THE EXQUISITE WORLD OF ELIZABETH BENNET: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 2005

Back in 2013, I did a piece about Lyme Park in Cheshire, which was where the famous ‘lake scene’ was filmed for the 1995 TV production of Pride and Prejudice, with Colin Firth as Mr Darcy emerging from the lake with diaphanous wet-through clothing.  This Christmas TV viewers have had the opportunity to see the 2005 film of this classic tale by Jane Austen, starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcy.

The action kicks off with Elizabeth strolling towards the Bennet family home, Longbourn.  This scene was filmed at Groombridge Place, a moated manor house near Tunbridge Wells, Kent.  Inside the home, the family are discussing the new occupant of nearby Netherfield Park, Mr Bingley.  Later on the Bennets pay a visit to Netherfield, and as they depart we catch sight of its imposing exterior.  The real-life property standing in for Netherfield is Basildon Park, Berkshire. 

Basildon Park (4739480359). Photo by Jim Bowen, via Wikimedia Commons.

There are a number of scenes involving the local village of Meryton, including the one in which soldiers arriving in the area go marching down the street, to the delight of the  young women of the village.  These scenes were filmed in the picturesque market town of Stamford, Lincolnshire.  During the filming horses used as part of the marching scene were seen outside the Arts Centre, while the churchyard in the square was filled with sheep. .Near Stamford is another imposing property, Burghley House, which is used in the film for Rosings Park, home of the de Bourgh family.  Anne de Bourgh is expected to marry Darcy.

The clergyman Mr. Collins, a distant cousin of Mr. Bennett who has designs on Elizabeth, lives in a vicarage which in real life is in the village of Weekley in Northamptonshire.  Haddon Hall near Bakewell in Derbyshire also puts in an appearance, with the banqueting hall acting as the interior of the Inn at Lambton. 

Naturally, the most imposing property of all in the story is Pemberley, the home of Mr Darcy.  The Chatsworth estate in Derbyshire is used for Pemberley in the 2005 film.  This is not the first time Chatsworth has played the role of Pemberley.  The TV drama Death Comes To Pemberley, aired in ...., also made use of Chatsworth.  Meanwhile, Pemberley’s drawing room was filmed at Wilton House near Salisbury.

Chatsworth House, Derbyshire - geograph.org.uk - 2481560. Photo by Christine Matthews, via Wikimedia Commons.

Finally, there are a couple of outside scenes of note.  The scene which has Elizabeth standing on a precipice was filmed at Stanage Edge in Derbyshire.  Meanwhile, way down to the south, the stunning gardens of Stourhead in Wiltshire feature in the scene in which, in pouring rain, Mr Darcy first proposes to Elizabeth and is sharply rebuffed.  This scene takes place at a folly in the grounds known as the Temple of Apollo.

Stourhead Gardens - geograph.org.uk - 32663. Photo by Nigel Freeman, via Wikimedia Commons.

Groombridge Place is currently closed for renovation so cannot be visited by the public.  Basildon Park, an 18th century estate near the River Thames between Reading and Goring, is run by the National Trust and is open to visitors year round.  Burghley House is currently closed for the winter, but is due to reopen in March 2024.  Haddon Hall is open daily during the main season, and on selected dates in November and December.  Chatsworth House and its park are open year round, and is especially appealilng in the run up to Christmas.  

Stanage Edge lies in the Peak District, a couple of miles north of Hathersage, and is a gritstone escarpment popular with climbers.  The Temple of Apollo in Stourhead Gardens is a fine example of classical buildings known as 'follies' which were erected in the estates of the landed gentry of times gone by.  The gardens are run by the National Trust and are open year round.

 

A VICTIM OF BEECHING REMEMBERED: ADLESTROP, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

 

1966 was a happening year for Britain.  England won the World Cup, The Beatles topped the charts with We Can Work It Out, and Carnaby Street was leading the way for the fashionistas of the Swinging Sixties.  Unfortunately, it was far from a happening year for the tiny village of Adlestrop in Gloucestershire, which lost its railway station as part of the brutal Beeching Cuts, part of a massive overhaul of the country’s railways.  However, this charming country station has been immortalised in the poem Adlestrop by Edward Thomas, written during a journey undertaken by the poet in June 1914.

