Sense And Sensibility | 2026

Georgia Oakley's version of Sense and Sensibility finds its locations for the Jane Austen story all over England – some familiar, some used for the first time, from Dorset and Devon in the West Country; London, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Kent in the Southeast; and in Oxfordshire.

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At the heart of Georgia Oakley's beautifully photographed version of the Jane Austen story is the relationship between the two older Dashwood sisters, Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles), reflecting the novel's working title Elinor and Marianne.

When their father dies and leaves his estate to his only son John Dashwood they, along with younger sister Margaret (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) and their mother, find themselves reduced to being guests in their own home as John and his venal wife Fanny arrive to take over.

The house, 'Norland Park', is Kingston Russell House, a private 17th century mansion house near Long Bredy, about seven miles west of Dorchester in Dorset. A newcomer to the screen, it's a private home and not accessible to the public.

There's a moment of hope for Elinor during a visit from Fanny's pleasantly charming brother Edward Ferrars (George MacKay) when there's an immediate attraction.

The two of them share a tender moment throwing stones into the pond at the bottom of a flight of stone steps. The good news is that, if you wish to visit this charming spot, it's not Kingston Russell. It can be found at Parnham Park near Beaminster in Dorset, and a perfect wedding spot for romantics.

Help for the family arrives in the form of the irrepressible Mrs Jennings (scene stealing Fiona Shaw) who offers the Dashwood girls and their mother a home at the modest 'Barton Cottage' on her cousin Mr Middleton's estate in 'Devon'. As they leave for the distant wilds of the West Country, the downside is that Elinor must say goodbye to Edward.

Grateful as the family is, the very basic 'Barton Cottage' proves a shock to the sisters after the comfort of 'Norland Park'.

This is Ditsworthy Warren House, an abandoned cottage a couple of miles southeast of Sheepstor on the southwest edge of Dartmoor in south Devon, which was previously seen as the 'Narracott Farm' in Steven Spielberg's film of War Horse.

Dining with the generous Middletons at their home, 'Barton Park', it's obvious Mrs Jennings is clearly intent on matching Marianne with their neighbour Colonel Brandon (Herbert Nordrum), although the older man seems oddly cold and reserved.

'Barton Park' is Broughton Castle, two miles southwest of Banbury, Oxfordshire. The fortified and moated home of Lord and Lady Saye and Sele, Broughton found screen fame in Shakespeare In Love but has also been seen in The Madness of King George, the 2011 film of Jane Eyre, Joseph Andrews, Tony Richardson’s 1977 follow-up to Oscar-winner Tom Jones, Lady Jane (Trevor Nunn’s historical epic with Helena Bonham Carter as the tragic Lady Jane Grey), and Three Men and a Little Lady. It’s open to the public on various days between May and September.

After Marianne trips and sprains her ankle while walking on a nearby rocky beach, the handsome and gracious John Willoughby (Frank Dillane) hurries to her aid. His attentions quickly dispel notions of a potential romance with the distant Colonel.

The beach at 'Barton' is Mothecombe Beach, part of the Flete Estate, about ten miles east of Plymouth on Devon's South Coast. Coincidentally, 'Barton Cottage' in Ang Lee's 1995 version of Sense And Sensibility was also filmed on the Flete Estate.

When the affable Mr Middleton suggests a party, Marianne and Willoughby take the opportunity of the lively evening to get better acquainted while poor Colonel Brandon gets the cold shoulder. The boisterous dance is held in the grand Baron’s Hall of Penshurst Place, in Penshurst village, Kent.

The family home of the Viscount de L’Isle, the 14th century manor house, is open to visitors.

Did you recognise the Baron’s Hall as the site of the climactic swordfight in Rob Reiner's 1987 The Princess Bride ("My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."). It was also used for the fencing match in Barry Levinson’s 1985 Young Sherlock Holmes, while the Penshurst estate itself is featured in period dramas The Other Boleyn Girl and Anne Of The Thousand Days.

Just as a proposal from Willoughby seems to be on the cards, he unexpectedly announces that he's moving to London indefinitely, leaving Marianne heartbroken.

