RAGS TO RICHES IN YORKSHIRE: BROUGHTON HALL/A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE

 I have just finished watching the epic Channel 4 series A Woman of Substance, based on the novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, and an updated version of an earlier dramatisation shown in 1984.  The story charts the rise and rise of Emma Harte (played by Jessica Reynolds as the young Emma and Brenda Blethyn as the older Emma in the 1970s, now the wealthy owner of a prestigious department store).

There is one spectacular property which forms an integral part of the story, namely Fairley Hall, where Emma starts out working as a member of the Fairley family’s domestic staff.  Later in the series, as Emma’s fortunes rise and she is out for revenge on the family, who have wronged her in multiple ways, she purchases the property and evicts the Fairleys.

The location used for Fairley Hall in both the 1984 version and the present-day one is Broughton Hall, a Grade I listed Georgian mansion on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales  dating from 1597.  The property is surrounded by the rewilded Broughton Estate, stretching over 3,000 acres and home to the Tempest family since 1097.  The Hall is now called Broughton Sanctuary and has 17 bedrooms that can be booked by groups as well as a number of other accommodation options.

Broughton Hall - geograph.org.uk - 8118006. Photo by Peter McDermott, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of the area.

THREE LOCATIONS USED IN THE FILM NAPOLEON

 

Directed by Ridley Scott and starring the Oscar-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix, a collaboration earlier seen in the film Gladiator, the epic movie Napoleon promised to be a cinema classic.  Released in 2023, the film charts the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte and the troubled relationship with the Empress Josephine, played by Vanessa Kirby (of The Crown fame).  One would think that the majority of the locations used in the production would have been in France, but due to the rich array of 18th century properties here in the UK, the team did much of the filming in this country.

First up, the production team needed somewhere suitably Gallic looking to depict Napoleon’s Chateau, and in Boughton House they found the perfect candidate.   The house was selected from a host of 18th century piles visited by the team.  Boughton House lies in Boughton Park, Kettering, Northamptonshire and is open to visitors, who can book online.  There are tours of the house available, visiting some of the best preserved baroque state rooms in the country, with an array of fine art, furniture and tapestries on display.

Boughton House - geograph.org.uk - 4111875. Photo by Philip Halling, via Wikimedia Commons.

With its French-style interiors, Petworth House in West Sussex was chosen for some of the most pivotal scenes in the film, not least the scene depicting the Victim’s Ball, where Napoleon meets Josephine for the first time.  The National Trust, which manages the property, has a page devoted to the role of the house in the filming on its website, listing the Beauty Room, Marble Hall, Carved Room, Little Dining Room and Grand Staircase as the main parts of the house used in the ball scene.

Grand Staircase, Petworth House 2026-03-03 (2). Photo by Andy Li, via Wikimedia Commons.

For our third location, no film about Napoleon would be complete without a depiction of the Battle of Waterloo.  Once again, the team chose to film the battle scenes in a British location.  The location they chose was Churn Farm, Blewbury, Oxfordshire, which forms part of James Dyson’s countrywide Dyson Farming Estate.  Locals in the area were warned that cannons and gunfire would be used in the filming of the battle scene, and a footpath used by dog walkers had to be diverted for the duration.  For fans of the film wanting to soak up the surroundings of the battle scenes, the Estate offers a self-catering cottage for eight in the Blewbury part of the Dyson Farming Estate.