It was Englefield House’s dramatic architecture, beautiful grounds and grand interiors that clinched it a starring role in the BBC’s production of Miss Austen, which aired in February 2025.

The four-part drama series based on Gill Hornby’s 2020 novel tells the ‘fascinating, witty and heart-breaking’ story of the love between two sisters – Cassandra (Cassy) and eighteenth-century novelist, Jane Austen.

The story is partly set in Godmersham House, Kent, the family home of Cassy Austen’s brother, Edward Austen Knight. Aidan Mcsorley, Supervising Locations Manager was the one to find Englefield House and put it forward for the role of Godmersham House.

He explained: “My brief was to mimic the style and approach of Godmersham House, somewhere that showed the lavish lifestyle of Edward’s family, in comparison to Cassy’s middle class upbringing.

“I found Englefield House via desktop research and was able to get a good idea of what it had to offer - in terms of the interiors and exteriors - for this production, so I enquired and fixed a site reccy.

“It was one of the final houses that the director and I visited, and it wasn’t until we toured Englefield House that the director’s eyes lit up. It was ideal, in fact there was almost too much choice for where we could film the scenes we needed to!”

During the series viewers follow two timelines, transported between watching a grown-up Cassanda (Keely Hawes) as she returns to Kintbury, Berkshire, to retrieve letters that her late sister, Jane, had written to her as a young woman, to earlier times when the pair were growing up together.

Early on in the series, when Cassy learns of her fiancé, Tom Fowle’s death she visits her brother and his family at Godmersham House to help cope with her grief. Que Englefield House.

Edward and his family would have been considered upper class, therefore the House in which they lived needed to appear much grander in comparison to the other properties used in the series.

In episode two, viewers watch Cassy arrive at the House in a horse and carriage via the Estate’s driveway which provides the perfect approach. They’re also treated to a striking bird’s eye view of the House and deer park which was filmed on drones.

Cassy arrives at the porte cochère - the impressive front courtyard - and is welcomed by Edward. He takes her through the House’s grand hallway and into the Drawing Room where his wife Elizabeth and their children are waiting to greet Cassy.

“We spent a lot of time deciding which room we would choose to film in but settled on the Drawing Room because of its geography and views out over the deer park. It perfectly matched the time period too.” Aidan explained.

“The scenes where Cassy is playing with the children, we purposely chose to film on the first-floor landing, rather than the downstairs hallway because it didn’t have electrical light fittings, which wouldn’t have existed during the 1800’s.

“It’s small things like this that we have to look out for and it’s great that there was a quick and easy solution for this at Englefield House that didn’t require time or budget to remove electrical fittings.”

It was during this scene that Cassy realises that she’s being treated as the Nanny, rather than a guest of the family, so shortly after she leaves, returning home to her sister Jane.

Aidan said that working on a private estate like Englefield offers security and privacy that working on council or public land doesn’t.

“When you film on a private estate, worries about roadblocks or getting in people’s way for instance, are gone. You can be confident that they’ll be no delay in filming, and you have full control of what is going to happen when.

“In addition to that, having the ability to deal directly with Peter Carson [Events Manager at Englefield House] was efficient and easy. He had answers quickly to all our questions and made the whole process 100 times easier.”

The series was aired on BBC One on 2nd February 2025 and has received good reviews from television critics. Aidan said he was extremely pleased with how the scenes at Englefield House turned out and felt proud watching them knowing that he found the location to play Godmersham House.

“The scenes were excellent, believable and the House looked great on camera. It’s definitely somewhere to return.”

Bonnie Productions were the appointed production agency in charge of bringing the adaptation of Gill Horby's much loved novel, to life. Christine Langan, Founder of Bonnie Productions said: "The scale and beauty of Englefield House along with the grounds of the estate provided the perfect location for the Miss Austen shoot. 

"The imposing character of the exterior and the many grand and impressive interior features over several floors gave us everything we were looking for to help evoke the opulence and elegance of Regency life. The distinct quality of the location along with the assistance of a very helpful team made this an entirely happy and successful moment in our production."

Englefield's Events Manager, Peter Carson added: “We thoroughly enjoyed welcoming Aidan, Christine, the production team and cast of Miss Austen to the Estate, and, even more so, seeing Englefield House on our screens as part of an entertaining and well-produced series.”

For any filming enquires, contact Peter Carson on 07585 509747 or email peter.carson@englefield.co.uk.

 

Photography credit: Robert Viglasky