Hello everyone, and a happy December to you! Like most of you, I have been recording all the new Hallmark Christmas movies and watching them when I can. I’m using the official Hallmark Countdown to Christmas App, which has been awesome! Once I view a movie, I can click that it’s been watched, and I know exactly which ones I still need to see. I am really loving it!!!
I spent the day in Canada on Sunday. I hadn’t been up north since early October, after going multiple times a week all summer long! In July, I did an interview at the Maple Ridge Florist (which I will publish in February) and they told me about their annual Christmas Open House. They have lovely gifts and gorgeous displays, so my friend and I made plans to attend. The day was perfect, and the shop looked amazing in all its holiday glory! Afterwards, we strolled around the block and went to see the “famous” gazebo that has been in SO many movies! I plan to feature it on the blog at some point.
Walking around with the sun shining and the blue skies, I felt like I was IN a Hallmark movie myself! Passing storefronts and buildings that we’ve scene on Hallmark, it was just so cool to be in the midst of it all. I peered through the window at Jim’s Pizza (which I wrote about here) just as Hailey Dean did when she was recalling the night her fiance Will was murdered. Then I walked past the alley where he was gunned down. I passed the storefront where Debbie Gibson opened a recording studio in the first Summer of Dreams movie. I glanced across the street at a restaurant that we’ve scene in Eat, Play, Love and Love By Chance. And I walked by the gelato shop we saw in Yes, I Do, when Jennifer Lilley put on that big ole hat & sunglasses and donned an English accent, which was so I Love Lucy-like! And before turning the corner to head back to my car, I saw the bakery used in the movie While We Were Dating. It was all so surreal to be there…..it always is. Ok, time to look for a miracle!
As I mentioned in this post, during the summer, I was hot-on-the-prowl for three Hallmark houses! The Mrs. Miracle house, the Drew Lachey house, and the burgundy colored house with a yellow door that was used in Christmas in Evergreen 1 & 2 and Miss Christmas. I am thrilled to tell you that about a week after finding the Drew Lachey house (YAY!), I finally located the Mrs. Miracle house, and I have Aurora Teagarden to thank for it! (I should also note that the third house is still MIA to this day, although I do know its in Langley…..sigh!) Here’s how it all went down.
Once the Drew Lachey house had been found, I focused all of my attention on finding the Mrs. Miracle house. If you re-watch this 2009 movie and look carefully, you will see that there really is very little to go on, which makes the fact that I found it a miracle of its own! I studied every scene showing the house and the biggest clue I had was the mountain in the background. I had images on my desktop as well as my Ipad, and every trip I made north I would pull out those screenshots and try to match them up to the skyline. It was rather aggravating after awhile and my online search was no better. But there was no way I was giving up. On a whim, I reached out to a couple of crew members who worked on the film. One got back to me but declined to help, which only fueled me more. So, on I searched.
I was totally convinced the house was located in Langley (what I refer to as the Hallmark filming capitol) or Maple Ridge. I mean, I was SO certain! I spent countless hours pouring over Google Maps and Google Street View in both of those cities, discovering new neighborhoods, all the while just waiting for the house to reveal itself. This went on for weeks. Very long weeks. Since I am off during the summer, I would search until the wee hours of the night, often telling myself “just five more minutes”, only for another hour to pass and still, nothing. It was difficult to fall asleep some of those nights, especially if I was wound up from searching. So, some nights, I’d get back up and look some more. I knew that eventually I would find the place, but I honestly had no idea when that would be.
Because I have less of a schedule in the summer, I figured it was a great time to start re-watching many of the movies & series from the last couple of years. (plus, I needed a break from all that Google Street Viewing!) Since I’ve become so familiar with the different areas in B.C., I figured I would probably recognize some of the film locations and/or areas that were big question marks to me before, and find some new material for my blog. I decided to begin re-watching the entire Aurora Teagarden series, one eppie each night.
And……I was right. After seeing the first movie, A Bone to Pick, I immediately recognized the neighborhood that Ro’s friend, Jane, lived in. (pssst…..its directly across the street from this house!) The next evening, I watched Real Murders and something extraordinary happened. As I was staring at the row of town-homes on my TV screen, the scenery in the background caught my eye because it looked vaguely familiar to me. And then it hit me; it reminded me of the scenery in the background of the Mrs. Miracle house! (cue dramatic music!)
Town-homes from Aurora Teagarden: Real Murders
And since I had already located the town-homes that were used in Aurora Teagarden (in Squamish) I began to look for a “miracle” that evening! After a short search, I called it a night, as I had an early wake-up call.
