The series "Pride and Prejudice", released in the fall of 1995, has won worldwide popularity, dozens of prestigious awards. In addition, he entered the gold collection of television adaptations of classic novels. The filming of the series lasted a hundred days and took place at 24 locations in several counties of England.
The village of Lacock in Wiltshire, near Bath, "played" the role of the town of Meriton in the series, where, among others, they filmed the scene of the accidental meeting of Mr. Darcy and George Wickham. Lacock was one of the first locations chosen. Jerry Scott, the show's production designer, remembered her at the very beginning of the selection of locations for filming. This is one of the oldest villages in Britain, with some houses dating back to the fourteenth century. Lacock also filmed Moll Flanders with Robin Wright and scenes for several parts of Harry Potter.
The Longbourne estate, in which Jane Austen settled the Bennet family in the novel, became Luckington Court, located in the vicinity of the village of Lacock. The name of the estate dates back to the first century of the second millennium and was first mentioned in the cadastral book of 1066; these lands belonged to the royal family for many centuries. Luckington Court's hostess, Angela Horn, was sympathetic to the needs of the filming process and allowed the decorators to "age" the interior of the house to the Regency era.
Netherfield, the estate Mr. Bingley had rented in the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, and thus in the first episode of the series, was filmed in Northamptonshire, near Banbury. Edgecoat Hall, built in the eighteenth century, is surrounded by a beautiful park. The estate houses the ruins of an ancient Roman villa and a thirteenth century Anglican church.
After the premiere of the series, its creators unanimously admitted that the most difficult thing was to find a location for the filming of the legendary Pemberley, the estate that belonged to Mr. Darcy. Jane Austen described the Pemberley estate in detail in the novel, and, as it turned out, even among the most beautiful mansions of British aristocrats, it is not so easy to find a house that matches this description. The winner in the nomination for the title of Pemberley was Lime Park in Cheshire, one of the UK's National Heritage Sites. The main house was built during the Tudor era, and in the eighteenth century, the Venetian architect Leoni gave the building the features of an Italian palace.
Just during the period of work on the series, Lime Park was in the process of transferring ownership, and the group was allowed only exterior filming. For interior scenes, I had to look for other locations. The living rooms and galleries of Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire have successfully taken on the role of the luxurious interiors of the Pemberley estate.
