“Black Mirror” Shoot Inspired my Rock Gardens
In September 2022, a Netflix film crew descended on our house to film some scenes for Season 6 of Black Mirror, and to say they left an impression on me is an understatement. The episode in question is called “Joan is Awful” starring Salma Hayek and Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek). Much to my excitement, and after months of waiting with bated breath, whilst keeping my mouth shut about who, what, where, when and why (due to an NDA) Netflix finally posted a trailer, teasing the series and announcing it would be released in June! Whoop whoop, I could finally spill the beans about Salma being in my house. I repeat, Salma Hayek was at my house!! The series is now released and so there’s some pics from the show below…
"Joan is Awful" is the story of an average woman who is stunned to discover a global streaming platform has launched a prestige TV drama adaptation of her life, in which she is portrayed by Hollywood A-lister Salma Hayek. In addition to Hayek, the episode stars Annie Murphy, Michael Cera, Rob Delaney, Ben Barnes, and Himesh Patel. The episode's directed by Ally Pankiw.”
~ EXPLORE ENTERTAINMENT
Screenshots from the Show…
Our Location House
We’ve been renting out our house, a retro American Ranch Style Bungalow in Royal Berkshire, for photo and film shoots since the middle of 2021. We’ve had some really cool productions here, we thoroughly enjoy the shoots and thrive on having crews and creative people here at the house. I’ve worked in TV & Media all my adult life so I’m literally right at home with it all! We love the appreciation people have for our Bungalow, as we’ve worked really hard to refurb it, especially the exterior, in keeping with the Mid Century Modern style and era, which we both have a passion for. Plus the estate we live on, Edgcumbe Park, has pretty cool provenance, having been the film set for the original Fahrenheit 451 movie, from the 60’s, starring Julie Christy. So it seemed like a smart thing to do, get it listed, put it out there and see what happens. It hasn’t disappointed.
It once looked like this…
When we bought the Bungalow in 2018, it was quaint and cute but the exterior was a bit of a bloody mess! The previous owner definitely didn’t have green fingers so it was very overgrown, in fact, you could barely see the house from the road, thanks to a plethora of trees, bushes and overgrown shrubs! But when we took over, we scooped up years of dead leaves and my Husband Adam took a chain saw and literally cut down and cut up everything we could legally destroy. (The big trees on the estate, like the Oaks and Scots Pines, are protected.) I then spent days and weeks shredding branches and bushes, it was very cathartic and enjoyable!
It eventually looked like this…
Crisp, clean and classy but a bit sterile
We were looking for inspiration as to what we could do to soften up the exterior and add some interest, whilst retaining the Mid Century Modern feel of the place. We considered some beds but didn’t want “flowery flowers”. Our Neighbour, in a similar bungalow, has lots of flowers and, although we enjoy looking at them, we wanted something different for our place. I definitely considered Rock Gardens but wasn’t sure how to get started. I almost planted Pampas Grass to get the neighbours gossiping, but chickened out (instead I have some in pots round the back!). So we did nothing but cut the grass for a couple of years.
Then Netflix came along…
And this was the best thing that could have happened. Our bungalow was booked for a one day shoot, with 2 days “prep” to set up and dress the house and garden. The Gardeners arrived on Day 1 and emptied a tonne of trees, shrubs, gravel and fake rocks onto the garden and literally worked their magic. In fact, what they did, in one day, made our jaws drop! (note what the construction crew did to the garage door too!)
Here’s what they did…
A lot of the action that was filmed with Salma and Annie happened outside on the front step and the driveway, that’s why they dressed the exterior they way they did. Although they filmed just inside the foyer too, the bulk of the “internal”scenes were filmed in a studio, where they had built a mock-up of our interior. But the brief which came through prior to filming, had outlined the set dressing proposals and talked about “Americanising” the house, and we think the Art Director, Nick Murray, did a cracking job of that with the rock gardens and paint job on the bungalow, aided by his really talented Gardening and Construction teams. Many of our immediate neighbours had their gardens dressed with shrubs and American Post Boxes so it was a street effort and such great fun. Sadly, they took it all away the day after the shoot, and we were left with the bare bones of our bungalow again, but it also left me motivated to create my own Rock Gardens….
Sneaky snap the morning of the shoot before the action started
And here’s what I did!
