When you think of filming locations in the Lake District, it no doubt conjures up images from Swallows and Amazons. Or perhaps other iconic movies that have been filmed in the Lake District such as Brief Encounter.
Both adaptations of Swallows and Amazons used filming on location in the Lake District. And perhaps the most famous scene from Brief Encounter is on Middle Fell Bridge over Langdale Beck.
So, what other movies have been filmed in Lake District? More recently, scenes from the film adaptations of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit tales have used Windermere and Ambleside for their shooting. Other modern movies using film locations in the Lake District include 28 Days Later, Snow White and the Huntsman and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The cult film Withnail and I also has strong Cumbrian connections, with the scene for Monty’s cottage set around the fells of Shap and Penrith. But perhaps that doesn’t fall quite so precisely into the category of Lake District filming locations.
Swallows and Amazons is undoubtedly the film most associated with the area. Filming for the 1974 original was around Windermere, with the remake some forty years later using Derwentwater and Coniston for backdrops.
Many families staying in the Lake District start their own Swallows and Amazons adventures from Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa. And there are few better vantage points than the hotel venue’s marina and Watersports Centre for launching on to the water.
In ‘Approaching Arthur Ransome’, literary scholar Peter Hunt said Swallows and Amazons “affected a whole generation's view of holidays”. It “helped to create the national image of the English Lake District." That perhaps opened the door for other movies to be filmed in the Lake District.
Musing on this from Low Wood Bay’s classic views across Windermere, you can see why film crews want to use Lake District filming locations for a wide variety of movie making.
And it’s not just movies that use filming in the Lake District either. The area has also set the scene for many a television series. Recent TV dramas filmed here include The A Word, which used Lake District filming locations around Buttermere amongst others, and Deep Water, which focused on Windermere and Bowness.
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, The Bay, Coronation Street and even a mini series based on the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist have all used the Lake District and Cumbria for filming. Agatha Christie’s Poirot also used filming locations in the Lake District, including shoots around Windermere and Keswick.
Officially released documents confirm that Arthur Ransome was a British agent in Russia during the first world war. After later spending a summer teaching children to sail, Ransome wrote Swallows and Amazons as a gift to them.
He wrote the first draft within eight weeks. Payment was 10% on the first five thousand copies, and 15% thereafter, with an advance of £100 payable on the day of publication in July 1930.
The steamer Tern still carries visitors on Windermere just as she has done since 1891. She leaves from ‘Rio’ (Bowness) and passengers get a great view of ‘Cormorant Island’ (Silver Holme).
Eager readers of the Swallows and Amazon series included the future Queen Elizabeth, J.R.R. Tolkien and A. A. Milne.
It is easy to imagine that scenes from Harry Potter could have used filming locations in the Lake District, but it’s not the case. The films have used locations across the UK, including the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Alnwick Castle and the famous Glenfinnan viaduct. A lot of Harry Potter scenes were filmed in Scotland in landscapes very similar to the Lake District.
An ideal location for crews checking out or using filming locations in the Lake District. Cast members from Brief Encounter, notably Celia Johnson, stayed here. Today there is plenty of room for larger groups such as film crews. There are extensive conference facilities and meeting rooms for planning too. And then of course there’s the spa to relax in and the Watersports Centre for adventure.
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