According to a tweet from the official twitter for Ballyscullion Park in Northern Ireland, it looks like the first day of filming took place on their grounds:
filming ofEpisode 1 Series 3 #gameofthrones taking place here!
—ballyscullion park (@_ballyscullion) July 9, 2012
They later added that the filming was wrapping up right around now, so that’s the first day done. Nice to see a new location—the woodlands at the park seem to have been the focus—added to the mix….
But more importantly, it looks like we now know that returning Season 1 director Daniel Minahan is starting off the third season, because as @ballyscullionpark noted that it was episode 1 that was filming, Cat Taylor noted that “Dan M” was directing:
So #GOT kicks off for real, with Dan M up at the helm. Everyone agrees, it’s like we never left at all.
— Cat Taylor (@CatonSet) July 9, 2012
So, one day down… quite a lot more to go. We’re looking at filming going into November.