They were a hard act to follow but I put on my big-girl boilersuit, grabbed the spade and got cracking! The first Rock Garden I created, right outside the front window, was the “experiment”, you could say, but it certainly got me up and running…
Rock Garden No. 1
I was nervous about starting this Rock Garden as I’d never embarked on anything like it before. I could barely keep plants alive in pots in the past so planting them in the ground made me a bit nervous. But so far so good. I created this one in October 2022 and it’s already looking pretty established, having weathered a particularly frosty Winter. I planted lots of grasses and ferns and, because I’m pretty new to gardening, I wanted to see how they would cope with the Winter before I started work on the others. Much to my relief, most of them survived. The only casualties were a couple of Heathers, which I replaced with lovely French Lavender plants. Note, I also painted my rocks, as the selection I had were all different colours and in various states of “weathered” and so, inspired by the Black Mirror fake rocks, which were lovely shades of stony grey, I set to work giving mine bit of a “glow up”. They looked quite uniform at first but as they started to weather, they also took on a whole new personality of their own. Here’s some pics of the progress from buying my first shrubs…
4 Favourite shrubs: Santolina Lemon Fizz, Autumn Ferns, Carex Grasses and my Fennel, which is suddenly going bonkers!
Rock Garden No. 2
This was my second Rock Garden, which I began on the 23rd of April and have been tweaking and nurturing ever since. That Plume Thistle in the middle was a tiny wee thing with one main shoot when I planted it and now it’s growing arms and legs at a rate of knots! It’s clearly happy in that spot and the others appear to be too. The Fern on the right, I liberated from a grotty corner behind a fence on the other side of the house and, within days, it was thriving! Here’s some pics of the progress from start to finish…
4 Favourite shrubs: Japonica Sekkan Sugi Cedar tree, Plume Thistle, Helichrysum thianschanicum 'Icicles' and the cute little Picea glauca 'Zuckerhut' Spruce.
Rock Garden No. 3
That patch of the lawn was no-man’s land! A large tree and various bushes had once inhabited this spot and we found it difficult to grow grass there, so it made sense to repurpose it and put something cool and pretty there instead. Digging out and shaping this Rockery cost me blood, sweat, tears AND Tennis Elbow but it was worth it! The Colorado Blue Spruce Tree (although off-centre) is the centre-piece. We desperately wanted a “Christmassy” tree out the front and, yes, we will be adding lights to it at Christmas! Due to the many roots underneath the surface, I had to choose my planting positions carefully, which guided me to not overpopulate it and I think that’s worked out great. The large boulder in the middle, the newest addition, belonged to a neighbour. I had my eye on it for weeks but he was happy to swap it for a bottle of Malbec!
4 Favourite Shrubs: Euphorbia “Silver Swan”, Festuca Glauca Intense Blue grasses, Pinus Parviflora “Negishi” Japanese White Pine and the hero of the Rockery, my Colorado Blue Spruce!
Here’s a Whistle Stop Tour…
Preoccupied with Plants
My Rock Gardens might be understated compared to the ones the Black Mirror crew created, which were flouncy and flamboyant, but that’s ok because I’m head over heels with them, or should I say, waist over wellies, yeah that’s more like it! Before I began building them, I Googled things like “rules for rock gardens” and nonsense like that. I couldn’t find any solid do’s and don’ts so, as I’m a non-conformist anyway, I decided “sod it, I’m just going to plant what makes me happy!” I became utterly obsessed with plants, shrubs, trees, soil, garden centres in general, especially their cafes, and developed a “love for Longacres”, a “soft spot for Squires” and a “crush on B&Q”! I simply chose plants and shrubs I liked the look of, with a leaning towards Evergreens, and spent trolleys of cash in the process!
I used to have Clean Fingers…
In summary, it has been immensely enjoyable building my Rock Gardens and, much to my delight, the locals appear to be enjoying them too. Not only do I receive compliments from passers by when I’m in the front garden, I sometimes see people stopping to take photos of No. 3. I consider that a pat on the back! I can’t say I’m looking forward to the Autumn when the large Oaks and Scots Pines start shedding their bits all over them but, regardless, I’ll be out there tending to them as if they’re my 2nd, 3rd and 4th children. Look at me, I used to have clean fingers and now I have green fingers!
Thanks for reading and thank you Netflix for the inspiration!
Jen x
Follow me on Instagram: @American_bungalow
Recent Press
Here’s some press we got for the house and it’s new found fame. Click on the pics to read the articles and hear my radio interview with BBC Radio Berkshire…
Bracknell News
Wokingham Today
BBC Radio Berkshire
And here’s aWalk-By of our Bungalow…
Thanks for reading. ~ Jen
*N.B. Black Mirror was released on Thursday 15th June and I’ve now updated this blog with stills from the show*