Discovering that Mr Ferrars too is in London, Elinor and Marianne leap at the opportunity to join Mrs Jennings on a visit to the capital.

The 'Hampshire Inn' where the three briefly stop on the journey is, once again, Broughton Castle.

When they leave, it's via Broughton's Gatehouse and bridge across the lake that we see.

Their entry into London, their entry is via the elaborately carved Middle Temple Gate, entrance to the Middle Temple complex, one of the four Inns of Court (the traditional professional associations for barristers) on Middle Temple Lane, off the Embankment in EC4.

They continue on to Mrs Jennings' London house at which they are staying. This on on Stone Buildings, a quiet offshoot of the historic Lincoln's Inn Fields complex, another of the Inns of Court. This section was seen also in Patty Jenkins' 2017 Wonder Woman and in Cruella, Disney's origin story.

The house's interiors, though, were filmed way over in the East London borough of Havering, inside the Georgian Rainham Hall, The Broadway, Rainham, a National Trust property, open to visitors.

But there's a shock in store for Elinor as she's exploring London with Mrs Jennings' vexatious cousin, Lucy Steele when Lucy announces that she is already engaged to Edward Ferrars. Elinor is left stunned as the camera pulls back, framing her in the wide open expanse of Horseguards Parade off Whitehall, SW1.

It's soon Marianne's turn to be shocked at the grand Winter Ball held in the Ferrars' extravagant mansion, when she discovers Mr Willoughby is already partnered, and admits he's engaged to the wealthy Miss Grey.

The lavish venue, with wall paintings, marble pillars, statuary and rococo mirrors is is another National Trust property, West Wycombe Park, in the village of West Wycombe, on the Oxford Road (A40) a couple of miles west of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.

A screen regular, you can see West Wycombe as a ‘Russian’ estate in no fewer than three films – Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class, in Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw and in Ken Russell's 1970 fantasia on the life of Tchaikovsky The Music Lovers, and it appears in many other films, including Cruella again, The Madness of King George again, The Duchess, Agatha Christie’s Dead Man’s Folly; Clint Eastwood’s White Hunter, Black Heart; and Oliver Parker’s adaptation of The Importance Of Being Earnest.

Coincidentally, West Wycombe Park was built for for 18th-century libertine Sir Francis Dashwood, and was home to the real Dashwood family for 300 years.

After Edward explains to Elinor the complexities of his pre-ordained engagement, they meet up in the 'Royal Academy', where Elinor insists that he's right to honour the regrettable arrangement.

In fact, the sequence was filmed in the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square. The interior of the Gallery is not regularly seen on screen, but it's also where Bond meets up with Q in 2012's Skyfall.

As the sisters return from London, they stop at 'Cleveland House' the 'Somerset' estate of the Palmers. The gloomy interior where Marianne recovers from the fever she contacts after walking in the rain is none other than the Victorian Neo-Gothic Knebworth House, on the A1, 28 miles north of London.

We even get a glimpse of one of the extravagant dragons guarding its gate, which you might recognise as the visually glorious exterior of 'Wayne Manor' in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman.

Knebworth also provided gloomy Gothic mansions for, among others, the Ingrid Bergman 1956 Oscar-winner Anastasia (where it was passed off as the palace of the Dowager Empress of Denmark), 2010 Oscar-winner The King's Speech with Colin Firth, biopic Wilde with Stephen Fry as the great writer, Ken Russell's kitschy Lair of the White Worm (with a pre-stardom Hugh Grant), Gene Wilder's Haunted Honeymoon and the deliriously daft schlocker Horror Hospital.

The sodden parkland, though, in which Marianne had become drenched is the Wormsley Estate, in the Chiltern Hills. Owned by tycoon Mark Getty, the estate is a private family home, though visitors to Wormsley can occasionally watch cricket matches on the green or catch a performance at the Garsington Opera Pavilion.

When a contrite Willoughby turns up at 'Cleveland', Colonel Brandon finally challenges him to a duel. Watched from the window of Knebworth House the snowy confrontation was filmed back in the grounds of Broughton Castle.

Naturally, all is resolved with sisters Elinor and Marianne finally opening up to each other fully, and ending not on a wedding but with a sisterly embrace.

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