Chances are you’ve had a favorite TV show and wished you could tour the locations and sets that they use. Call The Midwife gives fans the chance to do just that. Chatham, UK is the home to the Historic Dockyards, whose old buildings give the perfect period feeling. Call The Midwife has used the setting if the Chatham Dockyards as their home for the duration of the series. Is the Call the Midwife Tour worth it?
I had the privilege to visit the dockyards and do the location tour in June. It so happened to be the day of my birthday and was my gift to myself. I 100 percent believe this was worth the price and train ride out of London. It’s only a 45 min express train from London!
First, I have to say that our tour guide, Helen was fantastic as well as the rest of the staff at the dockyards. The historic buildings gave a welcoming feel and it felt like home. The campus is large so I would give yourself time to wander before or after your tour, I unfortunately did not allow myself any time to explore much more after ours ended. If I ever make it back to the UK I would like to try to visit the yards again, it is such a gorgeous campus!
Now when it comes to filming locations in the dockyards for Call The Midwife, it is impossible to see every spot that the show has filmed, but it is very easy to recognize the major locations. I found myself knowing locations before Helen told us the information about it. The excitement was palpable and each location brought more.
During our tour we were lucky to be there during a day they were filming. We got to see a bit of it when our tour was going around and Jenny Agutter waved at us from down the alleyway we were in when she saw us. Personally, that made my day! Sister Julienne herself!
Even without the cast being on site I was thrilled to be there and see the places in person I’ve seen on TV many times. We got some behind the scenes tidbits, which I don’t want to ruin here because you should go on the tour yourself and I don’t wanna ruin it!
The tour ended on set of the filming for the day, we were sworn to secrecy, but I can say that long time fans will see a much loved scene for the first time in a few seasons. The show hasn’t even filmed a scene of this type since 2019. Come back and let us know once the new series begins if you can spot the scene I am referencing.
We got to see Reggie’s greenhouse, the place the bomb in season 2 was exploded, and the ship that Nigerian national sailor, Arde Babayaroo made his way to Poplar on. And to top it off we got to see replicas of Violet’s shop, Fred’s store, and a wonderful display of props used on the show, like Trixie’s wedding dress. I could have spent our whole 90 minutes in this part. If you want to see this display, you’ll have to get the tour ticket, it’s exclusive to only the CTM tours.
All in all I definitely recommend making your way to this tour if you’re in the area or will be. It was worth getting up early and making our way by train to Chatham. As a cool side note the station code for Chatham Station is CTM. I found this serendipitous.
You can find more information and tickets to the tour by visiting the Dockyards website. And be sure to share with us if you go! If you book before July 17th, you’ll be entered to win an Official Call the Midwife Cookbook sign by some of the cast!