The following morning, I was up before dawn because I had an appointment to interview the owners of Heronsbridge, which I wrote about here. Coincidentally, that VERY same morning, the morning after I figured out where the “miracle” was, I received a response from the other person that I had reached out to. And guess what? They confirmed what I figured out the night before. That the Mrs. Miracle house was in the Squamish area!!! I couldn’t help myself. I jumped online to Google Street View and began searching and within MINUTES, I was shouting those three little words I love so much…..”I FOUND IT!” And you know what? It wasn’t even 6:30 in the morning and I already knew it was going to be a GREAT day!!! Miraculously GREAT!!! (and it was)
I am pleased to report that the Mrs. Miracle house looks just as it did in the movie. The only difference is that the foliage has grown over the last 9 years, but you can still see the house, which is gorgeous! (just look at that stone work!) It’s a very unique floor plan and the homes in this neighborhood are all different. Since I was so excited to see it with my own eyes, my husband drove me up north for my birthday, just a few days after “I found it!” Seriously, it’s all I wanted for my birthday.
Besides that mountain in the background of the Miracle house, the only other indicators I had were the neighbors house across the street and a streetlight, which actually looked more like a prop to me than the real thing. I was thrilled to see it was legit when I visited the neighborhood!!!
Photo Source: Crown Media
As always, I had a great time searching for this one but felt enormous relief when I crossed it off of my “Still Looking For” list. Now if I could just find that burgundy house with the yellow front door………anyone??????
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Countdown To Christmas
And the countdown continues with more movie premieres this weekend on the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel. Be sure to check your local listings for info. I’m still behind on my viewing but am doing much better than I did last year! It helps that I’m working part time now.
As always, thank you so much for your support! I will be back soon with another all-new holiday themed film location!
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Your perseverance is so inspiring. Thank you for all your hard work to give us Hallmark fans such interesting tidbits. On a side note, do you know anything about Kristin’s house in Silver Falls from A Christmas Melody? It’s one of my all-time favorites.
Hi Kelly! Thanks so much for your comment, and for exercising my brain. When you said Christmas Melody, I remembered an article about a house from that movie that I read sometime last year. I saved it in my favorites for quick access. Here is the link. http://cincinnatirefined.com/arts-design/this-is-the-cincinnati-house-mariah-carey-used-in-her-hallmark-film-debut The house is in Ohio, where the movie was filmed, and it was Kristin’s L.A. house in the movie. I have not searched for any of the locations from this movie but if I plan a trip to Ohio, you can bet your bottom dollar I will! Thank you again for your words of encouragement. That is really so nice! Merry Christmas! 🙂
Yes, what Kelly said! You pour yourself into these Hallmark location searches, and then the rest of us get to just sit down and enjoy your hard work. We really appreciate it!
Awww Amy, what a sweet comment…..thank you!!! I am so happy to share what I do about these locations and it is very cool to know that people enjoy reading about them. Merry Christmas to you! 🙂
Hi! I love most Hallmark movies and mysteries mainly for the scenery and the homes they use, as well as the clean and generally wholesome storylines.
It was nice to find this website to get a better glimpse of the locations and homes used in each of the movies. I’ve for a long time thought it would be nice to research movie locations for myself but coming from the UK, it’s a little more tricky, so thank you for doing the work and saving me on flight miles. Tempting though! 🙂
Hi Carole and welcome! Thank you for such a nice compliment. I am thrilled that you discovered my website and are enjoying getting a behind the scenes look at these film location. I think it would be awesome for you to take a trip to Canada!!! If you ever make it to BC, please let me know…..I’d love to show you some of your favorite Hallmark locations! Merry Christmas to you! 🙂 PS…my daughter graduated from the University of Leeds…..we LOVE the UK!!!
I have actually visited B.C Canada several times many years ago and loved it. The Pacific Northwest of both America and Canada is so lovely, and so I wasn’t surprised when I learned many of the Hallmark movie locations are filmed there. If I ever get to shimmy over the Big Pond to B.C again, I’ll be sure to investigate a few movie locations from your blog advice. Congrats on your daughter graduating from Leeds University. If ever you visited her at Uni, nearby Harrogate is worth a visit. One lovely University location worth visiting and used for many British film and TV dramas is my much loved Uni years of Oxford University. My local pub there was also C.S Lewis’ local hangout (many many years before I must add 🙂 ) and it was there that he wrote some chapters of his famous The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe childrens book as part of the Narnia Series. As students there, we were often unofficial passers by on drama location sets. Back to the subject of B.C Canada, a favourite Christmas movie of mine is Battle Of The Bulbs which I think was set around Maple Ridge. I’m not sure if that’s a Hallmark movie or not but I recognize the gazebo area used at the end of the movie from other Hallmark movies. I’d love to locate the street used on the set even if isn’t a Hallmark movie, perhaps that’ll be my venture if I get to go there again 🙂 Keep up the interesting blog and Happy New Year!!
