Set-jetting: Historic breaks inspired by the screen
It's a bumper year for period dramas, with the UK’s varied landscapes and historic cities taking centre stage in a wave of lush new adaptations.
Emerald Fennell’s take on Wuthering Heights unfolds against the wild backdrop of Yorkshire's moors, while Dolly Alderton’s Pride and Prejudice has been filmed in London’s Spitalfields and beyond. A revival of Sense and Sensibility takes inspiration from Dartmoor, and Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet stars the rolling hills and black-and-white villages of Herefordshire, standing in for Shakespeare’s Warwickshire.
If 'set-jetting' features in your travel hopes for this year, then here are some Landmarks where a stay feels like stepping into your own literary world.
Wuthering Heights
The Yorkshire moors are intrinsic to Cathy and Heathcliff’s tangled love story, and Emerald Fennell’s divisive revival of Emily Bronte’s classic novel puts this wild and dramatic landscape at its beating heart. The film was shot in the valleys of Arkengarthdale and Swaledale, where our Landmark Cowside is tucked away, as well as in and around the village Low Row.
Where to stay
In the very valley where filming for Wuthering Heights took place, our 17th-century farmstead, Cowside, offers a remote and atmospheric glimpse of life in this unyielding landscape centuries ago. With space for five cocooned within thick stone walls and warmed by underfloor heating and wood-burning stoves, it’s the perfect place to shut out the world and lose yourself in the magic of the moors.
Cowside, in the North Yorkshire Dales
Hamnet
Chloé Zhao’s on-screen imagining of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel about the lives of William Shakespeare's family is in cinemas now. The film’s rolling landscapes and historic architecture were captured around Herefordshire, particularly the village of Weobley, which doubles as Stratford-upon-Avon, and the National Trust’s Cwmmau Farmhouse, used as Anne Hathaway’s Cottage.
Where to stay
Immerse yourself in the late medieval interiors of Shelwick Court near Hereford or Stockwell Farm near the border in Powys. To experience the real Stratford-on-Avon, a stay at the Bath House puts you within easy reach of the town. Or, in the neighbouring country of Shropshire, the timber-framed Langley Gatehouse (pictured above) captures the Tudor aesthetic of the film’s locations.
A bedroom at Shelwick Court, near Hereford
Bridgerton
A new series of Bridgerton is here, and the Regency city of Bath is once again in the spotlight. Visit sites like the Holborne museum - which doubles as Lady Danbury’s house - or Abbey Street, a regular filming location in the series and home to our splendid Landmark, Elton Hose.
Where to stay
In the heart of Bath, Elton House is a handsome Georgian townhouse that features prominently in Bridgerton, sitting next door to the Modiste’s shop in the early series. Alternatively, opposite the Georgian Pump Room, our elegant apartment in 18th-century Marshal Wade’s House sleeps four and boasts enviable views over the square below. Just outside the city, Beckford’s Tower commands magnificent hilltop views of Bath and its surrounding countryside.
Interior of Elton House, a handsome townhouse in Bath
Pride and Prejudice
This year sees the release of a new generation’s Pride and Prejudice, with Jane Austen’s most celebrated love story this time in the capable hands of author and screenwriter Dolly Alderton. The six-part series, due to hit screens later this year, was filmed across the UK - including the Peak District, home to Mr Darcy’s Pemberley, and London’s Spitalfields.
Where to stay
In the Peak District, stay at North Street, a cosy workers’ cottage in the village of Cromford, built in 1771 and not far from mighty Chatsworth House, said to be the real life inspiration for Pemberley. To explore London in Lydia Bennet style, stay at Princelet Street, an 18th-century Huguenot house in the very Spitalfields neighbourhood used for filming the capital’s scenes.
Inside Princelet Street in Spitalfields
Sense and Sensibility
Due for release later in the year, a new film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility will star Daisy Edgar Jones and Catriona Balfe as mother and daughter. With much of the story taking place in Devon, where the Dashwood sisters move to with their mother after the death of their father, filming is said to have taken place on and around Dartmoor.
Where to stay
In the tiny Dartmoor hamlet of Lettaford, strewn all around with boulders and visited by wild ponies, sit our two Landmarks Sanders and the Chapel. They’re perfectly placed for exploring this rugged and romantic part of Devon - perhaps with a copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets in hand, just like Marianne Dashwood.
Sanders, a traditional Dartmoor longhouse in Lettaford
Frankenstein
Released in late 2025, Guillermo del Toro’s retelling of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel was filmed on location in Scotland and Lincolnshire. British landscapes and architectural history converge to create the film’s gothic edge - from neoclassical Scottish mansions to cathedral crypts.
Where to stay
Capture the Victorian Gothic mood by staying at the imposing Gothic Temple, which has presided over the famous gardens at Stowe since 1741, or Pugin’s Oxenford Gatehouse - a perfect example of Victorian Gothic architecture deep in the Surrey countryside. To evoke the feeling of the Frankenstein family estate, which was filmed at Gosford House in East Lothian, try Auchinleck House instead - a grand 18th-century country seat with space for 13 guests.
Gothic Temple, Stowe
