Takodana – Derwentwater, Lake District, UK & Puzzlewood, Gloucestershire, UK.
STARWARS.COM DATABANK – Takodana
Google MAP (1)
54°33’38.7″N 3°07’57.9″W
Home Planet to Maz Kanata. A very green world as Rey observes from the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.
The planet itself is an amalgamation of a number of locations in the UK. Firstly some of the approach to the castle and the Falcon landing plus the arrival of the Resistance X-Wings was filmed at and around Derwentwater in the Lake District, UK.
It appears to be shot from near Walla Craig Trail, looking South West towards Manesty Park
(thank you to Chris Chapman video above)
Maz Kanata’s castle appears to be on the southern shore of Derwentwater near Manesty Park.
When Rey disembarks from the Falcon and takes in the greenery, I think the shot is taken from a spot just north of the National Trust Kettlewell car Park on the South East of the lake, again looking south toward Manesty Park.
Takodana (2) – Puzzlewood, Gloucestershire, UK
After Rey has the “encounter” in the lower sections of Maz’s castle and heads-off out into a wooded area; which was filmed in a place called Puzzlewood, UK.
Google MAP (2)
51°46’47.3″N 2°36’37.1″W
Puzzlewood is an ancient woodland site and tourist attraction, near Coleford in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. The site, covering 14 acres (5.7 ha), shows evidence of open cast iron ore mining dating from the Roman period, and possibly earlier.
Over a mile of pathways were laid down in the early 19th century to provide access to the woods and provide picturesque walks. The area contains strange rock formations, secret caves and ancient trees, with a confusing maze of paths.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Puzzlewood/?fref=ts
The cast and crew trailers can be seen in the images below.
Screen shots.
NB – I was able to visit Puzzlewood in Aug 2022 whilst on a family holiday.
The woods are very mysterious and the canopy cover makes it feel tropical and very humid.
For The Force Awakens, the were a few place used but one of the main one, only on screen for just about a second is Rey running across a gully (from R-L). This gully is located just as you enter the forest on the right. you need to walk down this gully to the end then do a 180 turn and look back towards the entrance.
Above – the movie / below my image coloured and darkened.
Me trying to recreate Rey’s run……
The gully, with the entrance to the wood behind me.
