The Dashwoods’ vast and beloved Norland Park, which they lose following their father’s death, is set in Sussex in the book. For the film, however, the team used two separate sites in Dorset to recreate the romantic magic. The interior and exterior architecture of Kingston Maurward House provided the main backdrop for the grand home; its characterful 16th century interiors and expansive grounds fit so well with the brief that it was an obvious starting point.
But it didn’t have everything the production was looking for – namely, that all-important lake at the back of the garden where the sisters often gathered. Nearby Parnham Park provided that missing piece, with its quaint wooden bridge and glassy lake completing the Dashwoods’ idyllic estate. Ian wasn’t especially sentimental about this park but, after they started filming, he was pleased when he quickly realised: “This is not just a body of water, this is a sea of wildlife!”
It allowed them to really exaggerate the scenes filmed there, enhancing them considerably from what was originally conceived. “We were always hungry for more,” he says.
Barton Cottage was set in the romantic wilderness of Dartmoor National Park in Devon
Getty ImagesThe fun really began when the team moved to Dartmoor to film the Barton Cottage scenes; the considerably more modest home the Dashwood women are forced to relocate to after their bereavement. It wasn’t easy to find the right place. The production team searched through around 50 remote properties across the region to find one that felt suitably isolated, in a process that started three months before production even began.
“A lot of properties in the area have had a lot of money spent on them to modernise them,” says Ian. “We were like, “How do we bring that look down?”
They eventually settled on a completely derelict stone shell, devoid even of doors and windows, deep within the national park near Plymouth. Its insides were full of rubble so, to make it work, the crew built a custom two-storey stage set inside the ruined walls; a decision that allowed director Georgia Oakley to film characters seamlessly as they moved between the home’s tight interiors and out to Devon’s wilds without need to cut the scene. “We built a false floor to create an upper ground, created the stairs, and built a box within a box,” says Ian. “It created that massive contrast between Barton and Norland.”