Newby Hall as Mansfield Park (2007)

Mansfield Park 2007 is an anomaly in the world of film, a 90-minute production shot entirely in one location: Newby Hall, in Ripon in North Yorkshire.

The estate has been in the same family since 1748, when it was bought by William Weddell from a grandnephew of Sir Edward Blackett, an MP for Ripon in 1689 who built the main block for the current house with Sir Christopher Wren’s guidance. William Weddell is responsible for bringing some of the finest neoclassical architects to Newby after his Grand Tour to transform the house into a suitable home for his new tapestries and countless Roman treasures. One in particular, Robert Adam, left the most significant mark on the manor, and Newby is now considered one of Britain’s finest Adams houses. Adam’s studied for years on the Continent, and his neoclassical style emphasized detailed decoration that created a flowing, graceful, curved look, a step away from the typical Palladian style that dominated during the day. His designs were influenced by other cultures as well as the much-copied Greeks and Romans, notably Etruscan, Italian Baroque, and Byzantium styles.

[Newby Hall's] Adams interior provided the perfect setting for gracious Georgian living,” states the Hall’s website, and in August and September of 2006, a crew of 60 filmed for 12 hours a day for sixweeks. Executive producer Suzan Harrison said,

It had the right look, the right period, the right scale of a house for a baronet, beautiful grounds, delightful owners and an estate manager who helped us to organise the whole enterprise. Mercifully, we didn’t have the usual problems with telegraph poles and overhead wiring; the landscape around Newby Hall is refreshingly free of visible 21st century nuisances. (The Press)

“Because we bent over backwards for them, 100 per cent of the film was shot here,” says Stuart Gill. “Their generator truck was parked up here from the start of filming and didn’t have to move until it was a wrap. We could have held them at arm’s length but we were aware that the more we worked with them, the better a production it would be. The better for them, the better for us. It’s positive PR. (“Stealing the Show,” Yorkshire Post).

However, Newby is a considerable tourist destination, with a number of attractions and charms that are not historically accurate, like the massive flock of sheep that had to be rounded up quickly when filming exterior scenes. Harrison did note that the greatest headaches came from vehicles and planes creeping into shots that “could disrupt hours of filming,” thanks to the wide vistas around Newby. Fanny’s room, her attic hideaway, was previously a storage room, and everything had to be moved in in order to make the room homey (but not too homey, thanks to Mrs. Norris); in fact the whole house turned into one big game of “musical chairs,” as furniture was ferried in and out of rooms to suit the designer’s needs. One stage that had been critical in the production was only just being dismantled and carried out the back as a bride arrived for her wedding at the front door!

The estate’s current owners are Mr. and Mrs. Compton, and guided tours through the Hall multiple times a day for the majority of the year. Newby can boast impressive gardens that cover over 40 acres (the original garden was designed by Peter Aram for Sir Edward Blackett in the last decade of the 17th century, but the current gardens are mainly the creation of the current owner’s grandfather), as well as an Adventure Garden for children (and children at heart), Sculpture Garden, and a charming Woodland Walk.