In May 2000 I took a trip with my husband to Co. Galway in Ireland. We spent two nights at Cregg Castle in Corrandulla, the hotel where Dusty stayed during the filming of the video for ‘Roll Away’.
My first impression of Cregg was of almost total silence, the only noise came from the birds and sheep. And then the dogs arrived, four of them and from then on, wherever we went, they came too! Cregg isn’t like a normal hotel, it’s more of a large house, a handful of guest rooms, slightly faded elegance, high ceilings, a mish mash of old furniture but with a definite charm. We were shown to our room but I didn’t find out until later that Ann Marie, who runs the hotel with her husband Patrick, had given me “Dusty’s room”. The room had no TV or telephone but it did have a large bathroom with a bath, which is why Dusty like it. Almost right below the bathroom window was the “green door” which featured largely in the video, used I was told, on the last day of filming when they were running out of time. It was really in the back yard, surrounded by bins and empty bottles, the true glamour of filming.
I was told by Ann Marie that Dusty had been particularly stressed out by the whole video making process. She was worried by the close ups, her make-up, the weather and the whole ageing thing, she also, of course, hadn’t been well. Every day they went to different locations, usually in the Winnebago and supported by white horses and children.
One of the sites we visited was the Poulnabrone dolmen, the large stones that Dusty sits and stands in front of towards the end of the video. I had visions of that Winnebago being parked on the very narrow lanes, causing absolute chaos and of Dusty making her way (in heels?) over the very rugged landscape that nearly resulted in me breaking an ankle or two! At the end of the video, when Dusty is sillouetted by the setting sun, apparently she nearly didn’t make the shot. The director wanted to film her as the sun was setting, but Dusty needed a loo break and when you gotta go, you gotta go! She took about an hour and the director was apparently in tears! He missed the sunset, but still got his shot.
I only had a couple of places I really wanted to visit while I was there and one was the Cliffs of Moher. This was Dusty’s “favourite place” in Ireland, where Tom took some of her ashes. It is incredibly beautiful, huge high cliffs that spread for about five miles and on top of them stands a tower. It was this that first drew Dusty to the area. It was built in 1853 by a local eccentric and is called O’Briens Tower.
We spent quite a bit of time wandering around the Cregg estate and I came quite quickly to understand why Dusty loved it so much there. It was definitely quiet and peaceful, the perfect place for someone who wanted to escape from the world for a while. Her favourite walks took her to wherever the animals were and when the video shoot came to an end, she decided to stay on alone to recover from what had been a rather difficult week. She relaxed and joined the family for meals and barbecues, becoming quite smitten with a sheep called Ziggy who was a bit of a loner, didn’t mix with other sheep and liked human food, especially garlic bread, which Dusty found hilarious. She liked to go for walks with the dogs through the woods and meadows and before she left she wrote in the visitors book saying she would definitely be back.
She did go back the following year and her entry in the book that time said “My healing place”. If only it could have worked miracles.
Thanks for Paul Howes for the photographs, reprinted from The Dusty Springfield Bulletin.
Thank you to Carole Gibson and Paul Howes of The Dusty Springfield Bulletin for allowing us to reprint this article.
