From the exquisite Tudor courts of Henry VIII at Whitehall Palace to the lavish interiors of the Boleyn country residence, find out which of our properties brought them back to life in 'The Other Boleyn Girl'.
Boleyn Country Home
Great Chalfield Manor, Wiltshire
Great Chalfield Manor was altered to become an accurate portrayal of the Boleyn country home. Its stunning architectural exteriors evoke the Tudor luxury that the Boleyns would have enjoyed in their rise to power, by becoming the King's mistress'. The courtyard and gardens also provide a magnificent backdrop when the Boleyn's entertain the King on a royal visit and provides the perfect setting for Mary Boleyn's wedding celebrations. Look out for the exteriors and gardens of this sumptuous Medieval manor house in the film.
If you enjoyed the settings in the film why not visit Great Chalfield Manor, it is an exquisite example of a Medieval manor, complete with an upper moat, gatehouse and small parish church. Beautiful oriel windows (the scene where Scarlet Johansson and Natalie Portman, as Mary and Anne Boleyn, are staring through the window) and rooftop soldiers (c.1480) adorn the house.
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Whitehall Palace
Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire
To re-create the now non-existent Whitehall Palace the Abbey was transformed from its country house appearance into a Tudor palace.
The Warming House in the Abbey became Henry VIII's Bath House, the Chapter House became the Royal bedroom of Catherine of Aragon (King Henry VIII's first wife), and the magnificent cloisters were designed to imitate the formal grounds at Whitehall Palace by placing fountains throughout the central cloister Garth.
If you pay close attention to the scenes of the film you might even catch a glimpse of the South Gallery too, which is where William Henry Fox Talbot in 1835 made the earliest known surviving example of a photographic negative.
David Formby, House Manager, reflects on the filming that took place back in 2006:
'It was quite amusing seeing the set design team plugging up the large trough (in the Warming House) which is 15 foot long by 6 foot wide, filling it with warm water and seeing Eric Bana slowly climb into what used to be used by the Abbey as a container for fish whilst the cloister ponds were being cleaned. I wonder if he ever found out?
'During filming the Abbey was still open to the public, it was hard making sure that the crew could carry on with their job, while we performed ours. We managed to let visitors take a look at the sets by allowing tours of the room whilst filming had stopped, but it was a shame that the visitors would not see the rooms as they are supposed to be.'
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Knole, Sevenoaks
Knole's romantic courtyards and deer-park were radically altered to reflect the typical Tudor surroundings, as Philippa Gregory establishes in her novel, to be King Henry VIII and his court's Tudor playground. A scene was also shot by one of the magnificent windows, as the set design team felt it was the back-drop that they had been looking for.
Knole is a complex and beautiful house, which has links with kings, queens and nobility, as well as literary connections with Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. King Henry VIII was so impressed by the building that he forced Thomas Cranmer, his Archbishop of Canterbury, to hand it to him in 1538.
Property Manger Steven Dedman says of filming:
'For filming, the internal courtyards were dramatically altered to depict the Tudor era at, the now disappeared, Whitehall Palace in London. Some of the most arresting features of the film will be the fabulous horse scenes within the courtyards and in the deer-park at Knole.
'In the frequent breaks between shots, both Scarlett and Natalie were particularly interested in the history of Knole and constantly asked questions about the house and the way that people lived in it. The whole experience was a real pleasure'.'
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