You can holiday in the same spot that Kristen Stewart, Brad Pitt, Cillian Murphy and Renée Zellweger have been spotted whilst filming Hollywood blockbusters. Here’s our guide on top movie locations across the country and places to stay whilst visiting them.
Yorkshire Dales
Get yourself to YHA Malham and visit the limestone pavement at the top of Malham Cove which Harry Potter fans may recognise as the location where Harry and Hermione set up camp to prepare for their final battle with Voldemort. Afterwards, visit the North York Moors Railway, Goathland station that doubled up as Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter films. Expelliarmus! All Creatures Great and Small has had a 2020 reboot on Channel 5 and the vets have set up shop in the fictional village of Darrowby, which is real life Grassington, with the Devonshire pub standing in as the Drover’s Arms. Our award-winning hostel YHA Kettlewell is a hop, skip and a jump away and in the heart of Herriot country. Recent film The Secret Garden starring Julie Walters and Colin Firth used the beautiful walled garden tucked behind Helmsley Castle, stay in the picturesque village at hostel YHA Helmsley to see the spectacular gardens in all their glory. Impressive stately home Castle Howard is a magnificent 18th-century building that has starred in numerous films and TV shows from the iconic Brideshead Revisited starring Jeremy Irons to Victoria with Jenna Coleman and it even appeared in the Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Four out of Five’ music video. If you are an admirer of Bridgerton, you might have seen Castle Howard doubled as the Duke of Hasting’s country home, Clyvedon Castle. Book a bed at YHA York which is nearby if you fancy yourself as a future Duke or Duchess.
Peak District
If you book an overnighter at YHA Hartington Hall then you can pop along to Chatsworth House, which featured in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and was used as Pemberley, the residence of Mr Darcy. Peaky Blinders fans may also recognise the country pile as series two saw Chatsworth as May Carleton’s mansion. Down the road is Haddon Hall, the setting for the film Mary Queen of Scots, starring Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan as well as being the backdrop for several film and TV versions of Jane Eyre, The Princess Bride, Elizabeth and The Other Boleyn Girl. Also, whilst you’re in Derbyshire, it’s worth paying a call to Kedleston Hall, a neo-classical house and the setting for The Duchess, also starring Keira Knightley. It’s been seen in the TV show Downton Abbey too. Head to the Derwent Valley for the scenic training ground where the Dam Busters squadron practiced low-level flying for raids on German dams in the Second World War and was featured in the famous 1955 film The Dam Busters. More recently, Ladybower Reservoir’s was used in scenes for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. You could stay at either YHA Castleton Losehill Hall or YHA Edale Activity Centre as both are close by.
Lake District
Pack your bags and head to the hills to see the real-life inspiration for Beatrix Potter. Hollywood movie Miss Potter, starring Renée Zellweger as the author was filmed in various parts of the Lake District including Grasmere, Coniston and Loughrigg. Stopover at YHA Coniston Coppermines so you can follow the in the footsteps of Renée and Miss Potter. The end of the world is not what first springs to mind when dreaming of the beauty and ruggedness of the magnificent Lake District, but post-apocalyptic zombie movie 28 Days Later is partly set in the region. Starring Cillian Murphy, the final scenes of the film are shot in the Lake District around Ennerdale. If you fancy a sleepover at YHA Ennerdale, we promise you – no zombies. Snow White and the Huntsman was partly shot in Langdale, at locations including Cathedral Cave and Blea Tarn. Two of the film’s stars, Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron spent some time in Windermere, you can too at YHA Windermere. Swallows and Amazons is inspired by and filmed in the Lake District. There are two versions of this film, one released in 1974 and the other in 2016 where scenes were shot around Coniston and Derwentwater. You can sail on Derwentwater and view Ospreys when you stay at YHA Keswick. Whilst there, you can also work out if you recognise the planet of Takodana from Star Wars: The Force Awakens which was partly shot there – the X-Wing Fighters fly across Derwentwater, although much of the footage was edited with CGI to add additional mountains and features in the background.
Dorset
Famous author Thomas Hardy penned most of his novels in Dorset which means many of them have been set in the area. His best-known novel, Far from the Madding Crowd starring Carey Mulligan was filmed in various locations such as: Maiden Castle, Mapperton House, West Bay, Eype Beach, Sherbourne and Durdle Door. Hire the whole of YHA Litton Cheney to retrace Carey Mulligan’s steps. If Harry Styles and Wartime epic action thrillers are more your thing then Dunkirk was shot on location in Weymouth Harbour and Swanage Railway. We have a great property just five minutes from the beach at YHA Swanage.  Then there’s Emma that starred Gwyneth Paltrow and was filmed in Evershot and Dorchester, Persuasion was filmed in Lyme Regis with Rupert Penry-Jones playing Captain Frederick Wentworth. And movie big shot Meryl Streep who starred in classic The French Lieutenant’s Woman was filmed standing on the Cobb Harbour, Lyme Regis. Nanny McPhee with Emma Thompson featured the iconic Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove stood in for a refugee station in Novia Scotia in 2013’s zombie apocalypse film, World War Z, where Brad Pitt is taken in a power boat to meet his family on the beach. You can stay in the very same area that Brad Pitt has filmed in at our hostel YHA Lulworth Cove.
Book your stay now for your very own slice of Hollywood action.
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