If the wording of the poem is anything to go by, underuse of the station was a likely reason for the closure:

 

                                                 No one left and no one came

                                                On the bare platform.  What I saw

                                                Was Adlestrop – only the name

 

The poem goes on to describe the flora and fauna around the station, consisting of willows, willow-herb, grass and meadowsweet, and a singing blackbird, with the poet imagining it being joined by all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

Adlestrop village - geograph.org.uk - 2499726. Photo by Michael Dibb, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Adlestrop lies at the eastern extreme of the Cotswolds, near the border with Oxfordshire.  The famous Daylesford Organic farm shop is just to the south, and Moreton-in-Marsh is a couple of miles north-north-west.  The station was opened in 1853 on what is now called the Cotswold Line (Moreton-in-Marsh is on the same line, and still retains its station) but was originally part of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway.  The parish church of St Mary Magdalene dates from the 13^th century, but was rebuilt around the mid-18^th century. 

The other notable building in the village is Adlestrop Park, a Grade II listed building built by the Leigh family in the 18^th century.  The house was used as a school for a time, but this closed in 1989.  Jane Austen was a regular guest at the Rectory in Adlestrop, and it is believed that Adlestrop Park was the inspiration for Mansfield Park.  The house is now privately owned.

Adlestrop House - geograph.org.uk - 2485976. Photo by Michael Dibb, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of the area. 

DALLIANCES IN DORSET: EMMA (1996)

 

One thing is guaranteed when it comes to film adaptations of Jane Austen novels: that they will be a feast for the eyes.  Not only for the dashing young men with their flowing locks and sexy boots, and the English roses with heaving bosoms vying for their attention, but also for the idyllic English town and country scenes, which invariably include a range of stately homes.  The 1996 film Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow as compulsive matchmaker Emma and Toni Collette as friend Harriet Smith, is no exception, with a variety of charming locations mainly in Dorset.

The first big property to feature in the film is Hartfield, home of Emma Woodhouse and her family, where Emma is seen discussing a wedding with her father.  The location used as the exterior of Hartfield is mostly Came House in the village of Winterbourne Came, Dorset.  However, some of the interior scenes were filmed entirely elsewhere.  The dinner party scene in which Emma introduces Mr Elton (Alan Cumming) to Harriet was filmed at Stratfield Saye House in Hampshire, while Hartfield’s book-lined gallery was filmed in the Long Gallery of Syon House, west London.

Came House (2) - geograph.org.uk - 855736. Photo by Mike Searle, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Another imposing property in Dorset used in the filming of Emma is Crichel House near the village of Moor Crichel, to the north of Wimborne.  In the film the property plays the part of Donwell Abbey, home of a local landowner called George Knightley.  A lake on the estate features in a lakeside archery scene.  Meanwhile, another property, Claydon House in Middle Claydon near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, lends its elaborate North Hall for the filming of the grand dance, in which Harriet is snubbed but subsequently rescued by Knightley.  Another local man made good, Mr Weston, who married Emma’s former governess (played by Greta Scacchi) occupies a grand property called Randalls.  This honey-coloured property in real life is Mapperton, home of the Earl and Duchess of Sandwich, which is located a short distance to the east of Beaminster, Dorset.

Mapperton House - geograph.org.uk - 517671. Photo by Chris Downer, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Aside from the sumptuous residences seen in the film, there are picturesque street scenes depicting the local village Highbury (Surrey), where Mr Elton is the vicar.  The street scenes used in the film were filmed in the Dorset village of Evershot, about 7 miles south of Yeovil.  The Old Manor House in the village is used as the schoolhouse, while the post office building is used for the haberdashery store.  In order to make the street scenes more authentic for the period, the main street, Fore Street,  was festooned with sheep pens and straw for the filming.  The filming is transferred to the neighbouring county of Somerset for the scene in which Emma visits a sick lady, Mrs Clark.  The venue for this scene is the Helyar Almshouses in the village of East Coker about 3 miles south of Yeovil.

