Visit this year’s filming locations

As Far from the Madding Crowd takes the box office by storm, VisitEngland reveals where you can visit the filming locations of this year’s hottest releases

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Carey Mulligan in Far from the Madding Crowd. Image credit: VisitEngland.
From Far from the Madding Crowd in Dorset to Frankenstein in Manchester, England is one big, beautiful movie set this year.

Here, VisitEngland selects some of the biggest films to grace our screens in 2015, revealing exactly where you can go to see where the action was shot.

Far from the Madding Crowd
May 2015

A new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd will be released in May. The film stars Carey Mulligan and Michael Sheen, with screen play by David Nicholls. Filmed predominantly in and around Hardy Country in Dorset; Mapperton House, Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Sherborne, Eype, Purse Caundle, West Bay, Beaminster and National Trust property Cogden Beach all play a part. Few authors have such strong associations with their local area as Thomas Hardy, and today you can explore two of the writer’s houses – his childhood home and Max Gate, the property Hardy designed himself and moved into with Emma after his marriage. National Trust property Claydon House in Buckinghamshire also features in the film, doubling up as Boldwood.

Into the Woods
January 2015

Set for release in January, the film adaptation of the eponymous Broadway musical Into the Woods features an all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick and Johnny Depp. Showing off a number of quintessentially English locations, the soon-to-be Disney hit was shot at Dover Castle in Kent, Waverley Abbey and Virginia Water in Surrey, the Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire, Hambleden Village and Hambleden Barn in Buckinghamshire. The film follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel-all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.

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Lily James in a still from Cinderella. Image credit: Disney Enterprises.

Cinderella
March 2015

This live-action feature is inspired by the classic fairy tale Cinderella and brings to life the timeless images from Disney’s 1950 animated masterpiece. English locations including the grand bridge at Blenheim Palace, Black Park in Iver Heath and the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich all help to set the scene for this childhood favourite. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the film stars Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden and Helena Bonham-Carter.

Frankenstein
October 2015

Based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of the same name, the latest adaptation is set to be released in October and will feature an all-star cast. Daniel Radcliffe will star as hunchback Igor, whilst James McAvoy will portray Victor von Frankenstein. Filming locations included Manchester Town Hall, Chatham Historic Dockyard, the Old Royal Naval College, including King Charles Court, and the bank of the river Thames in Greenwich.

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A view to the house at Cliveden. Image credit: David Watson.

A Little Chaos
April 2015

Starring Kate Winslet, Stanley Tucci and Alan Rickman, A Little Chaos centres on a female landscape-gardener who is awarded the esteemed assignment to construct the grand gardens at Versailles, a gilt-edged position which thrusts her to the very centre of the court of King Louis XIV. But the 18th century French palace and grand houses were actually shot in England at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire and Cliveden House in Berkshire. Some of the cast stayed at the Grade I listed, luxury hotel and grand stately home, Cliveden House, during filming. With a garden central to the story, the production also needed some versatile outdoor space and found most of what they were looking for in Black Park, a country park next door to Pinewood Studios, which covers over 500 acres of woodland, heathland and grassland.

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