Hi Carole! I really do hope you will make it back across the pond, although the UK is a fabulous place too! My daughter tries to get back to the UK every year to visit her uni friends. And yes, I’ve been to Harrogate a couple of times, complete with a stop at Betty’s both times! It will probably come as no surprise to hear that both of my daughters are into film locations, having being dragged from one place to another their whole lives…..LOL. One year while our entire family was in the UK, the girls went on an Oxford film locations tour while I dragged my husband to London on a Notting Hill film locations tour. Lucky you that you attended Oxford. What a phenomenal experience! My girls LOVED The Lion, Witch, Wardrobe books, along with some of his other works.
To be honest, I have not yet seen Battle of the Bulbs but looked it up. IMDB lists Maple Ridge as a location as you mentioned. The main house from the movie is also in Maple Ridge. You must let me know if you come over this way. I would love to meet up with you and we could check out some locations! Now, go pour your self a cuppa tea and I will DREAM about my fave British snack, flapjacks! That and a Cornish Cheese & Onion Pasty. Yummmmm-O! 🙂
Hello Kerry! I love your persistence and determination! This looks like it would be a rather hard house to find, but you did it once again! I re-watched “Mrs. Miracle” yesterday for the millionth time on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. It is still a dear favorite because of Doris Roberts. She was truly fantastic as Mrs. Miracle… something Special! I always say… if only they had made the third movie in the series about her!
Anyway, I bet you could just imagine Mrs. Miracle standing at that door or catching snowballs thrown by the boys in the front yard! What a sweet movie!
Also, I love the way you began this post sharing the gazebo and all sorts of location shots used in various Hallmark movies. You could certainly give your own Hallmark movie set tours through the area of Langley or Maple Ridge!
Once again, awesome job on your sleuthing! That’s so fun that Aurora Teagarden helped you solve this mystery! I wish you well in your search for the home from “Christmas in Evergreen” and “Miss Christmas.” Love those movies, too!
I hope you had a very merry Christmas! Blessings & Happy New Year! Net
Hi Net……happy new year to you my friend! Thank you so much for your encouragement with my locations hobby. I do love the way it challenges me and am always so darn tickled when I find what I’m looking for. This was a really tough one, until Aurora saved the day! (Thanks Ro) Like you, I LOVE Doris Roberts and feel she totally made this movie what is is; a classic that I never tire of watching year after year. It really was a thrill to finally see the place with my own eyes and I am thankful that I got to do that just days after finding it.
I have had several email inquiries about my I’ve Scene It tours! I mentioned last year that I did a private tour for a sweet couple from D.C. that flew to Vancouver for a long weekend, just to see some famous Hallmark film locations from their fave movies! It was such a treat to entertain them for 7 hours!!!! My tours are totally personal because I create them for each individual, based on their viewing preferences. So they are guaranteed to see film locations from their personal favorites!
I am still getting caught up on my 2018 Christmas movies and have loved seeing so many familiar places when I’m watching. I hope that in 2019, I will have uncovered the whereabouts of the Miss Christmas & Evergreen B & B (which by the way was used again in the sequel) I have so many places to share with my readers and I look forward to doing just that in this brand new year!!! As always, I appreciate all your support Net. 🙂
I’ve been looking for that Miss Christmas B&B too… I did notice the iron gate at the end of the driveway has numbers and letters in the iron pattern. I could see it in the scene near the end where he leaves the B&B angry after overhearing her phone call and she meets him at the end of the driveway to find out why he’s leaving. She passes the opened gate when approaching his truck. Looks like it has the number “1526” in the upper center area. Then underneath the number, the letters look something like ‘VAR’ on the 2nd half that she passes first and maybe ‘CRAIG’ on the first half? (camera is aimed at the reverse side of the gate). Does that help?
Sandra, THANK YOU for your comment!!! AND for those details. Many times, I watch the movies in our bedroom on a much smaller TV than I would like. And I miss stuff…like….as a result. Because of the info YOU provided, I was able to locate the Miss Christmas B & B in a matter of minutes AND scratch it off my still looking for list. I cannot thank you enough!!! 🙂