Evershot, Tess Cottage and the church - geograph.org.uk - 447131. Photo by Chris Downer, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Came House was built for John Damer in 1754 from a handsome light-coloured stone.  Lying about a mile south-east of Dorchester, nowadays the house is, appropriately enough, used as a wedding venue.  Stratfield Saye House in Hampshire, about 5 miles south of Reading, has been home to the Dukes of Wellington since 1817 and is open for pre-booked tours only.  Syon House, across the River Thames from Kew Gardens, has been used extensively in filming.  Forming part of Syon Park, the house has been the home of the Dukes of Northumberland for over 400 years.  The house and gardens are open to the public, with a mix of guided and self-guided tours of the house.

Crichel House is a Classical Revival country house built for the Napier family.  The property and grounds are not open to the public apart from specific events.  Claydon House is a National Trust property and is open to the public from April.  The North Hall is a riot of rococo in yellow and white.  Mapperton House originates from the 11^th century, but a Tudor manor house was built on the site by Robert Morgan in the 1540s, and rebuilt the following century by Richard Brodrepp.  The property is now the  home of the Earl and Duchess of Sandwich. The Gardens and cafe are open from March, and the house from April.

Evershot is the second highest village in Dorset and the source of the River Frome.  The village featured heavily in Thomas Hardy’s works, most notably Tess of the D’Urbervilles.  East Coker lies over the county border in Somerset, and has a history stretching back to Roman times: a Roman villa was discovered there in the 18^th century.  The Helyar Almshouses were built in the mid-17^th century by the Archdeacon of Barnstaple.  The construction took twenty years due to an enforced interruption brought about by the Great Plague.

 

A SLICE OF HEAVEN IN DEVON: SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

Whenever there is an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel on the big or small screen, one thing can be certain: the locations will inevitably feature some of Britain’s finest stately properties. 

The property which kicks off the story in the 1995 film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee, is the fictional Norland Park in Sussex, which is left by a dying father to his son, but due to the rules of inheritance the three daughters Elinor, Marianne and Margaret and their mother (Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Emilie Francois and Gemma Jones) are left with next to nothing.  Worse still, they are forced to move out of their lovely family home, while the son and his wife John and Fanny (James Fleet and Harriet Walter) move in.  The mother and daughters are offered accommodation by a cousin, but it is a bit of a come-down, being just a ‘cottage’ in the depths of Devon, albeit in a heavenly rural setting near the coast.

The real-life version of Norland Park is Saltram House near Plymouth, a Grade I listed George II era mansion, while the cottage, Barton Cottage in the story, is Efford House on the Flete Estate, which actually is in Devon in real life, again near Plymouth.  The waterside scenes set near the cottage were also filmed in Devon, at the mouth of the River Erme.  However, the exterior of Barton Park, the wider estate where the cottage is located, is actually further east in Wiltshire, where the scenes were shot at Trafalgar Park, between the city of Salisbury and the northern edge of the New Forest.

Efford House - geograph.org.uk - 292694. Photo by Derek Harper, via Wikimedia Commons.

Another striking property in Devon, which is seen at a distance as a large grey mass of architectural splendour surrounded by sloping green fields, is the Combe Magna estate, owned by love interest John Willoughby (Greg Wise).  In real life this is a fortified manor house called Compton Castle near the resorts of Torbay.  The manor house dates from the 1400s and was connected to Sir Walter Raleigh.  Still in Devon, the wedding scene at the end was filmed at St Mary’s Church in the village of Berry Pomeroy near Totnes.

Compton Castle in Devon enh. Photo by Smalljim, via Wikimedia Commons.

One of the most dramatic scenes in the film comes towards the end, when Marianne suffers a life-threatening illness, to the distress of Captain Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman), who has developed a soft spot for her.  She falls ill while visiting the estate owned by a couple in the Dashwoods’ social circle called the Palmers (Imelda Staunton and Hugh Laurie).  This magnificent property is the real-life Montacute House near Yeovil in Somerset, a late Elizabethan mansion with manicured lawns and gardens.

