Groombridge Place in Kent to be Longbourn filming location
Laura also sent along a link to an article from the BBC saying that the filming location for Longbourn is a country house in Kent.
Groombridge Place, in Kent, has been chosen to be the home of the heroine Elizabeth Bennet and her family.
Location manager for Working Title Films, Adam Richards, said most of the action would take place there.
“The house has immense charm and is untouched by post-17th Century development,” he said.
Filming at the moated manor house, whose gardens are open to the public, got under way on Monday, and will continue throughout most of August.
Hilariously, the article is accompanied by a shot from the wedding scene in the 1995 BBC production of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. The comparisons will never end.
Groombridge Gardens official site
Photographs of Groombridge Place
From the photographs, we think they’ve chosen an excellent location for Longbourn.
July 21st, 2004 at 6:39 pm
I don’t know. I’ve never thought of Longbourn as having a moat. The house and grounds look gorgeous, but they seem slightly on the fancy side to me.
July 21st, 2004 at 6:48 pm
I like it, I think it looks a little rustic and a little retired. But maybe the moat is a bit much, yes.
July 22nd, 2004 at 9:22 am
“house and grounds look gorgeous, but they seem slightly on the fancy side to me.”
With the very honorable exception of P&P2 and P2, where all the locations are appropriate, I think most of the films make the houses much too grand. A few examples… S&S2 - Barton Cottage is way too big (S&S1 has it just right..). E2 - Donwell Abbey (we glimpse it from a distance) should be renamed Donwell Palace. Same applies to MP in MP1.
July 22nd, 2004 at 11:57 am
In fact, I have misgivings about this new production -
(1) Several of the cast are the “usual suspects” - ie. big stars
(2) Most of the locations so far announced are also the usual suspects; commercialised, over-exploited stately homes that have a side-line in renting out to film-crews. Contrast P&P2 - they went out to find the right locations, then negotiated with the owners.
(Sorry to indulge in the time-honored sport of comparing new ventures unfavorably with P&P2)
July 22nd, 2004 at 1:47 pm
I think this house looks like Longbourn would look. So, too the Roslings. Can’t wait to see what Pemberly looks like.
Although, I keep thinking of this movie version and somehow, the pieces don’t seem to fit. Keira is not one and twenty yet, so I keep picturing her as Lydia rather than Elizabeth. Matthew, I keep picturing as Mr. Collins rather than Darcy. But otherwise, I can’t wait to see this version.
July 22nd, 2004 at 4:53 pm
I always thought Barton Cottage in S&S2 was a bit large myself. They complain about it, but I sure wouldn’t mind living there!
July 22nd, 2004 at 4:57 pm
I always thought it was a little small, and that Jane Austen was engaging in ironic exaggeration by calling it a “cottage” in S&S, as though it were a mean little house. For instance, look at Chawton Cottage, that’s a nice big house!
July 22nd, 2004 at 7:42 pm
That’s true. I certainly thought Chawton Cottage was pretty big when I visited. I think things have just changed a lot over time. For instance, in Manchester, tiny row houses that once housed mill workers now sell for close to a million pounds.