England Experiences - Number 2 - Filming Locations

I have to admit, a lot of my favourite TV shows and movies are British.  Pride & Prejudice (BBC version), Emma (BBC version), the Cranford series, As Time Goes By and Downton Abbey are a few that come to mind. It was very exciting to see some of the places these were filmed when I was in England!

Our first stop was Bath. Very Jane Austen-ish looking and generally beautiful.  A lot of Persuasion is set in Bath & they used some of the streets in the 1995 version.  I think the street in the second picture is where Anne & Captain Wentworth got engaged.

Not far outside Bath is the little village of Lacock which has been used in a number of period pieces.  Memorable ones for me were Pride & Prejudice, Emma and Cranford.  As a National Trust village Lacock remains historical and beautiful!  We walked around the streets pointing out familiar buildings from films and taking pictures of everything!

Any guesses which film this location was used for?

If you know Downton Abbey at all that shot pretty much gives it away (it's our take-off on the DVD cover).  We took a tour from London that visited the village that was used for places like the hospital, the Crawley cottage and the church, as well as Highclere Castle that plays Downton Abbey so well.  The tour was great fun!  While we traveled around on the coach we watched episdoes of the show and it was an easy, stress-free way to see two locations in one day.  Photography wasn't allowed inside but many of the rooms looked very similar to how they look in the film.  Especially the library, the staircase & great room and the dining room.  The outside bits are very distinctive as well.  Here's the courtyard (with film props stored in the arches) and the tree that is such a lovely shape.  You can just make out my sister & I sitting on the bench underneath.  I'm not sure what that last thing is called but I remember seeing it in the film.

The last location is not nearly as well known.  This farm, Bank Ground, was used for the 1977 film of Swallows & Amazons.  I'm a great fan of the books but hadn't seen the film till this trip (we borrowed a copy from the farm owners) as I haven't been able to find it in the correct format for Canada.

One day we took a steam ship down the lake and caught a glimpse of Wild Cat Island.

This sail boat is not at all like the ones in the book but we enjoyed watching it anyways.

How about you; are there any favourite filming locations you've seen or want to visit?