                                                                      Montacute House. 

Mid-way through the film we are transported to London, where many well-to-do people in Jane Austen’s time had their “London base” in addition to their country properties.  The London abode of the dreadful Fanny Dashwood and her husband John is represented by a house in Adam Street, WC2, while Chandos House in Queen Anne Street is the home of the Palmers.  However, the Chelsea home of the ebullient Mrs Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs) is not in London, but in Salisbury, in reality the 18^th century Mompesson House in the Cathedral Close.

Most of the properties featured in the film are open to visitors.  Saltram, Compton Castle, Montacute House and Mompesson House are run by the National Trust.  Trafalgar Park is privately owned, but can be used for events and weddings.  Meanwhile, for anyone wanting to immerse themselves fully in the Dashwoods’ idyllic life in Devon, Efford House is available as a holiday let.

A BEGINNING AND AN END TO A LIFE WELL LIVED: JANE AUSTEN/HAMPSHIRE

There are many places around the country with Jane Austen associations, whether from mentions in her books (for example Lyme Regis in Persuasion) or places she has visited and which have formed inspiration for her work (such as Netley Abbey, believed to be the inspiration for Northanger Abbey).  However, her life began and ended in two tranquil locations in Hampshire less than 20 miles apart.



Jane’s life began in 1775 in the Rectory in Steventon, a tiny village to the north of the A303 near Basingstoke, where she grew up with her siblings until the family moved to Bath.  It was here that she drafted two of her most famous stories: Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.  Unfortunately, there is not much for Austen fans to see in the village now, the Rectory having been demolished soon after the move to Bath.  The site was excavated by volunteers in 2011, and the fragments of objects found during the dig provided an insight into the family’s day-to-day life.  All that remains now is an old lime tree planted by Jane’s eldest brother James.



Towards the end of her life, four years after her father’s death in 1805, Jane’s brother Edward moved her, her sisters and mother to a red brick cottage in Chawton, near the A31 and to the south-west of Alton, Hampshire.   Her life there was very quiet and family-oriented, certainly by comparison to the time she spent in Bath.  Her quiet existence there enabled her to concentrate on her writing, and it was from here that her novels became published works, including the earlier drafted Pride and Prejudice.  It is this property which is the one most visited by Austen fans, having been turned into the Jane Austen’s House Museum.

Chawton-Austen-House. Photo by Jahs, via Wikimedia Commons.

Although Jane’s last permanent address was the cottage in Chawton, strictly speaking she ended her life in Winchester.  While in Chawton her health began to decline, with her deterioration becoming inescapable during 1816.  In January 1817 she began writing a novel initially titled ‘Two Brothers’, but later retitled ‘Sanditon’.  She only managed to complete eleven chapters before putting her pen down for the last time.  In May of that year her sister Cassandra and brother Henry brought her to Winchester for treatment, but sadly this was to no avail, and she died in July at the age of 41.  Jane died in a mustard-coloured house at 8 College Street, and she was buried at Winchester Cathedral.  The house bears a plaque recording her time there.  Her cause of death has widely been reported as Addison’s disease, although some versions cite Hodgkin’s lymphoma as the condition which finished her off.

Jane Austen's House, Winchester - geograph.org.uk - 1322610. Photo by Stephen McKay, via Wikimedia Commons.

INSPIRATION FOR NORTHANGER? NETLEY ABBEY, HAMPSHIRE

I have written before about the fun of trying to guess the inspiration for the properties and estates which feature in the novels of Jane Austen.  Northanger Abbey is a tricky one, but given the novel of the same name is Gothic in style, and the fact that the Austen family made multiple visits to the spooky ruins of Netley Abbey near Southampton when Jane was a girl, it does not take too much of a leap of imagination to suppose that Netley Abbey, while far from a complete and occupied property unlike the fictional Northanger Abbey, may have contributed to Jane’s interest in the Gothic, and therefore may have influenced her creation of Northanger Abbey.



