How to Vacation in Some of Britain's Most Iconic Movie and TV Locations

How to Vacation in Some of Britain's Most Iconic Movie and TV Locations
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Britain appears regularly on America’s screens, both big and small, as a result of the enormous popularity of televisions series such as Downton Abbey and Sherlock and movies such as those in the Harry Potter franchise.

This has led to rapid growth in what is known as screen tourism, visits inspired by the filming locations that provide the backdrop to these programmes and movies. In England alone, international visitors are spending more than £100 million a year, according to one piece of research into the phenomenon.

If you fancy becoming a screen tourist yourself, Britain’s tourism body VisitBritain has a useful website that reveals many of the key locations used. To help you plan your British vacation, this article looks at some of the major on-screen favourites and where you can stay nearby.

Downton Abbey

Hampshire's Highclere Castle is the setting for Downton Abbey
Hampshire's Highclere Castle is the setting for Downton Abbey
ITV

Downton Abbey was PBS’s most popular drama in the channel’s history. At its most popular, the saga of the Granthams and Crawleys was attracting audiences of more than 13 million a week. Downton Abbey, in reality, is Highclere Castle, 45 miles west of London in the county of Hampshire rather than in North Yorkshire as depicted in the series. Highclere is the ancestral home of the Carnarvon family and is open to visitors who can explore the interior of the castle and also the extensive grounds, landscaped by the famous designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

A great base to stay to visit Highclere is The Miller of Mansfield, an 18th-century inn with just 12 rooms, each decorated in an individual style – choose from vintage 1960s to Phillippe Starck modernism. The inn, 23 miles from the castle, is a great romantic hideaway and good for long walks by the River Thames. It is also possible to stay on the estate itself, as I mentioned in my earlier article on ten amazing historic places to stay in Britain.

If you would rather explore the Yorkshire countryside that is shown off so beautifully in Downton Abbey, Sykes Cottages have many quaint vacation rental properties in the county.

Poldark

Filming of Poldark on location in Cornwall
Filming of Poldark on location in Cornwall
St Aubyn Estates Holidays

It is almost certainly Aidan Turner’s buff body that has attracted most attention in the BBC’s adaption Winston Graham’s series of novels but many American viewers will have fallen in love with the beautiful scenery of Cornwall, in the far south west of Britain.

The series, which tells the story of Ross Poldark’s return to Britain after the American War of Indepenence, has had a huge impact on tourism. A survey for the county’s tourism board found that more than a quarter of visitors had been tempted to visit the county as a result of the programme.

You can find out where the series has been filmed in this blog post and if you want somewhere to stay nearby, try Classic Cottages, which has hundreds of vacation rentals throughout the area.

Harry Potter

The famous railway viaduct from the Harry Potter movies
The famous railway viaduct from the Harry Potter movies
Nicolas17 [CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)

With the Potter universe attracting attention again with the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the original eight movie series will get a new lease of life. The movies are a wonderful showcase of many striking locations around the country, from Kings Cross station in London (where you can have your photo taken at Platform 9¾) to the Glenfinnan viaduct that carries the Hogwarts Express to its destination. You can see more of the locations on this handy list from VisitBritain.

Hogwarts school was itself portrayed by Alnwick Castle in Northumberland in the first two movies and has also popped up in other productions, including Downton Abbey.

The Lord Crewe Arms is a beautiful stone-built inn in the heart of the North Pennines, an area of outstanding natural beauty, an hour away from the Castle. The Northumberland National Park is also nearby and well worth exploring.

Don’t forget you can also take the Making of Harry Potter tour at Leavesden Studios outside London where many of the movies were shot.

Sherlock

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock
Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock
BBC

Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective has enjoyed a spectacularly successful reboot with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role of Sherlock which has seen the streets of modern-day London replace the more usual Victorian ones used in previous incarnations.

Baker Street, and 221b in particularly, is an obvious location to visit but you may get confused. At that location (running from 219 to 229) you will find a large apartment block that was formerly the headquarters of a British bank. The Victorian townhouse, if there ever was one, has long gone. However, you can visit the Sherlock Holmes museum, a townhouse at number 237 which fulfils the role of 221b nicely.

If you want to visit the location used in the recent Sherlock series, that is not in Baker Street. Instead, you have to travel a couple of stops on the Underground to Euston Square, where you will find the apartment above Speedy’s cafe at 187 North Gower Street.

If you want to stay locally, try the Dorset Square hotel for Baker Street or chef Gordon Ramsay’s York and Albany for the modern filming location.

Mark Frary is Family Travel Editor at 101 Holidays

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