With a setting so uniquely beautiful and yet so typically British, it is little wonder that the Lake District has played the backdrop to many a memorable holiday. But did you know the Lake District National Park and the Cumbrian area has played the setting in many famous films and TV series? Countless adaptations have been filmed in the area, with the stunning countryside also making a starring role in plenty of big screen hits.
In fact, it was the movie industry that has helped to reignite interest in the area recently, thanks to the film “Miss Potter”. Based on the life of famous resident Beatrix Potter, the Lake District played host to both Renée Zellwegger and Ewan McGregor whilst they filmed scenes for the film in spring 2006. Trivia buffs will be happy to know that filming in the Lake District took place at Loughrigg Terrace and Loughrigg Tarn and Grasmere and Yew Tree Farm in Coniston, and has led to surge in popularity around the areas for people eager to tread where Potter herself once lived.
According to the volunteers who worked on the project, “The days were interesting and unpredictable, what with planes going overhead at the wrong time, paparazzi hiding in the trees in camouflage gear, trying to clear the fell side of people and ducking behind walls and trees to keep out of shot.”
And this wasn’t the first taste of fame for the area, with many areas filmed for the iconic ‘Withnail and I’ (1987). The story of two down and out actors who head for a disastrous holiday in an uncle’s cottage, ‘Withnail and I’ was filmed around the Shap area, with many of the sites from the film still around for viewing, including the Bampton village phone box, the cottage at Crow Crag (now boarded up) and the Wet Sleddale reservoir.
The area was perhaps not surprisingly a popular choice with famed director Ken Russell, who lived in the Borrowdale valley area of the Lake District. His local haunts where used in two of his films, with the opening and closing scenes of the cult film (and famous “Rock Opera) Tommy shot right near his own home. Russell also utilised the local area for another film of his, the biopic Mahler, with the multi faceted charms of the Lake District serving as a replacement for Bavaria of all places!
When it comes to the big screen, it seems as though the Lake District has made quite an impression, and continues to do so. With it’s enviable scenery, it is little wonder. Why not take inspiration and follow in the footsteps of the silver screen, and discover your very own Lake District story.
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