Jane Austen grew up in Hampshire, and she and her sister Cassandra went to school in Southampton in 1783.  It was probably during that time, and 10 years later when she stayed with her second cousin in Southampton, that she got to know the abbey.  On one particular visit in 1807, it was not Jane but her niece Fanny who waxed lyrical about the site, describing it as a “compound of everything that is striking, ancient and majestic”, and how it “stands on an eminence, in the most romantic situation you can imagine, overgrown with ivy and concealed from your view by a high wood, down to the water’s edge” – the water in question being Southampton Water.  Work on Jane’s novel Northanger Abbey began in 1798, and it is not known to what extent she had Netley Abbey in mind when inventing the Abbey of the novel, but given the above it seems highly likely that Netley was the inspiration for Northanger.

Eastrange. Photo by Coradia1000, via Wikimedia Commons

The abbey is now managed by English Heritage, who on their website inform us that it is the most complete surviving abbey built by the Cistercian monks in Southern England.  The abbey is open year round, with slightly reduced hours during the winter months.  There are many spooky stories surrounding the abbey, which would have circulated around the time of Jane’s visits, including the story of an apparition dressed as a monk who appeared before a local undertaker who wanted to dismantle the church ruins.  The monk warned him not to, but he disregarded the warning and was rewarded with a stone falling on his head and killing him.

Map of the area.

WHERE WAS THE REAL MANSFIELD PARK? THE CASE FOR NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

Part of the fun of analysing the works of one of Britain’s most famous female authors, Jane Austen, is trying to work out what actual locations might have been the inspiration for the aristocratic properties which feature so heavily in her novels.  In the case of Mansfield Park, it has been necessary to apply some skilled detective work to the job. An examination of the available clues leads to the conclusion that the geographical setting for Mansfield Park was the county of Northamptonshire.  Not least the fact that, while writing Mansfield Park, Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra and asked her whether Northamptonshire was a “county of hedgerows” – a curious thing to ask unless she was looking for an accurate description of the setting for her novel.  The question is, where in Northamptonshire?  Following the letter to her sister, Jane’s enquiries about the county went the rounds of a number of her acquaintances, leading to further clues.

The first, and seemingly most popular, contender is Cottesbrooke Hall.  Two of the individuals in Jane’s circle who were involved in the enquiries about the area were Henry Sandford and Sir James Langham, who were among those asked for their opinions of the finished novel.  The Langham family were the owners of Cottesbrooke Hall, which matches some of the details of Mansfield Park such as the breakfast rooms and the library with adjoining billiard room.  It is not known whether Jane herself ever visited the property, but she could have got the description and/or plans from her contacts there.  The one fly in the ointment is the fact that Mansfield Park is described as a spacious modern-built house, whereas Cottesbrooke was built over a century before Mansfield Park was written.

Cottesbrooke Hall Northamptonshire. Photo by Cj1340, via Wikimedia Commons

However, a few years ago an academic threw doubt on Cottesbrooke as the real Mansfield Park, and came up with an alternative suggestion, arguing that Cassandra’s connection with the county was her friend Elizabeth Chute, sister of the Marchioness of Northampton, whose husband Charles Compton was the cousin of Spencer Percival, the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated, and an active supporter of the abolitionist movement.   The Marchioness himself lived at Castle Ashby in the county, making this a likely contender for the role of Mansfield Park.  Mansfield Park’s Sir Thomas Bertram had a slavery plantation in Antigua, and it is believed that Austen used the story as a roundabout way of paying tribute to Perceval’s anti-slavery campaign.  Could this be a sign that Castle Ashby was the inspiration for Mansfield Park?  It is true that Castle Ashby is even older than Cottesbrooke, but as is so often the case with these large properties, many alterations have been made since the original construction.

