UK Set-Jetting: Where Bridgerton, The Crown and Downton Abbey Were Actually Filmed
Set-jetting is the travel habit of planning a trip around the places a favourite series or film was actually shot, and nowhere rewards the approach more than Britain. Bridgerton, The Crown and Downton Abbey between them have filmed in some of the most spectacular stately homes and castles in the country — and the strange thing is that most of them are real, working estates you can visit, walk the gardens of, and in a handful of cases actually sleep inside. The rest of the time you sleep in a village pub, a historic coaching inn or a country house hotel down the road, which is arguably the more authentic experience anyway.
Here are eight of the most important UK set-jetting locations, what was filmed there, and a real, verified place to stay nearby. If Italy is more your speed, we have a companion guide to Italian filming locations worth travelling for as well.
1.Highclere Castle — Downton Abbey (Hampshire)View on Booking.com ↗
Highclere is the castle. It is the exterior of Downton Abbey, most of the interiors, the grand staircase, the library and the dining room where the Crawleys sit down to dinner every episode. Highclere is a private home and only opens on selected dates each year for self-guided tours, Egyptian exhibition visits, and the occasional Battle Proms concert — tickets sell out months in advance, so plan the date before you book anything else. You cannot sleep inside the castle itself (a tiny self-catering lodge on the estate is the exception and is almost impossible to get), so the practical base is Newbury or the villages nearby.
Where to stay: The Vineyard at Stockcross, a well-regarded country house hotel a short drive from Highclere with a serious wine cellar and a Michelin-starred restaurant. Upper mid-range to luxury.
2.Castle Howard — Bridgerton (North Yorkshire)View on Booking.com ↗
Castle Howard near York played Clyvedon, the Duke of Hastings' family seat in Bridgerton season one. The façades, the Great Hall, the walled garden and the Temple of the Four Winds all appear in the most romantic scenes of Daphne and Simon's story. Castle Howard itself is open year-round for day visits, and the estate has around 170 self-catering holiday cottages on the grounds which can be booked for stays of two nights and up — these include access to the main house and gardens during your visit.
Where to stay: a Castle Howard estate cottage if you can get one, otherwise the Feversham Arms Hotel in nearby Helmsley is a long-standing country retreat. Mid-range to upper mid-range.
3.Wilton House — Bridgerton's Lady Danbury and the Queen (Wiltshire)View on Booking.com ↗
Wilton House, three miles west of Salisbury, is the secret weapon of Bridgerton. Its interiors double as the Duke of Hastings' London residence, Lady Danbury's house, and the royal interiors of Queen Charlotte's palace. The state rooms are genuinely spectacular — this is a sixteenth-century house with Inigo Jones Palladian additions — and the grounds and parts of the house open to visitors in the warmer months. Check the current schedule before you plan, as interiors periodically close for conservation work.
Where to stay: Howard's House Hotel in Teffont Evias, a small ivy-covered country house hotel twenty minutes from Wilton, or The White Hart in Salisbury itself. Mid-range.
4.Badminton House — Bridgerton (Gloucestershire)View on Booking.com ↗
The Bridgerton family's country seat, Aubrey Hall, is played by Badminton House in Gloucestershire, a seventeenth-century ducal estate still lived in by the Duke of Beaufort's family. Badminton opens only occasionally for guided tours, but the surrounding villages of the Cotswolds make it a lovely base regardless of whether you manage to get inside the house itself.
Where to stay: The Beaufort Arms in Hawkesbury Upton or, further afield, Thyme in Southrop — one of the most carefully restored Cotswold village hotels. Mid-range to luxury.
5.Ardverikie Estate — The Crown's Balmoral (Scottish Highlands)View on Booking.com ↗
Ardverikie, on the shore of Loch Laggan in the central Highlands, stands in for Balmoral in The Crown. It is also the Glenbogle of Monarch of the Glen — the same house, two very different royal fantasies. The estate has six self-catering holiday cottages available year-round sleeping between three and thirteen people, set in genuinely wild Highland scenery of mountains, rivers and forest.
Where to stay: an Ardverikie estate cottage directly, or the Glen Spean Lodge Hotel nearby in Roybridge. Mid-range to upper mid-range.
6.Belvoir Castle — The Crown's Windsor (Leicestershire)View on Booking.com ↗
Belvoir (pronounced "Beaver") Castle in Leicestershire played Windsor Castle in the first three seasons of The Crown, standing in for the royal family's London-area home. It is a Regency Gothic fantasy built between 1801 and 1832, still lived in by the Duke and Duchess of Rutland. The castle is open to the public for day visits, and the Duchess has in recent years listed selected suites inside the castle for overnight stays on occasion.
Where to stay: The Manners Arms in Knipton, a restored Grade II-listed coaching inn on the Belvoir estate, recently refurbished and the obvious local choice. Mid-range.
7.Hatfield House — Bridgerton, The Favourite, The King's Speech (Hertfordshire)View on Booking.com ↗
Hatfield House in Hertfordshire has appeared in so many period productions that it is almost easier to list what has not been filmed there. Bridgerton, The Favourite, The King's Speech, Enola Holmes and countless others use its Jacobean interiors and gardens. It is about twenty minutes by train from central London, which makes it the easiest of all these locations to tick off on a day trip.
Where to stay: easiest is to base yourself in central London and treat Hatfield as a day out, or stay at the Beales Hotel in Hatfield itself for a quiet, more local feel. Budget to mid-range.
8.Blenheim Palace area — Downton Abbey: A New Era and others (Oxfordshire)View on Booking.com ↗
Blenheim Palace in Woodstock is one of Britain's only non-royal "palaces" and has featured in Downton Abbey: A New Era, The Crown and several other productions as a grand stand-in. Woodstock village at its gates is a near-perfect set-jetting base — walking distance to the palace, and a short drive from the Oxfordshire village of Bampton, which plays the Downton village itself in the series.
Where to stay: The Feathers Hotel in Woodstock, a seventeenth-century townhouse hotel a short walk from the palace gates, or the historic Macdonald Bear Hotel in the village centre. Upper mid-range.
A few practical notes before you plan a UK set-jetting trip. Check opening dates before you book travel — many of these houses close for long stretches in winter or for private events, and Highclere in particular has extremely limited public opening days. Hire a car for anything north of Oxfordshire; the Highlands, the Cotswolds and rural Leicestershire are all effectively impossible on public transport. And do not try to do more than two of these houses in a single day. The whole point of set-jetting is to slow down, look at the rooms you have watched a hundred times on television, and then have a long lunch in the village pub afterwards.
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