From The Crown to Bridgerton, TV dramas give UK stately homes new lease of life

The recent popularity of period dramas has given our stately homes a new lease of life.

From Bridgerton to The Crown, Downton Abbey to Poldark, British ­drama is now a lucrative business for the UK’s most historic houses.

The National Trust alone has earned almost £4million in the past two years, thanks to bookings from productions such as Netflix ’s Rebecca.

The show, starring Lily James and Armie Hammer, used the Renaissance-style chateau, Waddesdon Manor, Bucks, as a stand-in for the fictional Manderley estate.

Private estates across the country have also been in high demand – and one of those to be used as a set is Rhinefield House in the New Forest.

This beautiful property not only ­featured in the third series of The Crown, but doubled up as a hotel for 19 members of the cast and crew, including Helena Bonham-Carter and Olivia Colman.

With rooms costing £220 per night, the luxury accommodation comes complete with 40 acres of ­landscaped gardens and several swimming pools.

It would have cost the programme makers nearly £13,000 to book – which may help explain why it’s one of the priciest productions ever made.

Here, we look at some of the other grand stately homes being showcased in big budget film and TV productions.

Somerley Estate, Hampshire

The 18th century residence doubled up for Highgrove in the fourth series of The Crown and stood in as Somerset House in Netflix hit Bridgerton.

The 14-bedroom Georgian home, which has its own golf club, also starred in the 1983 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park and Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple mystery, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side.

Somerley, which was designed by architect Samuel Wyatt in 1750, is a private home that has been in the same family for six generations. Its current owner is James Shaun Christian Welbore Ellis Agar, seventh Earl of Normanton.

Wilton House, Wiltshire

Not many properties can stand in for Buckingham Palace – but 16th century Wilton House certainly can.

The Palladian mansion featured heavily in The Crown and was also where the 2019 Emma film, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Bill Nighy, was set.

Emma was the third Jane Austen film adaptation to be shot at the 14,000-acre estate, following on from Sense and Sensibility in 1995 and Pride and Prejudice in 2005.

The house also doubled-up as the Duke of Hastings’ London mansion in Bridgerton. Owners William Herbert, the 18th Earl of Pembroke, and his wife Victoria, now plan to hire out the estate for Bridgerton tours post-lockdown.

Hatfield House, Hertfordshire

Hatfield House was used for lavish ball and party scenes in Bridgerton, to help bring Regency London to life.

More than 30 film and TV shows have been recorded at the Jacobean house over the years, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Batman Begins and 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Today, Hatfield House is the home of the 7th Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury.

It was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and sumptuously decorated for entertaining the Royal Court.

The house’s State Rooms are particularly impressive, filled with paintings, fine furniture and tapestries.

You can visit the historic house and gardens, which have five miles of marked trails, for £19 a ticket.

Hampton Court, London

This Grade I-listed palace has played host to more than 35 films including 2014’s The Theory of Everything and 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, starring Johnny Depp.

Most recently, the kitchens, the Cartoon Gallery and Fountain Court were all key filming locations in 2018 Oscar-winning movie, The Favourite.

The Tudor palace, which is surrounded by 750 acres of parkland and Britain’s oldest maze, was originally the lavish home of King Henry VIII and all his six wives.

Queen Victoria opened the palace to the public in 1838. It is still owned by the Royal Family.

Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire

This English country house, surrounded by 2,500 acres of gardens, has hosted 35 top film and TV productions, including Bridget Jones’s Diary, Kingsman: The Secret Service and TV’s Jeeves and Wooster, starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry.

It was also used for 2001 film, Gosford Park, starring Kristin Scott Thomas.

The Palladian mansion, which is not open to the public, was designed by Isaac Ware in 1754 and built by Admiral John Byng.

Robert Byng, who currently lives in the house and has managed the estate since 1991, also welcomed Cheryl and Ashley Cole to the estate in 2006 to have their £1million wedding blessed after they married in nearby Wrotham Church.

Chatsworth House, Derbyshire

Keira Knightley knows her way around Chatsworth House rather well – she visited for the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice then came back for 2008 film, The Duchess.

There have been 19 film and TV productions at the 105-acre estate, just a few miles from the Yorkshire border.

These include the 2011 Jane Eyre film starring Michael Fassbender and, less predictably, 2009 horror The Wolfman.

Chatsworth House, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, has been home to the Cavendish family since 1549.

Elizabeth Talbot – better known as Bess of Hardwick – bought the manor for £600 in 1549 and began to build the first house on the site three years later.

She was the second most powerful woman in Elizabethan England after the Queen. A £32million programme of restoration work was completed on the site in 2018.

Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire

Winston Churchill’s birthplace has appeared in 35 film and TV productions, including Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Black Beauty.

Most recently, the Baroque country house – which has more than 200 rooms and 1,000 windows – was used as the backdrop for 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight and James Bond blockbuster, Spectre.

The palace was built in the early 18th century as a gift from Queen Anne to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill.

He was the military commander who led troops to victory in the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

Since the house opened to the public in 1950, it has become one of the UK’s top tourist attractions and is now a World Heritage Site.

Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/crown-bridgerton-tv-dramas-give-23455130