Helen and her family live at Glen Iris Farm, Sheepstor - a small split-holding situated in the west of Dartmoor National Park, set up by the Radmore family in 1997 to farm cattle and sheep.
In 2010, the usually quiet moorlands of Sheepstor Common were taken over for six weeks by the cast and crew of Steven Spielberg’s latest Hollywood blockbuster, ‘Warhorse’, which tells the story of a Dartmoor farm horse taken by the Army during World War I. Helen’s family were chosen to appear as extras in the opening scenes of the movie.
Speaking about her experience of the filming, Helen says: “The film crew were very good with involving the local people during filming, and invited the whole family to audition to be extras. Me, my daughters Jenny and Georgina and my son Mark were all chosen to appear in the opening scenes, as farmers working on the land, and my husband Roy was involved with set dressing, covering some of the modern houses before the filming began.
“We spent 10 days working as extras, usually from five in the morning to seven thirty at night. There was quite a lot of waiting around, but we were well looked after and it was really interesting to see how the filming is done. There were actually four different horses playing the part of Joey, and it was amazing to see how they were being trained, it was really quite incredible.”
She adds: “Steven Spielberg was very polite and not at all aloof, it was quite common for him to come through the village in the morning and stop to say good morning and have a chat with the locals. He even borrowed our quad bike for a couple of weeks to get around the moors!
“We’ve seen the film and saw ourselves in it, and the kids have had some of their friends saying that they’ve spotted them as well. It was a lovely experience, and definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we’ll never forget.”
The Radmore family have been insured by Cornish Mutual since 2010, with combined business, home and contents and fleet insurance for their wide range of vehicles, which includes a lorry, tractor, digger and quad bike.
“We changed insurers to Cornish Mutual because they just have a better all round offer,” Helen says. “The fleet insurance is really good for us, and it’s also nice to have an actual person to speak to face-to-face about any issues. Our local Inspector, Janet Pryor, is very good, she’s always just a phone call away and is quick to return messages and come round to see us.
“The little things make a big difference, so the fact that Janet can come out to us to talk things through, and walk through the house room by room to make sure we’ve got the right cover is really important.”
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