Top 10 Filming Locations within 1 hour of Patchway Studios

06 January 2024

One of the great features of Patchway Studios is our proximity to fantastic and diverse filming locations. Patchway Studios advisory board member, location manager Poppy Gordon Clark, spoke to a group of Bristol location managers to find out their top 10 favourite locations within an hour of Patchway Studios. Here’s what they said:

10. Dove Street & Stokes Croft

Dove Street is a 1960s housing estate. It has a strange urban beauty with views across the city and graphic walkways and underpasses that offer a great city location. A short walk away is the iconic Stoke Croft which showcases some of Bristol’s most vibrant graffiti and a myriad of shops and cafes.

9. Redcliffe Caves

Redcliffe Caves are a network of manmade sandstone tunnels in the centre of Bristol, created in the Middle Ages to provide sand for glass-making and pottery production. The caves are owned by the Bristol City Council and offer an easily accessible cave network with large chambers. Don’t forget your torch!

Redcliffe Caves

8. Chavenage House

Chavenage House is possibly one of the most welcoming places our location managers have filmed in. It’s a beautiful Elizabethan Manor set in the Cotswolds, with a panelled dining room, a ball room, a tiny church and acres of unspoilt land. Nothing is too big or too small for the family who host.

Chavenage   Chavenage

7. Forest of Dean & Clearwell Caves

If you want woodland, the Forest of Dean is is the place to go! It’s located between the Lydney Estate and Puzzle Wood with some of the most beautiful woodland our location managers have ever seen. Moss covered rocks, trees of all species from plantation to ancient woodland, whatever the brief, its here! And if you need an underground hidden world, then you can head to Clearwell Caves to the natural cave system which has been mined for thousands of years, giving access to nine large caverns and winding passageways. Oh, and they like film crews!

Forest of Dean   Puzzlewood

6. Ammerdown House

This is one of the prettiest Georgian properties in the area. A private family home that is not on any regular tourist trail – you will be left alone here. The colours of the walls would delight any Bridgerton designer and the unique staircase with a dome and ionic columns is great to stage a grand entrance. It is a hidden Georgian gem!

Ammerdown House

5. Berkeley Castle

Due to its exceptional architecture, versatile grounds and incredible history, Berkeley Castle offers a truly unique backdrop and is a popular choice for television and film productions.

Berkeley Castle

4. Bath

Need we say more? There is so much on offer in Bath, from the Roman Baths, Assembly Rooms and some of the most iconic streets in the UK.

The Crescent at Bath

3. Rodmarton Manor

This is our no. 1 location, an Arts and Crafts manor home set in the Cotswold. The furniture was built in the local area for the house. It offers such uniqueness that we have yet to find a property to rival it.

Rodmarton Manor   Rodmarton Manor

2. Badminton

Another Georgian wonder, with an absolute abundance of stunning locations. It is hard to not find what you are looking for here. Badminton’s state rooms are impressive, the bedrooms are pretty, the woodlands are wonderful; there are two orangeries, a mad folly, a large church, a water fountain that is actually a swimming pool, and they will let you bring a horse into the hall.  What more do you need!?

Badminton House

1. Wells Cathedral / Bishops’ Palace

This was a unanimous vote from our esteemed colleagues of the location world. Not only is Wells Cathedral one of the most spectacular cathedrals in England offering many cinematic spaces; the team that run it are so amenable to work with.

Wells Cathedral

Poppy Gordon Clark, Location Manager and Patchway Studios Advisory Board