Everything Hearties Want to Know About Filming WHEN CALLS THE HEART
By Movieguide® Contributor
Want to know all the behind-the-scenes details of WHEN CALLS THE HEART? Keep reading to find out how and where the beloved show shoots to provide an authentic-feeling to its frontier town.
The most important aspect to filming on WHEN CALLS THE HEART is the fact that a family-run farm has allowed Hallmark to transform some of their land into Hope Valley. In 2020, writer John Tinker posted a couple of photos of the town during the off season, revealing the permanent structures on the farm. While many of the background buildings stay up year-round, a large majority of the set and decorations are removed when the show is not filming, creating a ghost town-esque Hope Valley.
“I took these photos in March, early in my stay in Vancouver, and found out that, when we’re not shooting, the town ‘hibernates,’” Tinker wrote while sharing the off-season photos. “All the signage, the lamp posts, flowers and other plants, every stick of furniture is gone, making Hope Valley look like a ghost town. But every year, before shooting begins, our crew helps ‘wake the worn from its sleep’ and well…you get the picture.”
Aside from the town’s main streets, few of the other spaces on the show exist in real life. Many of the rows of houses are added into the background through the use of special effects, while many of the buildings house the interiors used for other locations. The second-floor bedroom of Lee and Rosemary Coulter’s house is actually filmed inside of the schoolhouse/church.
While the buildings are not entirely real, the farm the show is shot on is. The farm continues to operate year-round, producing honey, hops, hazelnuts and barley, while also housing chickens and 40 acres of cottonwood trees. Oftentimes the products being produced by the farm will end up in the background of shots, further adding to the realism of the show.
“If we are doing barley, they’ll use it in the background of their scene. They are actually promoting our farming more and more,” farm owner Melanie MacInnes said.
WHEN CALLS THE HEART is currently in the middle of Season 12, with all episodes recently being added onto Hallmark+, allowing fans to catch up on all of the action.
READ MORE: WHEN CALLS THE HEART CO-CREATOR CALLS SHOW ‘A GOOD FORCE IN THE WORLD’
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