Scene set for the National Trust’s main attractions
From Elizabeth Bennet’s first meeting with Mr Darcy to Bruce Wayne’s ‘bat cave’, MARJORIE YUE reveals the National Trust’s top 10 most filmed locations
1
HAM HOUSE AND GARDEN Richmond, London
Sitting on the banks of the Thames, Ham House’s proximity to the major film studios at Pinewood, Ealing and Shepperton together with its history and grandeur it’s no surprise this 17th-century treasure house is both a small and big screen favourite for film shoots.
The imposing Stuart house of fashion and power has taken on various roles; standing in for Kensington Palace in The Youngvictoria starring Emily Blunt, and for Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes’s recent ITV series Belgravia it was the Brussels office of James Trenchard played by Philip Glenister.
For the part of sinister boarding school Hailsham in Never Let Me Go starring Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield, the National Trust gardeners were tasked not to mow lawns or cut hedges for three weeks during the summer of 2009 to wild-up the gardens for the shoot.
● STAY: At the Petersham Hotel nearby, doubles start at £149 per night. petershamhotel.co.uk
2
ASHRIDGE ESTATE, near Berkhamsted, Herts
Being near to the major London studios has helped to make this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty the National Trust’s most filmed location. With nearly 5,000 acres of beech and oak woodland, rolling chalk downland and lush meadows – it’s no wonder Ashridge Estate has been a big hit with film-makers since The Dirty Dozen in the 1960s.
Never portraying itself, Ashridge plays the part of the magical forest kingdom in Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie. In Robin Hood, with Russell Crowe in the title role, Thunderdellwood was picked by Ridley Scott to be the village in which Robin