough layout of the castle. With bonus shadow. Ahem.
A - Arthur's Tower
This is the view from the north, taken from the town below. The tower closest to the viewer is actually called the Tour d'Artus (Arthur's tower), which makes for a nice bit of geekery. It might even be the one where Arthur's bedroom is, since it does (on occasion) have a view of the, uh, tournament grounds, if probably not a particularly good one.
A close-up. Obviously.
B - The Courtyard
The courtyard is a lot smaller than it looks like, and remarkably easy to walk, for cobblestone. The first picture is the view from the chapel. The second one is a close-up of the crocodile gargoyles that are hanging on the walls here and there.
C - Steps and Statue
One of the entrances, natch.
D - Steps Up Towards the Gryphon Statue
You walk through the entrance and take a sharp left turn. Lookit the nice archway.
E - Gryphon Statue and the Windows of Watching and Arguing
This is just up the stairs, obviously. The picture is taken from the flight of stairs that Merlin et al keep running up and down.
F - The Steps Merlin Keeps Running Up
I've no idea where they lead, but it's probably to yet more corridors of frantic running around.
G - The Corridors of Frantic Running Around
Of which I don't have a very good pic, sadly. If you go down the left, you might be able to reach Uther's throne room with a bit of walking around. There's a locked door at the end of the corridor. The pic above is the view down the right. Around the corner is another long-ish corridor, through which you reach the chapel.
newkidfan says one of these alcoves is the one Morgana pulls Merlin into in 1x13, and I'm inclined to agree.
H - The Walkway to Lady Helen's Room (aka The Chapel)
So this is where they cheat, in that the door at the end of this walkway leads not to a smallish room, but rather another stairwell. Down below is the chapel. Filmmakers, always faking it.
I - Gwen's Fountain
Gwen's fountain is another fake. It's supposed to be around the corner from the chapel, through a small archway. Alas, all you find there is blank wall. Well, and the castle toilets. If you look up from close to where Gwen's fountain is on the show, you get a nice idea of how many nooks and crannies this castle has. There's also a huge window right behind the fountain (or rather, the wall) from where you can see the road below.
J - Entrance
This might be the way up to Gaius's rooms, though I'll admit I'm not sure. It would make sense, though, as the rooms beyond that are quite spacious. Not the ones we see on the show, obviously, but still. There are quite a few gargoyles on that tower, as well as mini-castles around the balustrade.
K - Uther's Throne Room (2nd Floor)
Now this is one long room. The wooden floor boards are very smoothly polished, too. I could imagine the occasional knight or clumsy servant (or teeny-tiny!Arthur) falling right on their face. As you can see, there are angels over the entrance doors, which either settles the question of whether or not Christianity exists in BBC's version of Camelot or proves that the props department can be somewhat lazy in concealing the decoration.
L - The Long Stone Walkway
It goes down the entire left side of the courtyard, from left to the gate right up to the wall below Uther's balcony. There are different figures over each archway, humans on one side (to be seen when walking up to the wall) and animals on the other (to be seen when walking down to the entrance).
M - Uther's Balcony
You can see the upper end of the walkway and the well. Inside the well is the overview picture above (without my added letters, obviously).
N - Dungeons & Dragons
The steps lead down to the dungeons (where Arthur and Merlin run around chasing Anhora in 1x11) and the crypt (of which I have no picture, sadly). If you walk down the steps, you turn a sharp right if you want to get to the dungeons, a sharp left for the crypt (which is huge and filled with sarcophagi), and straight ahead up until the wall and then left to go down the next flight of stairs and visit the dragon.
O - The Gate
To get into the castle, you have to cross a draw-bridge. There's a second, narrower bridge with no railing leading to the guard house. It goes quite a way down from there, and no water to break your fall, so any misstep would be fatal unless you happened to be a sorcerer and could fly.
P - Merlin's Corner
You know, the one he keeps hugging whenever Arthur's fighting in a tournament. As you can see, it's actually part of the castle entrance, not far from the draw bridge. Immediately beyond is an archway. If you pass through it, there are narrow, rail-less steps leading up to the battlements.
Q - The Tournament Grounds
[Of which, sadly, I don't have a decent picture]
These are also on the small side. You know how, when you walk past Merlin's corner onto the tournament grounds, there are these huge wooden benches all around? The ones to the right and straight ahead must be right at the edge of the upper plateau, which means that behind them is nothing but a drop of several metres. So let's hope none of those ever falls over (though the people on the left are safe enough).
R - The Ass-Kicking Grounds
This is roundaboutish where Merlin gets his ass kicked by Arthur, training-wise. The picture is taken from above, as the grounds are somewhat below the castle. We carefully calculated the location by inferring from the position of the rectangular tower in the background, until newkidfan pointed out that, hey, you could see the little tower in the background, too. Duh.
~~~
Extras:
The way down from/up to the castle. There's another one closer to the outer walls where you can cut corners, but it's rather steep and probably wouldn't be manageable by horse. You can see parts of it in the last picture.
There's a trebuchet right next to the above mentioned training ground (sorry for the blurriness). Insert half a dozen very bad Monty Python jokes here. ;)
Here's the tiny space where Arthur and Merlin had to share body heat when they were caught in a blizzard, never knowing they were but a stone's throw from Camelot's warmth.
This is the entrance to Merlin and Arthur's secret getaway, hidden in the hills surrounding the castle.
And these are the castle toilets, just around the corner from Gwen's fake fountain. *g*
ETA: Feel free to use any and/or all pictures in whatever way you like. I just ask you credit me as the one taking them.