Castle Ashby (35571730485). Photo by Airwolfhound, via Wikimedia Commons

Either way, both properties are open to visitors and make a worthwhile detour when in the area, although in the case of Castle Ashby it is only the gardens which can be visited.  Cottesbrooke Hall and Gardens lies roughly midway between Northampton and Market Harborough. The Hall, a Queen Anne house dating from 1702, can be visited on a 45-minute tour in the afternoons and the house and gardens are open to visitors from early May to late September.  The landscaped park includes lakes which are visited by Canada Geese, and there are both ‘wild’ and more formal gardens to wander around.  Castle Ashby, a short distance to the east of Northampton, is the ancestral home of the 7^th Marquess of Northampton, and there are 35 acres of gardens set within a 10,000-acre estate, including an arboretum, an orangery and the Italian Gardens.  The gardens are open year-round, except for days when there are extreme weather conditions.

Map of Northamptonshire.

JANE AUSTEN'S DARK SIDE: DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

Christmas is always something of a desert for viewers searching for a touch of class on TV.  However, Christmas 2013 provided a treat for Jane Austen fans in the form of Death Comes To Pemberley.  The 3-parter, based on a script by P D James, ventures into a world beyond Pride and Prejudice in which Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett are blissfully married with children and living in a sumptuous house and estate.  However, their gilded existence is shattered by a tragedy involving the death of one of their circle.  Trevor Eve plays the sinister magistrate Sir Selwyn Hardcastle, who is called in to investigate the death.    

The undisputed star of the show is the magnificent Chatsworth House and Estate in Derbyshire, dating back to the 16th century and Bess of Hardwick, one of the most powerful women in Elizabethan England.  Nestling in the heart of the beautiful Peak District, the house is currently home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and is open to visitors, with 30 rooms on display.  As well as the rooms there are a significant number of works of art available to view including Old Masters, artefacts from Ancient Egypt and modern sculptures.  Outside the house, visitors can explore 105 acres of garden with highlights including a number of water features, most notably the 300 year old Cascade and the gravity fed Emperor fountain.  There are five miles of walks available for visitors wanting to stretch their legs.

Chatsworth Bridge. Photo by Rob Bendall, via Wikimedia Commons.

The opening scene of Death Comes To Pemberley has two maids from the House venturing into the woods above the estate.  One of them takes fright, having witnessed something spooky, and the pair run back to the House.  The Pemberley Woods scenes used in this opening sequence were filmed at Hardcastle Crags, a beauty spot in the South Pennines run by the National Trust.  There are footpaths galore available to visitors wanting to explore the waterfalls, streams and stacks of millstone grit.  The centrepiece of the site is Gibson Mill, which is used as a Visitor Centre.  Entomologists may be interested to know that the area is home to the scary-sounding northern hairy wood ant.    

Sir Selwyn Hardcastle occupies a property not quite in the league of Pemberley/Chatsworth, but quite impressive nonetheless.  The role of his house is played by Fountains Hall near Ripon in North Yorkshire, another National Trust property.  This elegant mansion was built by Sir Stephen Proctor in the late 16th/early 17th century and it lies within the Studley Royal Park World Heritage Site, which includes the ruins of Fountains Abbey.  The hall was commandeered during World War II to house evacuees.  It is also a hotspot for ghost sightings, with phenomena including the sound of rehearsing musicians and a "shining golden lady".  There are holiday flats available on site to those wanting to immerse themselves in these inspiring surroundings.

Fountains hall. Photo by Adamjennison111, via Wikimediacommons.

OH MR DARCY! LYME PARK, CHESHIRE

I have always found Sunday evening to be one of the most depressing parts of the week, what with the start of the new working week being just around the corner.  TV therefore has an important role to play by providing viewers with something to cheer themselves up.  Many women like nothing more than to settle down to a good costume drama, and on the evening of Sunday 24 September 1995 female viewers were in for a treat when the BBC's adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice burst onto our screens.  As well as being a jolly enjoyable drama, there was the added bonus of the dashing Colin Firth as Mr Darcy, his brooding good looks providing a much-needed Sunday evening tonic for the nation's women.  However, nothing could prepare them for the delights in store in episode four and the famous "lake scene".

