Herstmonceux Castle

Beryl's film starts at the entrance to Herstmonceux Castle. Following close-ups of the brickwork and other architectural details, she films her family exploring the gardens and extensive grounds. After a montage of flowers in close-up, we see a large astronomical telescope in the distance and views of the Royal Greenwich Observatory’s premises. Several observatories, including the Isaac Newton telescope, are seen and described in Beryl's narration.

New Zealand born Beryl Armstrong began making films while living in India in the early 1960s. For the next thirty years her output was prolific and Beryl’s films, which often captured aspects of rural life in Sussex and Hampshire, appeared at local amateur film making festivals and competitions, where they won trophies and certificates of merit. She also wrote articles for film magazines and taught her sons Richard and Anthony, who often appeared in her productions, the art of filmmaking. Both went on to create their own collections of short documentaries, comedies and animations. Beryl is also a successful author, publishing twelve novels as well as a book about designing and building doll's houses.