Film: Shakespeare in Love and The Madness of King George
Location: Broughton Castle, Banbury, Oxfordshire
Broughton Castle has played a cameo role in several superb films. The dining-room became the bedroom of King George (Nigel Hawthorne) and the Scarlet Pimpernel was filmed in the garden. Most recently it was home to the Wessex family in the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love (Gwyneth Paltrow played Viola). Dance scenes were shot in the Great Hall, but the crucial balcony on the south-west corner was built specially for the film. Broughton was originally constructed in 1300, but maintenance costs mean that the house is now available to film companies and open to the public. During July and August it is open from 2pm to 5pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays (adults £4, children £2.50). Tel: 01295 276070.
Film: Shadowlands
Location: Golden Valley and the Wye Valley, Herefordshire
In 1993 Richard Attenborough filmed the story of C.S. Lewis's (Anthony Hopkins) tragic relationship with American writer Joy Gresham (Debra Winger). Since Lewis was an Oxford academic much of the film was shot in the city, but for the couple's final trip to Golden Valley, Herefordshire, the Wye Valley, near Goodrich, was preferred. However, they were briefly filmed at a small viewpoint overlooking Golden Valley. 'The crew turfed over the tarmac so it looked exactly how it would have been in the early Fifties,' remembers senior ranger Paul Thomkins. 'It took two days to film and it was shown for a couple of minutes.' Herefordshire Tourist Information Centre: 01432 268 430.
Film: Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
Location: New Forest, Burnham Beeches and Aysgarth Falls
Parts of Nottinghamshire's Sherwood Forest (Tel: 01623 823 202) are still standing so it should have been fairly simple to set this version of the legend there. However, it is obvious that Sherwood didn't have the right sort of trees because the film-makers used a combination of the New Forest in Hampshire (information centre: 01590 689 000), Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, and Asygarth Falls in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (Tel: 01969 663 424).
Film: Notting Hill
Location: Kenwood House, London
Despite the film's title, Notting Hill wasn't exclusively filmed there. Kenwood House, a neo-classical mansion beside Hampstead Heath, is the setting for a meeting between Hugh Grant's bookseller and the film star played by Julia Roberts. She happens to be filming a Henry James novel so, for the film-within-a-film conceit, the grounds of the house are full of actors in period costume. Don't expect any now, but console yourself with an exhibition of 'food, wine and general merriment from 1600 to the present day'. Kenwood House (Tel: 020 8348 1286) is open daily from 10am to 6pm and admission is free.
Film: Braveheart
Location: Glen Nevis, Scotland
Braveheart tells the story of William Wallace (Mel Gibson), who leads a doomed Scottish rebellion against England's Edward I. Parts of the film were shot at the foot of Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis, and the glen has some of the most dramatic landscape Scotland has to offer. Its peaks and lochs form a suitably epic backdrop for Wallace's rousing speeches, while the town of Fort William provided the work force to build the thirteenth-century medieval village. Senior ranger John Hutcheson remembers the town buzzing throughout filming : 'Local people would queue for hours to audition as extras and families used to go out to dinner and find themselves sitting next to Mel Gibson.' The 'Braveheart car park' has some great views and is the starting point for family walks. (Glen Nevis visitor centre: 01397 705 922)
Film: The French Lieutenant's Woman
Location: Lyme Regis, Dorset.
Based on John Fowles's novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman traces the on-screen romance between actors Sarah Woodruff (Meryl Streep) and Charles (Jeremy Irons) and their off-screen affair. Both book and film are set in Lyme Regis in Dorset and the plot draws on the beauty of the location. Ken Gollop, whose aquarium features photographs of the filming, recalls how the storm scene, in which Streep walks along the harbour wall, proved turbulent for the directors too: 'Five weeks of fine weather saw them failing to simulate stormy conditions using a wind generator. When the storm finally arrived it was too strong for Streep, and the figure you see in the film is the art director, dressed up in Meryl's cloak.' (Lyme Regis Tourist Office: 01297 442 138)
Film: The Railway Children
Location: Oakworth Station, Yorkshire
'People here think of The Railway Children as their film,' says Graham Mitchell, a guard on the railway and the only person to play himself in the film. 'Even the band scene was performed by our local band. The Railway Children are definitely still well and living in Oakworth.' Oakworth Station, part of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, was chosen to be home to Perks the porter and the centre of the action. Built in 1867, the small Pennine country station remains unchanged; it is still lit by gaslight and continues to run a daily steam train service. (Keighley and Worth Valley Railway: 01535 645 214)
Film: Emma
Location: Evershot, Dorset
Emma Woodhouse (Gwyneth Paltrow again) is Jane Austen's elegant heroine whose matchmaking antics finally lead her to find love where, unlike the audience, she least expects it. The pretty Dorset village of Evershot, stripped of television aerials and plastic drainpipes, was taken back to 1820 and the Evershot Post Office Stores was turned into the Highbury haberdashery. According to the owner, Jerry Davies, it was chosen for its Georgian bay windows: 'They had to repaint the outside of the building because they didn't have white paint in the early nineteenth century. We enjoyed the experience, but I'm glad they took the sheep away that were penned up in front of our door.' Evershot can be found between the A356 and the A37 near Yeovil.
How to be a location manager
1 Ensure you have a good visual memory and a tenacious mind. Would you mind wandering the world on your own?
2 Find work as a trainee in a production department to learn the ropes of the film industry.
3 Aim to work your way up until you are an assistant director.
4 You'll negotiate the logistical nightmares of location hire, from getting equipment into impossibly small spaces to placating land owners.
5 You'll be the one left at the end to pay all the bills and ensure every pot plant and gatepost is put back exactly where it started.
