Filming Locations
Gorgeous costumes. Interesting characters. And stunning settings where our independent buyers agent can help you escape into the world on screen for a few hours. From chocolate box cottages to stately Regency mansions – England has it all. So here are some top filming locations to ask your buyers agent to include in your property search.
Notting Hill, London
As our Recoco buying agent can confirm, Notting Hill is a great place to start when it comes to London on screen. In the film of the same name, Hugh Grant’s shy bookseller falls head over heels for international film star Anna Scott, played by Julia Roberts.
South East England
Wherever your independent buyers agent may lead you on your south east property search, it’s packed with stage sets. Hever Castle, Kent appears in The Other Boleyn Girl and Elizabeth: The Golden Age: the castle was home to the Boleyns in the 16th century.
Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, Winnie-the-Pooh’s very own Hundred Acre Wood, pops up in Goodbye Christopher Robin, and our buyers agent can confirm Winchester Cathedral has racked up screen credits in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Da Vinci Code.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Emma, meanwhile, was filmed in various southern English beauty spots. Our Recoco buying agent can point out Syon Park near London, Stratfield Saye in Hampshire, and Claydon House in Buckinghamshire (plus Evershot in Dorset).
Highclere Castle, Hampshire
Its most recent claim to film fame is as Downton Abbey, but this Charles Barry-designed stately home of Highclere Castle near Basingstoke has a long and interesting history. It’s been the country seat of the Earls of Carnarvon since the late 1600s and the grounds were designed by Capability Brown.
Shere, Surrey
The village of Shere is where those on a Surrey property search will find the cottage from Christmas rom-com The Holiday: Kate Winslet left for sunnier climes, leaving screen brother Jude Law behind to fall for Cameron Diaz. Ask our buyers agent about the location of Shere - in between Dorking and Guildford, there are tearooms, a 12th century church, and even a stream with resident ducks. The village was also used for part of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.
Bath, Somerset
The impossibly photogenic city of Bath is a filming mainstay, as our Recoco buying agent can attest. Our real estate buyers agent can show you locations used in everything from The Duchess, with Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, to the recent Netflix hit Bridgerton. Our property search company will confirm Bath regularly appears in Jane Austen adaptations, including Persuasion (partly set here).
Lacock, Wiltshire
Or ask your real estate buyers agent about another West Country screen favourite - National Trust village, Lacock. It appears in Downton Abbey, The White Princess, Harry Potter, and the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice.
Oxfordshire and Cambridge
Many a property buyer will recognise Oxford from both small and silver screen: Morse, Sherlock Holmes, Howard’s End, Tolkien, even Harry Potter – just ask our Recoco property finder for details. Our independent buyers agent might mention Blenheim Palace, Broughton Castle, and Stonor House, used in films from The Libertine to Shakespeare in Love.
Moving to Cambridge, our real estate buyers agent can confirm the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything utilised many real-life locations, including Kitchen Bridge, St John’s College, Queen’s Green, and The New Court lawn.
Wallingford, Oxfordshire
Midsomer Murders might imply the action occurs in the West Country, but your Recoco property finder may point out it was mainly filmed around Wallingford, South Oxfordshire, on the edge of the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Other nearby towns and villages to entice a property buyer include Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading, and High Wycombe.
Blockley, Gloucestershire
Staying with the perennially popular cosy crime theme, ask your Recoco property finder about Blockley near Moreton-in-Marsh. This attractive village was used to film the Father Brown mysteries with Mark Williams.
Devon, Dorset and Somerset
The gently rolling hills and stunning seaside locations of Devon are also popular with film-makers. Emma Thompson’s adaptation of Sense and Sensibility was filmed largely along the North Devon coast, while Powderham Castle, just outside Exeter, was one location used to represent Darlington Hall in The Remains of the Day; other scenes were filmed at Weston-super-Mare, Chew Valley, and other stately home exteriors in Somerset.
The 2015 version of Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd used several Dorset locations, including Forde Abbey, Mapperton House, Sherborne, and West Bay. Stokesay Court was used in the film Atonement, while the stunning Jurassic Coast has appeared in several versions of Persuasion, Far From the Madding Crowd, Broadchurch, On Chesil Beach, and the 2020 film Ammonite.
Cornwall
With its stunning coastline and dramatic former industrial landscapes, Cornwall has been an on-screen star for decades – just ask your property search company. It was the backdrop to the original 1970s Poldark BBC adaptation and the 2015 remake, and for Doc Martin. Fisherman’s Friends and other productions ranging from Jamaica Inn to modern remakes of Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel also make the most of the dramatic scenery.
Harry Potter
The incredibly successful Harry Potter movie franchise deserves a section of its own. In the south of England, Blenheim Palace and the iconic Bodleian Library in Oxford are amongst the stunning locations used to create the world of Hogwarts, as well as Christ Church College and Gloucester Cathedral.
James Bond
On the subject of long-running movie franchises, we need to mention everyone’s favourite (if not entirely realistic) MI6 naval officer. Head for the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in the New Forest, Hampshire, to see many of the authentic vehicles used in the films; Blenheim Palace has also featured in the series, and the Thames is often witness to Bond’s exploits.
London Lights
Coming full circle, London has appeared in hundreds of productions, from Spooks to Bridget Jones to Shakespeare in Love (though we’re fairly sure Tudor London was just a little bit grubbier than in the film). Parts of central London have also been used to film James Bond movies, Sliding Doors, The Crown, and Les Misérables, with Canary Wharf and the Old Royal Naval College especially popular with film-makers.
So whether you’re a die-hard movie buff, or have just seen a location on screen you like the look of, the likelihood is you’re never very far from a film location.