December 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen. Her six completed novels have become canon, inspiring numerous adaptations into TV series and films. Austen’s settings—grand ballrooms, lively Regency towns, and vast country estates—were inspired by many real places she visited in her lifetime, and numerous locations across England have served as backdrops in the movie and TV versions of Austen’s works. Today, it’s possible to visit and imagine yourself an Austen hero (or villain!).
Below are eight Jane Austen movie locations—and two bonus locations associated with Austen’s life—that you can visit in person.
- Box Hill, Surrey // Emma
- Lyme Regis, Dorset // Persuasion
- Montacute House, Somerset // Sense and Sensibility
- Claydon House, Buckinghamshire // Emma
- Lyme Park, Cheshire // Pride and Prejudice
- Chatsworth House, Derbyshire // Pride and Prejudice
- Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire // Mansfield Park
- The City of Bath // Northanger Abbey and Persuasion
- Bonus: Jane Austen’s Home and Her Burial Place
Box Hill, Surrey // Emma

In Emma, a famous picnic scene at Box Hill in Surrey takes place in which the title character behaves rudely and is taken to task for her aloofness. The real Box Hill is in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Surrey Hills. Visitors can climb the hill, explore the ancient woodland, and enjoy the panoramic views. However, those wishing to recreate the picnic as depicted in both the 2009 mini-series of Emma (featuring Romola Garai) or the 2020 movie adaptation (featuring Anya Taylor-Joy) would need to visit Leith Hill, just 10 miles away from Box Hill. Leith Hill enjoys the same rolling hills and expansive views but has the added caché of a link to Charles Darwin. Darwin frequently enjoyed walks on Leith Hill with his sister, and a stone in the grounds (today known as the “worm stone”) inspired his theory that ancient stones sank into the earth thanks to the action of earthworms.
Lyme Regis, Dorset // Persuasion

Jane Austen visited Lyme Regis in Dorset on at least two occasions in 1803 and 1804, and the seaside town clearly caught her imagination because she featured it in her final novel, Persuasion. The town has a number of spots associated with Austen that you can explore, including a human-made stone addition to the harbor wall known as the Cobb. It is here that Louisa Musgrove falls and is helped by the dashing Captain Wentworth in the novel, and the scene was filmed at the location for the 2022 Netflix version of Persuasion starring Dakota Johnson. Lyme Regis Museum also has a number of Austen items in its collection, and there’s a lovely Jane Austen Garden, built as a memorial, that offers wonderful views of the bay. Austen fans will also be delighted to see the blue plaque above the door of Pyne House on Broad Street, which reads, “This is the most likely lodging of Jane Austen, whose visits to Lyme in 1803 and 1804 gave birth to her novel Persuasion.”
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Montacute House, Somerset // Sense and Sensibility

This handsome house in Somerset was built in 1598 and is one of the few grand houses in England that has remained relatively unchanged since Elizabethan times. As a result, it’s been a popular filming location, seen in Johnny Depp’s The Libertine (2004), the recent BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, and the 1995 adaptation of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. The impressive house stood in as the home of the Palmers; its extensive gardens appeared in a scene in which heartbroken Marianne falls ill after walking through the rain.
Claydon House, Buckinghamshire // Emma

Austen’s novels are well known for their depiction of glorious galas, and in Emma, a key scene takes place on the dancefloor at the fictional Donwell Abbey in which Harriet is cruelly snubbed by Mr. Elton. The 1996 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow as the titular character filmed the scene in the beautiful yellow and white rococo North Hall of Claydon House. In what could be a plot from an Austen novel itself, the extraordinary lavish interior of the house was commissioned by wealthy nobleman Ralph Verney in the 1750s in an effort to demonstrate his status and eclipse the homes of his equally wealthy neighbors. His expensive taste and ambitious plans led to his eventual financial ruin, but the gorgeous and over-the-top interiors remain.
Lyme Park, Cheshire // Pride and Prejudice

The most iconic home in all of Austen’s novels is Mr. Darcy’s Pemberley. Austen describes it in loving detail and it’s easy to see why the grand estate beguiles Lizzie. It’s where she encounters the dashing Mr. Darcy, though the scene in which the character, played by Colin Firth, emerges soaking wet after a swim in the lake was invented for the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. That memorable exchange was filmed at Lyme Park, Cheshire, where the stunning house is set in acres of serene parkland, but it turns out Firth never did dive into the lake. Producers were too worried he might catch something from the water, so a stuntman took his place, and Firth’s wet-look shirt and tousled hair were achieved with the help of a generous spritz of water.
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire // Pride and Prejudice

In the other major Pride and Prejudice production, the 2005 movie starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, Chatsworth in Derbyshire stood in for Pemberley. Chatsworth may have inspired Austen’s vision of the “handsome” stone house, and it’s mentioned as a location that Lizzie visits while in Derbyshire. The bust of Matthew Macfadyen that was created for the scene in which Mr. Darcy’s housekeeper tells Lizzie of his many good qualities is on display at Chatsworth, reminding visitors of its key role in the movie. Chatsworth is now a major visitor attraction thanks to its renovations by the Duchess of Devonshire, Deborah Mitford, the youngest of the famous Mitford sisters.
Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire // Mansfield Park

Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire was used as the titular location in the 1999 movie adaptation starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller. A medieval house had stood for many years on the site, but it wasn’t until 1570 that Sir Humphrey Stafford ordered a new grand house to be built, his reason being that Queen Elizabeth I visited the area and had to stay with one of his neighbors because Stafford did not have the room to accommodate her. The house was remodeled in the 17th century, creating a beautifully symmetrical Jacobean frontage and the perfect stand-in for Austen’s Mansfield Park.
The City of Bath // Northanger Abbey and Persuasion

Jane Austen lived in Bath from 1801 to 1806, and its sweeping crescents and honey-colored Georgian houses inspired Austen to set both Persuasion and Northanger Abbey in the city. Bath made multiple appearances in the 1995 BBC production and the 2022 Netflix version of Persuasion. The famous Royal Crescent, Bath Street, Brock Street, and Gravel Walk all provided sumptuous backdrops for the recent Netflix adaptation.
Bath has become strongly associated with Austen because she mentions the city in all six of her novels. Visitors to Bath can see filming locations as well as explore the Jane Austen Centre, a charming Georgian house where visitors can experience what life was like in Regency Bath.
Bonus: Jane Austen’s Home and Her Burial Place
Chawton, Hampshire // Jane Austen’s House

Jane Austen lived in a cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, from 1809 until her death in 1817. It was in this house that Austen wrote all six of her world-famous novels, and it has been transformed into a museum dedicated to her life and works. Visitors can see her writing table, first editions of her books, and personal items such as jewelry, dresses, and letters to her beloved sister, Cassandra.
Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire // Austen’s Burial Place

Austen became ill about a year before she died at the age of 41, and in the last months of her life she traveled to Winchester for treatment. Medical historians have long debated the cause of Austen’s death. Some posthumous diagnoses include from Addison’s disease, Hodgkin’s disease, or lupus. Whatever the cause, her final months were grim, and when her sister asked if she needed anything she resorted to a quote from The Pilgrim’s Progress: “nothing but death.”
She passed away on July 18, 1817, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral on July 24. Her burial stone can be seen in the floor of the north nave of the cathedral, but it makes no mention of her writing, so a brass plaque was added in 1872 that details her significance as a writer. Hundreds of visitors a year come to pay respects at her grave and leave small offerings such as letters or flowers—a testament to the many lives her work has touched.
