Bridgerton filming locations

Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton in Bridgerton walking next to each other in a green space — Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton in Bridgerton | © 2024 Netflix, Inc.

Based on the best-selling novels by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton follows the trials and tribulations of eight close-knit siblings navigating Regency-era London’s competitive high-society marriage market. Find out which places were used as filming locations for the lavish drama's three series and the spin-off series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

From glittering ballrooms to extravagant palaces and sweeping parklands, the series explores a whole range of grand locations. ‘Bridgerton is a dialled-up version of the regency period,’ says Production Designer Will Hughes-Jones. ‘We’re not historically accurate because it’s a pastiche of the period, [but] we’re always looking at the historical references and seeing how we can use them to emphasise the grandeur and importance of all these characters… It’s a feast for the eyes.'

Bridgerton: Series three

Series three of the lavish drama will be streaming on Netflix soon, where Basildon Park in Berkshire, Claydon in Buckinghamshire and Osterley Park and House in London will feature as locations in the spotlight.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a spin-off series focusing on the lives of some of the characters before the main events of Bridgerton. It follows a young Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio), who appears as the reigning Queen of England in the main series, and focuses on her rise to power. We see teenage Charlotte meet, marry and fall in love with a young King George III (Corey Mylchreest). The backdrop to some of the drama was provided by Belton House in Lincolnshire, used for its Orangery, historic 17th-century interiors and grounds.

Belton House, Lincolnshire

The team at Netflix originally wanted to film at Kew Palace, but decided to use Belton House as the main location for King George’s residence as it offered larger spaces to work with.

‘[Belton] was a really fantastic find for us,’ says Tony Hood, Supervising Location Manager from Netflix. ‘It’s a property with really lovely grounds. The interiors really do lean towards this period. It’s run by a small and dedicated team, and they hadn’t done any filming there since the mid-2000s.’

Filming at the property meant that the staff at Belton House were required to empty ten rooms and protect them in preparation for filming. There were many rooms and locations used for the series, such as the Italian Garden, Orangery, and the crew transformed the Marble Hall, scullery and kitchen corridors. They also planted a real vegetable garden full of tomatoes, corn, carrots, kale, sweet corn, lettuce, potatoes, onions, and cabbage.

‘All areas were highly dressed with props, particularly the kitchen which became a lab,’ says Ian Cooper, General Manager at Belton House. ‘Viewers may not realise some scenes were shot at Belton, including the King’s bedroom, which was shot in the Marble Hall. The crew completely transformed this room, with new flooring, walls, and coverings over the windows.’

As well as being viewed by millions around the world on the small screen, the location fees will help Belton increase local access with the fees going towards a new car park and accessible Changing Places toilet at Belton.

Lady Violet Bridgerton in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story | © Nick Wall, Netflix, 2023

Bridgerton: Series one

The first series of the main Bridgerton storyline focused on Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and her tempestuous romance with the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page). Although the pair got off to a bad start, their relationship shifted during a lavish outdoor ball scene filmed at Stowe in Buckinghamshire, which was used to represent Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens.

Stowe, Buckinghamshire

In the Regency era, Vauxhall Gardens were the heart of London’s nightlife, where visitors could enjoy all sorts of entertainment from concerts to acrobats and even take a ride in a hot-air balloon. Balls were also a common occurrence, like the one we see at the end of the first episode.

At Stowe the crew built a full dance floor in the grounds, just in front of the Temple of Venus. They also constructed a two-storey bandstand with the musicians above and a banqueting area beneath, which was directly inspired by contemporary accounts of Vauxhall Gardens. The finishing touches included 2km of festoon lighting, fireworks and pyrotechnic pyramids, making for a spectacular backdrop to dance scene which was filmed at 4am.

‘The ball scenes are essential to this show,’ says Showrunner Chris Van Dusen. ‘During the Regency era you couldn’t be in close contact with someone you were interested in romantically except on the dance floor.’

Choreographer Sean “Jack” Murphy uses a mix of modern and historically authentic choreography for the ball scenes. He usually only gets about three hours with the lead actors to choreograph their ball scenes. During the first series, Phoebe Dynevor learned four dances in one day.

Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset dancing at a ball filmed at Stowe in Buckinghamshire. | © Courtesy of Netflix

Bridgerton: Series two

The second series focuses on Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest of the siblings and the current Viscount Bridgerton, as he sets out to find a suitable wife. Driven by his duty to uphold the family name, Anthony begins to court Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), newly arrived back in London from India. However Edwina’s protective older sister Kate (Simone Ashley) is not a fan of the match, and her prickly relationship with Anthony promises to complicate matters on both sides.

Petworth, West Sussex

Petworth is famous for its art collection, making it the ideal stand-in for an art gallery in Bridgerton. Filming took place in the North Gallery, with four of the other show rooms used for equipment storage and the ‘video village’.

‘We had to move some collection items to make way for filming, including our incredible Molyneux Globe,’ said Sue Rhodes, Petworth’s Visitor Experience Manager. ‘We brought in specialist art handlers to support our collections team as some of the paintings needed to come down, including one of the biggest ones – a painting by Northcote.

‘We also had filming conservators on site while the production company were with us and they were a huge support, we couldn’t have done it without them.’

The production team didn’t have to do a lot of set dressing, but they did bring in some prop sculptures to sit alongside the remaining artworks – including one called “the lovers”.

‘It was wonderful to see the cast and the large number of supporting artists all in beautiful regency costume walking through the house,’ said Sue. ‘It was as though the people in the paintings had stepped out of their canvases – you got a real glimpse of what Petworth would have been like during its golden age when the 3rd Earl of Egremont was hosting and entertaining.'

Lady Danbury, Mary Sharma and Lady Violet Bridgerton in Petworth's North Gallery. — Bridgerton's Lady Danbury, Mary Sharma and Lady Violet Bridgerton in the North Gallery at Petworth, West Sussex | © Liam Daniel Netflix © 2022

Ashridge, Hertfordshire

Ivinghoe Beacon offers plenty of wide-open countryside and some of the best views on the Ashridge Estate, so it was the ideal location to film some of the horse-riding scenes in series two.

Ashridge’s close proximity to Pinewood studios means it’s been used for hundreds of productions over the years, including some which have required the production crew to fill the woods with snow or build a medieval village on site. Bridgerton was a comparatively simple shoot, only requiring the local team to lay some temporary track for the various production vehicles and equipment. Plus, as the site is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), someone was always on hand to supervise and make sure the landscape was protected.

Basildon Park, Berkshire

Basildon’s Garden Room and the parterre were both used to film an evening party scene at the Featherington's house. In total it took a week to prepare for filming, as the shoot took place in late October whereas Bridgerton’s action is set during the London ‘season’, which traditionally runs from April to the end of August. The production design team brought in around 5000 artificial flowers to fill the rose garden with ‘summer’ blooms, and also added more greenery and foliage around the back of the house as well.

As it was an evening scene the filming all took place during night shoots from 8pm – 5am. A team of staff and volunteers worked around the clock to get everything set up, and to be on hand during the filming. They were also supported by four specialist project conservators, who helped to make sure that the historic surroundings and collection items were all looked after throughout the filming.

Supporting special places

As well as showing off beautiful locations, filming directly benefits the places in our care that star in the production. The income from location fees goes straight back into conservation work to care for historic houses and landscapes, so that we’ll all be able to see them both on screen and in real life for years to come.