On location at the Waterwise Garden, Worthing, St. Mildred of Thanet, Kent

St. Mildred of Thanet
Great, great granddaughter of King Ethelbert of Kent

Our lovely contemplative and informative film about St. Mildred of Thanet was filmed locally to Mary’s Dowry Productions in some interesting settings in Worthing, giving our lovely early British Saint some pleasing backdrops in which to walk, think and pray.  Here at Mary’s Dowry Productions we try to keep our films as simple, creative and local as possible, keen to share our local area of the South Downs, beaches, woodlands, history, nature and wildlife with our local and international viewers.  In ‘St. Mildred of Thanet’ you will see the great, great granddaughter of King Ethelbert of Kent, walk the pretty paths of Marine Gardens, contemplate the sacred Relic of the Nail in the Waterwise Gardens and stand on the coastal edge of Goring beach as she looks across to France.  The Waterwise garden was a location we wanted to use in one of our films about our early Saxon Saints due to the interesting wood sculptures that certainly have an ancient feel to them.  

Worthing's Waterwise Garden features in our film about
St. Mildred of Thanet

The new shingle garden was constructed on the Foreshore at West Parade in Worthing to highlight the need to water conservation during periods of reduced rainfall in the south east of the country.  The Waterwise gardens shows what can be achieved by gardeners using drought tolerant plants, many of which are characteristic of vegetated shingle and exhibit adaptations to conserve scarce water in this extreme environment.  The project cost £50,000 and was funded by a partnership between Worthing Borough Council’s seafront improvement budget and Southern Water. 

St. Mildred of Thanet in the gardens at the Abbey of Cheles
Filmed at Marine Gardens, Worthing

It was a little more tricky using the lovely Marine Gardens in the film but we managed to acquire a selection of lovely visuals to blend with sacred art, creative and striking paintings and footage of nature.   A small neat ornamental garden on the seafront laid out in 1930, this seafront site has a café, pavilion, bowling green, putting green, ornamental gardens and a pond with public conveniences including disabled facilities.  Here in this shot you can see Saint Mildred, studying in the ‘Abbey of Chelles’, filmed in Marine Gardens.  St. Mildred’s story is full of history and faith and includes miracles, relics, devotion, a dramatic escape, prayer, virtue and some lovely original music to accompany the narrative and the visuals.  The film has been broadcast free recently in New York through Telecare and we received some excellent feedback from delighted viewers.  

St. Mildred of Thanet is available on DVD through our online shop www.marysdowryproductions.org and AMAZON.   In practically all of our films we use a blend of simple costumed portrayals, historical imagery, sacred art, original music and detailed, informative narration to present the lives of the Saints.  This is not a ‘movie’ produced for entertainment neither is it purely a documentary, it is a creative way to learn the life of Saint Mildred of Thanet through film.  OUT NOW!