Let us just relive the scene for a moment.  It is a swelteringly hot summer's day.  Mr Darcy strides towards the lakeside, removing his jacket, and sits down, contemplating a lovely cooling swim.  Off comes the scarf and off comes the waistcoat.  All over the country, female hands are fumbling distractedly in chocolate boxes, knocking over cups of tea, their owners unable to take their eyes off the screen.  However, that is all the stripping they are going to get.  Mr Darcy dives in, and we catch a glimpse of him moving through the murky water.  After his swim he is seen in his wet shirt, made slightly see-through by the sun.  Mr Darcy, still in a state of semi-undress and dripping wet, runs into Miss Bennett, who is not expecting him to be there, and a toe-curlingly awkward conversation ensues.

Earlier this year, this scene was voted the most memorable moment in TV drama, beating some of the most dramatic scenes from our beloved soap operas, such as the scene where Dirty Den hands the divorce papers to Angie in EastEnders, the tram crash in Coronation Street and the lesbian kiss in Brookside, among others.  The scene also made it into popular fiction when Bridget Jones and her friends settled down to watch the DVD with the obligatory bottle of wine (in fact the whole premise of the Bridget Jones story is as a modern-day equivalent of Austen's tale).  Apparently, Firth nearly turned the part of Mr Darcy down when originally offered it, believing himself to be a bit old for a romantic lead.  As for the actual dive, a body double was used due to concerns over the risks of Weil's disease from the lake waters.  However, Firth was used for the underwater part, which was filmed in a tank at Ealing Studios.

Apart from the undoubted charms of Colin Firth as Mr Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Miss Bennett, the other star of the scene in question is Lyme Park where it was filmed and which doubled as Darcy's estate Pemberley in the series.  This estate near Disley in Cheshire, on the north-west edge of the Peak District, dates from the 14th century when it was granted to Sir Thomas Danyers.  It then passed to the Legh family, and remained with them until it was transferred to the National Trust in 1946.  The centrepiece of the estate is a large stately pile, the largest house in Cheshire, with a mixture of architectural styles from Elizabethan to Italianate.  Highlights include the Wardrobe Department where visitors can dress up in period costume, a cinefilm made by the last generation of the Legh family to occupy the house, a 15th century prayer book and numerous glimpses into the life of a well-to-do Edwardian household.  As well as the famous lake, the grounds include a deer park, an Edwardian rose garden, Cage Hill with its eponymous tower, a former hunting lodge, and walking trails that take in scenes from Pride and Prejudice.  Visitors to the property will have the chance to relive the lake scene when a statue of the semi-clad, sodden Mr Darcy is installed at Lyme Park following a tour around the country.  The statue, which was created to celebrate the launch of the new Drama TV channel, will remain at the estate until February 2014.

Lyme Hall 01. Photo by Alan Fleming, via Wikimedia Commons

Map of the area.

JANE AUSTEN'S LYME REGIS

Jane Austen's novel Persuasion, which tells the story of love lost and refound, is set largely in the leafy countryside of the West Country, and in the elegant town of Bath.  However, the most dramatic scene in the novel, and the most pivotal to the story, takes place in Lyme Regis, where one of the characters has a nasty accident on The Cobb, the sturdy stone quay which encloses one side of the town's harbour, and is forced to extend her stay there while recovering from the incident.  Even today it is easy to imagine such an accident; I had to exercise great caution walking up and down the Cobb's steps on a recent visit.  In fact there is one set of steps on the Cobb nicknamed "granny's teeth", presumably for their unevenness.  

The Cobb

Lyme Regis, one of the loveliest towns on the Jurassic Coast, so named for the rich fossil content in its cliffs, is an attractive small resort, with a harbour and beach area backed by restaurants and pubs. The town is very hilly, and every street seems to offer a view of the sea.  This was well illustrated by Jane Austen in Persuasion, when she described "the principal street almost hurrying into the water".  However, she was less charitable about the architecture, declaring that "there is nothing to admire in the buildings themselves", a fact I would personally dispute, especially in the case of the lovely little promenade lined with elegant Georgian buildings.

