Period dramas are inspiring a wave of set-jetting travel | Canada Voices

Last summer, Jennifer Bairos, a teacher from Toronto, took a trip with her husband and 13-year-old son to Bath, England, with a decidedly high-society mission: to spot as many Bridgerton filming locations as possible during a whirlwind 24-hour visit.

Bairos, 44, had been to Bath when she was younger and remembered enjoying her time there, so she added it to the itinerary when she was planning her first family trip to England. “As I started researching more about Bath, I was excited to discover that it happens to be a dream destination for bibliophiles and Bridgerton fans,” she says.

Bairos is far from alone. Research by VisitBritain found that seven out of 10 leisure travellers to the UK have visited a film or TV location, and nine in 10 prospective visitors say they would be interested in doing so.

Jenny Southan, CEO of the London-based travel trend forecasting agency Globetrender, says she’s witnessed the rise in period-drama travel – inspired by shows such as Bridgerton or adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights.

“People aren’t just visiting places; they want to step inside the narrative worlds they’ve fallen in love with on screen,” she says. “In a hyper-digital, fast-paced era, these stories offer romance, ritual and a slower, more aesthetic vision of life. Travelling to the real landscapes behind them allows people to briefly inhabit that fantasy.”

Here are a few of the best places attracting travellers thanks to their roles in beloved period dramas – with luxurious stays nearby to make the experience feel even more magical.

Bridgerton

Among other destinations across the UK, the city of Bath doubles for Regency-era London in the hit series Bridgerton. Its stately limestone Georgian buildings, graceful terraces and grand crescents are featured prominently in the society scandals and bodice-ripping moments of the award-winning show. The sweeping lawns of Royal Crescent, in particular, make visitors feel as though they’ve stepped onto a film set, says Bairos. A few streets away, the Abbey Deli – where Bairos made sure to stop for lunch – appears on screen as Madame Delacroix’s modiste shop.

For some travellers, the appeal of period-drama destinations doesn’t end with visiting filming locations; they want to extend the fantasy into where they stay. Four hours north of Bath, in North Yorkshire, Castle Howard – featured in Bridgerton as well as the beloved 1980s serial Brideshead Revisited – pairs baroque architecture and gardens made for long, cinematic walks.

Hamnet

Fresh from awards buzz – including a Best Actress Oscar for Jessie Buckley – Hamnet, the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about Shakespeare and his wife Agnes grieving the loss of their young son, has cast fresh light on the landscapes that shaped the playwright’s life.

In Stratford-upon-Avon, visitors can wander past black-and-white Tudor houses and along the banks of the River Avon, stepping into the world Shakespeare would have known.

In London, the Globe Theatre brings his plays to life under the open sky, while the Museum of Shakespeare, opening this year in Shoreditch, will offer an immersive look into his life and work on the site of the original Curtain Playhouse, one of the first theatres where his plays were performed.

Filming also reached the village of Weobley and the surrounding Herefordshire countryside, including Cwmmau Farmhouse, a striking 17th-century timber-framed National Trust property. Now available as a holiday stay, the farmhouse offers a luxurious base for exploring the area, with nearby falconry experiences letting visitors step into one of the film’s most memorable moments.

Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë’s brooding classic has always been tied to Yorkshire, and Emerald Fennell’s new movie Wuthering Heights is drawing fresh attention to the landscape that inspired it. Filming spanned Yorkshire Dales National Park in North Yorkshire and parts of West Yorkshire.

In Swaledale, a striking limestone valley in North Yorkshire, often steals the scene, instantly recognisable from the film and the kind of place where it’s easy to imagine a bit of romantic turmoil. And in the tiny villages of Low Row and Reeth, visitors can admire the stone cottages, stroll the winding village streets and take in the open hillsides pulled straight from the novel and film. You can also visit the Brontë Parsonage Museum, the town of Haworth and the farmhouse Top Withens.

In Yorkshire Dales, Simonstone Hall, a stately country house set among rolling hills that has famously welcomed the celebrity cast and senior crew of Wuthering Heights, also opens its doors to visitors seeking elegant rooms, fine dining and sweeping grounds.

Pride and Prejudice

A new Pride and Prejudice adaptation is set to introduce Austen’s story to another generation. While filming locations for the latest adaptation remain largely under wraps, one of the story’s most recognisable settings is in Peak District National Park.

Here, visitors can tour Chatsworth House, a stately home which is real-life inspiration for Pemberley, before heading to Stanage Edge, a gritstone escarpment where Elizabeth Bennet has one of her most iconic moments. Also in the region, Lyme Park, used as Pemberley in the BBC adaptation, offers lavish grounds, lakeside views and traditional afternoon tea. Back in Bath, the Jane Austen Festival takes place every September.

And just outside London, Cliveden House – another National Trust property whose grounds appeared in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film – offers luxe suites, a spa and views of the River Thames perfectly suited to a modern aristocratic escape.