This is a rough layout of the castle. With bonus shadow. Ahem.
A - Arthur's Tower
This is the view from the north, taken from the town below. The tower closest to the viewer is actually called the Tour d'Artus (Arthur's tower), which makes for a nice bit of geekery. It might even be the one where Arthur's bedroom is, since it does (on occasion) have a view of the, uh, tournament grounds, if probably not a particularly good one.
A close-up. Obviously.
B - The Courtyard
The courtyard is a lot smaller than it looks like, and remarkably easy to walk, for cobblestone. The first picture is the view from the chapel. The second one is a close-up of the crocodile gargoyles that are hanging on the walls here and there.
C - Steps and Statue
One of the entrances, natch.
D - Steps Up Towards the Gryphon Statue
You walk through the entrance and take a sharp left turn. Lookit the nice archway.
E - Gryphon Statue and the Windows of Watching and Arguing
This is just up the stairs, obviously. The picture is taken from the flight of stairs that Merlin et al keep running up and down.
F - The Steps Merlin Keeps Running Up
I've no idea where they lead, but it's probably to yet more corridors of frantic running around.
G - The Corridors of Frantic Running Around
Of which I don't have a very good pic, sadly. If you go down the left, you might be able to reach Uther's throne room with a bit of walking around. There's a locked door at the end of the corridor. The pic above is the view down the right. Around the corner is another long-ish corridor, through which you reach the chapel.
newkidfan says one of these alcoves is the one Morgana pulls Merlin into in 1x13, and I'm inclined to agree.
H - The Walkway to Lady Helen's Room (aka The Chapel)
So this is where they cheat, in that the door at the end of this walkway leads not to a smallish room, but rather another stairwell. Down below is the chapel. Filmmakers, always faking it.
I - Gwen's Fountain
Gwen's fountain is another fake. It's supposed to be around the corner from the chapel, through a small archway. Alas, all you find there is blank wall. Well, and the castle toilets. If you look up from close to where Gwen's fountain is on the show, you get a nice idea of how many nooks and crannies this castle has. There's also a huge window right behind the fountain (or rather, the wall) from where you can see the road below.
J - Entrance
This might be the way up to Gaius's rooms, though I'll admit I'm not sure. It would make sense, though, as the rooms beyond that are quite spacious. Not the ones we see on the show, obviously, but still. There are quite a few gargoyles on that tower, as well as mini-castles around the balustrade.
K - Uther's Throne Room (2nd Floor)
Now this is one long room. The wooden floor boards are very smoothly polished, too. I could imagine the occasional knight or clumsy servant (or teeny-tiny!Arthur) falling right on their face. As you can see, there are angels over the entrance doors, which either settles the question of whether or not Christianity exists in BBC's version of Camelot or proves that the props department can be somewhat lazy in concealing the decoration.
L - The Long Stone Walkway
It goes down the entire left side of the courtyard, from left to the gate right up to the wall below Uther's balcony. There are different figures over each archway, humans on one side (to be seen when walking up to the wall) and animals on the other (to be seen when walking down to the entrance).
M - Uther's Balcony
You can see the upper end of the walkway and the well. Inside the well is the overview picture above (without my added letters, obviously).
N - Dungeons & Dragons
The steps lead down to the dungeons (where Arthur and Merlin run around chasing Anhora in 1x11) and the crypt (of which I have no picture, sadly). If you walk down the steps, you turn a sharp right if you want to get to the dungeons, a sharp left for the crypt (which is huge and filled with sarcophagi), and straight ahead up until the wall and then left to go down the next flight of stairs and visit the dragon.
O - The Gate
To get into the castle, you have to cross a draw-bridge. There's a second, narrower bridge with no railing leading to the guard house. It goes quite a way down from there, and no water to break your fall, so any misstep would be fatal unless you happened to be a sorcerer and could fly.
P - Merlin's Corner
You know, the one he keeps hugging whenever Arthur's fighting in a tournament. As you can see, it's actually part of the castle entrance, not far from the draw bridge. Immediately beyond is an archway. If you pass through it, there are narrow, rail-less steps leading up to the battlements.
Q - The Tournament Grounds
[Of which, sadly, I don't have a decent picture]
These are also on the small side. You know how, when you walk past Merlin's corner onto the tournament grounds, there are these huge wooden benches all around? The ones to the right and straight ahead must be right at the edge of the upper plateau, which means that behind them is nothing but a drop of several metres. So let's hope none of those ever falls over (though the people on the left are safe enough).
R - The Ass-Kicking Grounds
This is roundaboutish where Merlin gets his ass kicked by Arthur, training-wise. The picture is taken from above, as the grounds are somewhat below the castle. We carefully calculated the location by inferring from the position of the rectangular tower in the background, until newkidfan pointed out that, hey, you could see the little tower in the background, too. Duh.
~~~
Extras:
The way down from/up to the castle. There's another one closer to the outer walls where you can cut corners, but it's rather steep and probably wouldn't be manageable by horse. You can see parts of it in the last picture.
There's a trebuchet right next to the above mentioned training ground (sorry for the blurriness). Insert half a dozen very bad Monty Python jokes here. ;)
Here's the tiny space where Arthur and Merlin had to share body heat when they were caught in a blizzard, never knowing they were but a stone's throw from Camelot's warmth.
This is the entrance to Merlin and Arthur's secret getaway, hidden in the hills surrounding the castle.
And these are the castle toilets, just around the corner from Gwen's fake fountain. *g*
ETA: Feel free to use any and/or all pictures in whatever way you like. I just ask you credit me as the one taking them.