The seafront, with views towards Golden Cap

In Jane Austen's era Lyme Regis was a fashionable place to head for during the summer season (although the action in Persuasion takes place in November, "too late in the year for any amusement or variety").  Those who wanted to take to the water had bathing machines at their disposal.  The machines were hired by the hour and were wheeled out to sea by an attendant.  Sea bathing in those days was not just for fun: it was widely believed that a dip in the briny would cure a range of illnesses.  Dances were held in the Assembly Rooms, sadly now gone and occupied by a car park on the seafront at the bottom of the main street.  As for Jane herself, she is known to have enjoyed at least two summer breaks in the town, in 1803 and 1804, and she evidently became very fond of it, judging from her affectionate descriptions of Lyme and the surrounding area, talking of "high grounds and extensive sweeps of country" and "its sweet, retired bay".  She visited the Assembly Rooms on her second visit, and in a letter to a relative described how she was passed over for the first two dances, but danced with a Mr. Crawford for the second two.  There is an unassuming building in the main street called Pyne House which is believed to have been the one where Jane Austen stayed.

Pyne House

Jane Austen fans who want to follow in her footsteps can join a walking tour courtesy of Literary Lyme, who also do French Lieutenant's Woman tours for fans of John Fowles whose novel of the same name was largely set in the town.  

Lyme Regis is on a regular bus service between Weymouth and Exeter, but does not have a train station.  The nearest station is at Axminster, while Weymouth is reachable by a direct rail service from London.  

Official Tourist Information website.

Map of the town.

JANE AUSTEN'S BATH

The vast majority of visitors to Bath find themselves entranced by the city's elegant architecture and its charming setting, nestling among the hills of the southern edge of the Cotswolds.  Not so Jane Austen, who allegedly hated the city, and had to be dragged there against her will in 1801 when her father moved the family to Bath upon his retirement.  Jane's antipathy towards the city almost undoubtedly provided the inspiration for the main character of her novel Persuasion, Anne Elliott, who was forced to move to Bath after her father had been compelled by circumstance to give up the family home at Kellynch in the Somerset countryside, and who was "dreading the possible heats of September in all the white glare of Bath".  Looking at it from the point of view of Jane/Anne, one could well imagine that the city of Bath, while presenting such a genteel image to the modern-day traveller, might have had the air of a steaming, malevolent metropolis for a young girl brought up in the pleasant English countryside in the Georgian era, and that the buildings, which today are a pleasant honey colour, would have been newer and therefore brighter in the early 19th century.

The Bath inhabited by the Austen family was a magnet for fashionable society, and life there was a social whirl, which was one of the things that disagreed with Jane, who once wrote to her sister  "Another stupid party last night".  In Northanger Abbey, another work by Austen partly set in the city, the main character Catherine Morland is whisked off to Bath by family friends Mr. and Mrs. Allen, where she becomes embroiled in the city's heady social scene, as well as finding romance there. There was no shortage of elegant venues for the smart set to show themselves off, such as the sweeping Royal Crescent, the small but perfectly formed Circus and the Paragon and broad Pulteney Street, just beyond the beautiful Pulteney Bridge.

Pulteney Bridge

Not a lot has changed.  The city's architecture is still serious eye-candy, and it is still very much an up-market city, with many well-to-do residents, a fact which is reflected in the large number of fine restaurants and expensive shops.  Visitors to the city can visit the Pump Room, which has now been turned into a restaurant, while the nearby Abbey holds regular concerts.  However, there have been major changes to the city in the last few years, particularly in the vicinity of the railway station.  A brand new shopping area has been introduced, along with a range of food and drink outlets, however the look and feel of this development is in keeping with the city's Georgian architecture, so that it is not too much of a blot on the landscape.

Bath Abbey

Fans of Jane Austen are well catered for in the city.  They can seek out the addresses where the Austen family lived, which include 25 Gay Street,  No. 1 The Paragon and No. 4 Sydney Place.  They can also visit the Jane Austen Centre at 40 Gay Street, which has displays on the writer and her life in the city.  There is even a Jane Austen Festival each year in September, which generally includes such delights as a Grand Regency Costumed Promenade and a Masked Ball among its range of events - a chance for Jane Austen fans to really immerse themselves in her world. 

No. 4 Sydney Place, one of the homes inhabited by the Austen family in Bath

Map of the city.