Starring Roles for Treasure Houses

As well as being among the finest palaces, historic houses and castles in the country, the Treasure Houses of England are also increasingly in demand as the locations for a host of big budget films and major television shows.

Among the 10 properties included in the consortium are Blenheim Palace, which was recently used as a major location for the new Transformers film and has been the setting for a number of other high profile movies like Gulliver’s Travels, Harry Potter and the BFG.

Hatfield House is featured extensively as part of the BBC’s Taboo series and Harewood House has seen a 11% rise in visitor numbers following its use as a location in ITV’s award-winning series Victoria.

As well as providing income from being used as a location, many of the properties also incorporate exhibitions and trails highlighting their screen role to visitors and this also attracts new and emerging markets to the houses. Several of the Treasure Houses have featured in various Bollywood movies.

Other properties, like Castle Howard, remain synonymous with classic series like Brideshead Revisited more than 25 years after they were filmed.

Hatfield House’s Senior Operations Manager, Sarah Cardall-Spawforth, said: “We had great pleasure in welcoming the talented cast and crew of Taboo to Hatfield House. Actors including Tom Hardy, Jonathan Pryce and Jason Watkins joined us on the Estate to create this fantastic BBC One primetime drama.

“We have since had a number of fans of the show visit the House specifically to take a look at where some of the scenes were shot.

“Filming is of enormous importance to the house and we have been lucky enough to host some blockbuster films in recent years including Wonder Woman (2016) & Paddington (2014).

“We can offer film makers privacy, flexibility and the support of an experienced team. As well as offering one of the finest Jacobean Houses in England, the Estate provides filmmakers with access to private roads and 42 acres of parkland. Our location is often very appealing as we are within reach of major filming studios and of course London itself,” she added.

Treasure Houses of England’s Starring Roles:

Beaulieu in Hampshire was the setting for A Man for All Seasons starring Robert Shaw, Paul Scofield, Orson Welles and Leo McKern in a film directed by Fred Zinnermann. Actress Margaret Rutherford starred at Beaulieu in The Stately Ghosts of England, while Joan Plowright, Rupert Friend and Anna Massey filmed outside Palace House and the Abbey Cloister in Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont. Ewan McGregor starred at sister attraction Buckler’s Hard in the Woody Allen film Cassandra’s Dream. The Honourable Rebel film told a story closer to home with the story of Elizabeth Montagu. Beaulieu is used as a regular location for filming with the likes of Blue Peter, The Antiques Roadshow, Countryfile, Gardener’s Question Time and motoring documentaries in the National Motor Museum.

Blenheim Palace has been the scene of mass dancing, feasting, intrigue and murder. It’s even been set on fire and blown up! Some of the recent films shot there include, Cinderella, A Little Chaos, James Bond’s Spectre, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Gulliver’s Travels, The Young Victoria and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Burghley brilliantly brings history to life on the big screen courtesy of its original Elizabethan buildings and inspiringly eclectic interiors which have featured in films such as The Da Vinci Code, Pride and Prejudice and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Castle Howard is particularly famed for its role in Brideshead Revisited, in the acclaimed Granada TV production in 1981 and again in the 2008 movie by Ecosse Films. The bedrooms, South Front Rooms and Great Hall were transformed for the BBC mini-series Death Comes to Pemberley and a number of interiors doubled for Kensington Palace in ITV’s Victoria. Other notable movie roles include The Buccaneers and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties.

Chatsworth also starred in the BBC mini-series; Death Comes to Pemberley. The House’s beautiful South and West facades were used to depict Pemberley’s famous exteriors, whilst rooms inside the house such as the Painted Hall, Great Dining Room, Sculpture Gallery and Oak Room were transformed to depict Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s home for films such as Pride & Prejudice, The Duchess and the Wolf Man, and TV show Peaky Blinders.

Harewood House in West Yorkshire was the setting for the 2008 mini-series ‘Lost in Austen’. The House played Maythorpe Hall in South Riding and below stairs was a major influence on Julian Fellowe’s Downton Abbey. You can also spot scenes and settings from popular television series such as A Touch of Frost, The Royal, At Home with the Braithwaite’s and Emmerdale.

Hatfield House has been used for a number of film and television series including Anna Karenina with Keira Knightly and Jude Law and the multi-Oscar-winning hit ‘The King’s Speech’ starring Colin Firth. Its many other credits include Wonder Woman, Netflix’s The Crown, BBC’s Taboo, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, My Week with Marilyn, Clash of the Titans, World’s End, Sherlock Holmes 2, Tomb Raider, and Batman. More recently the House and the donkeys from the Farm were in Paddington.

BBC’s Countryfile continues to favour the wonderful walled gardens and Victorian glasshouses of Holkham Hall. Holkham’s award-winning beach was featured in ‘Shakespeare in Love’ and the Hall as a location for ‘The Duchess’ which starred Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes.

Leeds Castle in Kent has a long history as a film location going right back to the 1940s with Sir Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets. More recently it has been used for the BBC ‘Hollow Crown’ series with Benedict Cumberbatch playing Richard III and for Bollywood fans, Leeds Castle played backdrop to Akshay Kumar in a romantic action movie called Rustom.

In recent years, Woburn Abbey has appeared in documentaries and TV shows such as the much-missed Victoria Wood’s Nice Cup of Tea, Masterchef, Countryfile, Flog It, The One Show, Escape to the Country and Phil Spencer’s Stately Homes.