Gardens on Screen

Mapperton is home to two generations of the Montagu family, the Earl and Countess of Sandwich and Luke and Julie Montagu. In the 21st century, the outstanding gardens that surround “the Nation’s finest Manor House”* have been finding a role on screen.  

Mapperton’s secret weapon is in the family. It is home to two generations of Montagus. Luke Montagu was a founding director of the Met Film School while Julie Montagu is an accomplished TV presenter and veteran of the Smithsonian Channel, now presenting her own You Tube channel

Mapperton has a sense of timelessness which filmmakers have not failed to notice. The formal gardens run the length of a steep-sided Dorset coombe with diverse locations - woodland, terraces, topiary, pools, summerhouses and barns – all two hours from London's film studios.
 

There is a theatricality about Mapperton which suits its new role as a film location. Like two stage sets, The Fountain Garden, a formal Arts and Crafts garden of steps, terraces and topiary, spreads out above The Pool Garden where shaped yews march along a pair of ponds.

The Fountain Court at Mapperton was designed by Mrs Ethel Labouchere in the 1920s, where she enjoyed painting watercolours. A Georgian-style Orangery was added in 1969. The Orangery is home to a profusion of tender plants including lemon and pomegranate trees and strelitzias. 

Planted by current owner’s grandfather, the arboretum at Mapperton is enjoyed not just for its rare trees but for its seclusion. It was consciously planned to form a link between the formal gardens and the surrounding countryside. In 1996, Mr Knightley proposed to Emma here.

Historic gardens offer an authenticity to film makers that is hard to replicate. At Mapperton, the group of manor house, church and barns have survived centuries of change. The garden in the Front Court needs little dressing by filmmakers to evoke earlier centuries.

There is drama in the lines of shaped yews planted down the length of the Pool Garden at Mapperton. The trees were planted later than the pools, which were formalised in the 1920s from a series of medieval fish ponds.

In the 2020 pandemic, Julie and Luke Montagu led online You Tube tours. Mapperton Live is now using film as a key way of reaching new audiences, attracting visitors and subscribers. Mapperton Gardens, hidden in a Dorset valley since the 1670s, has become a digital media pioneer