Getting in on
Great Chalfield Manor and Garden, near Melksham, Wilts Frensham Little Pond, Surrey Tredegar House, near Newport Ham House and Garden, Richmond, South West London Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent
With its Arts and Crafts garden, ponds and adjacent All Saints parish church, this romantic 15th century manor house has proved a massive hit with Tudor-era productions.
It doubled as Austin Friars in the BBC drama Wolf Hall and played the Boleyns’ country home in The Other Boleyn Girl.
A wicker arbour brought in for Mary Boleyn’s wedding celebration remained in situ to make an appearance – covered in white roses.
The manor house also stood in as Killewarren, home of Ray Penvenen and his niece Caroline, in BBC’S
Poldark series.
WHEN THE WORLD REOPENS: Stay at four-star Beechfield House, a short drive away. B&B in a double room costs from £129 per night. See beechfieldhouse.co.uk.
Created in the 13th century as a fishing pond for the Bishop of Winchester during the reign of Henry III, it is home to a variety of wetland plants and rare birds.
Snow White and the Huntsman and The Huntsman: Winter’s War, starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron, were all shot here and filming fees helped the National Trust carry out the essential work of protecting and preserving the pond and wildlife.
For one of the biggest battle scenes, the crew spent two-and-a-half months building a complete village over a small lake – then proceeded to burn it down in the space of two nights.
WHEN THE WORLD REOPENS: Stay at Emley Farmhouse on the South Downs, a 20-minute drive away. It sleeps ten plus two dogs and costs from £656 for three nights. See nationaltrust.org.uk.
There has been a residence on this site since the medieval times. For 500 years, it was the ancestral home of the Morgans – one of the greatest Welsh families – and later the Lords Tredegar.
Tredegar House provided the ideal time-travelling location for 11 episodes of Doctor Who when filming of the epic BBC series was based in Cardiff, just 12 miles away.
And in Journey’s End, starring Paul Bettany, Stephen Graham and Tom Sturridge, its sweeping parkland starred as a First World War army base.
WHEN THE WORLD REOPENS: Stay at the Premier Inn Cardiff East Hotel, which is a ten-minute drive away. Doubles start from £36. See premierinn.com.
FROM Elizabeth Bennet’s first meeting with Mr Darcy in Lacock to Bruce Wayne’s bat cave at Osterley House, the National Trust reveals its top ten most popular film locations and best behindthe-scenes moments. Compiled by Marjorie Yue.
It is no surprise that this 17th-century treasure is a small and big-screen favourite. Sitting on the banks of the Thames, grand Ham House is close to the major film studios at Pinewood, Ealing and Shepperton.
The imposing Stuart house of fashion and power has taken on various roles, including standing in for Kensington Palace in The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt. And for Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes’ recent ITV series, Belgravia, it was the Brussels office of James
Trenchard, played by Philip Glenister.
For the part of the sinister boarding school in Never Let Me Go, starring Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield, the National Trust gardeners were tasked not to mow the lawns or cut back any of the hedges for three weeks during the summer of 2009. The gardens looked suitably wild for the shoot.
WHEN THE WORLD REOPENS: Stay at the nearby Petersham Hotel, where doubles start from £149 per night. See petershamhotel.co.uk.
Henry VIII took such a shine to Thomas Cranmer’s stately house that the Archbishop of Canterbury was obliged to hand it over to him. So it is no surprise the makers of The Other Boleyn Girl, with Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana, wanted to use it as a stand-in for Whitehall Palace.
The maze of roofs and chimneys created the illusion of a town in Pirates of the Caribbean. Deer also roam the 1,000 acres of parkland, which was the setting for Rush and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. WHEN THE WORLD REOPENS: Stay at Octavia Hill bunkhouse in Westerham. It sleeps ten and costs from £750 for three nights (£23pppn). See nationaltrust.org.uk.