Name: Filming British romance is all about location
Uploaded: 2026-03-04T16:52:48.000Z
Duration: 9 min 49 s
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If you're a fan of the new Wuthering Heights, this may look familiar to you.

I'm at the old gang Smelt Mill, part of Yorkshire Dale's national park, one of the key filming locations for the new, steamy adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

Adverbs of degree

But director Emerald Fennell's blockbuster take on this turbulent love saga is just the latest of many adaptations.

People have been falling in love with British romance stories for centuries.

It's full of those big, juicy themes like forbidden love, yearning and class conflict.

Books like Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights and the work of Jane Austen still fly off the shelves, and

they have been adapted for the big and small screen dozens of times.

British romance lets audiences escape to a place of sweeping love stories and powerful emotions.

How do great filmmakers translate 19th century writing into epic cinema?

It's all about location, location, location.

From endless fields to massive estates, Britain plays a leading role in two of its biggest exports, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice.

I went on a journey across Britain's Yorkshire and Midlands regions to discover the famous filming spots that whisk away audiences into the worlds of these romantic classics.

So sit back and pop some popcorn while we raise the curtain on these iconic British film locations.

Before we go any further, I want to mention that this video is presented by Great Britain.

Britain has been the star of countless stories, from classic novels to modern films.

Its inspirational landscapes, rugged coastline and bustling cities all have rich tales to tell.

A grand estate isn't just impressive architecture.

It's a place where stories of power, longing and change unfold.

The countryside isn't just scenic, it's where characters can escape and be their true selves.

When you visit, it becomes clear why these settings keep showing up on the screen and on the page.

Visiting Britain isn't just about checking off a list of important spots.

It's about experiencing places that invite you into a story and give you space to create your own.

Visit the real star of the show, Britain.

Before we keep going, it's important to know that our sponsor didn't have any editorial influence over the content of this story, but

Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights were both written well over a century ago, and

these timeless tales are deeply tied to their settings.

The challenge for filmmakers is how to translate the language and emotions of classical writing into dynamic scenes for a modern audience.

Sometimes transforming that or transferring that to a visual medium can be complex because you have to make decisions that are visual.

And sometimes what seems ambiguous on the page is less ambiguous visually.

Productions use the natural lands and historic architecture to create the atmosphere, putting us in the headspace and time period of the characters.

Filming in these places requires little to no set design.

They have a distinct mood and a rich history.

that very spot is where our trip begins, way up north in the Yorkshire region.

Let's start with Wuthering Heights and the land that defines it, the Yorkshire Moors.

Moorland is essentially a wide, open, uncultivated area of land that's characterized in a particular way.

It's rugged terrain in these kind of sweeping valleys and areas.

In other words, it's a rough, isolated place to live.

That sense of isolation is a key part of the setting for Wuthering Heights.

And this land looks just about the same as it did when Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering heights in the 19th century.

For those who aren't familiar, Wuthering Heights is the tragic saga of.

Of intense, forbidden love between the orphan Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw on a remote homestead from their childhood, to, spoiler alert their deaths.

And so you get that sense of gazing and longing and looking and yearning.

You don't need dialogue to express that because it's felt through the landscape.

The Moores set the stage for the intense and dangerous attraction at its center.

They are representative of Cathy and Heathcliff in the terms of being wild and uncultivated.

Heathcliff is the moorland in so many ways, in his very name, you know, Heath is an open, uncultivated part of land, and

We can see why Cathy is constantly yearning to be out on them, because they represent the man she loves.

And the epic, tortured romance between them in this dramatic setting continues to inspire fresh interpretations of the story that is almost 200 years old.

I think Emerald Fennell's love of Emily Bronte's novel has led her to come and film in the location.

She is part of a long tradition of producers, directors and film productions that have come to Yorkshire to film weather in heights.

I hope you're enjoying my journey through Britain.

While it might look like it's just me out there, stories like this one require a team.

Producers, editors, animators, audio engineers.

Fact checkers and more working together to create journalism that is accurate, interesting and fun to watch.

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Videos like this require time, care and real resources to produce.

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Next stop, Stanage Edge in the Peak District.

We're moving south into the Midlands where the winds are picking up.

You might recognize this rock as the Keira Knightley rock from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film Pride and Prejudice.

The novel and the film is the story of another roller coaster relationship between the witty, free spirited Lizzie Bennet and wealthy, reserved Mr.

Darcy as they overcome their Pride and Prejudice to fall in love.

Fun fact, the scene where Lizzie stands on that rock in the film is actually not in the book, so it kind of sets the scene for this beautiful landscape, that sort of romantic brooding.

The filmmakers took a bit of inspiration from the novel and added their own flavor, utilizing the landscape to create a visual moment.

It's an attempt, I think, to try and capture the sort of philosophical or emotional tumult in her mind at the time.

That scene in the film has become one of the most iconic shots of Pride and Prejudice, thanks to its beautiful landscape, which unfortunately is a bit lost in the fog today.

From the foggy cliffs of Stanage Edge, we ventured down into Derbyshire to our third and final stop, Chatsworth Estate, the IRL location for Pemberley, Mr.

You've got this ordered, beautiful house, but it's its setting in the landscape.

That kind of tasteful setting in the landscape and the picturesque tradition is that kind of order within that sort of rugged tradition is kind of both sublime and beautiful simultaneously.

It's classic Mr. Darcy, proud, good looking, tasteful and full of hidden depth.

Key moments in the film unfold here where Lizzie learns more about who Mr. Darcy really is.

She sees his house and thinks, yeah, I'll marry this guy.

It's a kind of reflection of his sort of intellectual, aristocratic ideals, I suppose.

And the romantic tension between Lizzie and Mr.

Darcy, spicy chemistry despite class differences and false impressions, has been the prototype for romance stories for over 200 years.

There is something that appeals to the romantic within us, which is the idea of couples who can't be together for some reason or another, of a rom com in a way where the guy turns up who she's going to marry eventually and he doesn't seem a particularly nice guy at first, but

Britain's countryside is essential to these films tone and style.

With landscapes and buildings that have stood for centuries, these regions provide all the production value filmmakers could want.

A world that's both sort of knowable because it's sort of real locations, but

also something that seems quite, quite different, sort of part of history.

This image of the hilltop lovers and this great tale of romance.

These locations transport us to a different time and place, whether in a movie theater or in real life.