Kent Movie Map

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Getting to Kent

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On location

Turning Philippa Gregory's bestselling novel The Other Boleyn Girl into a blockbuster movie required filming locations combining beauty, history and drama.

Kent proved to be the perfect choice having the right movie locations plus being the actual historical home of the Boleyn Girls (Hever Castle). The famous cast also gave Kent an X-factor rating, too, when they visited in November and December 2006.

Knole

Alex Bailey (c) Universal Studios. All rights reserved.

Steven Dedman, property manager at Knole, recalls that in the many breaks between filming, Natalie Portman (Anne Boleyn) and Scarlett Johansson (Mary Boleyn) frequently asked questions about the historic house and the lifestyle of its inhabitants - (Knole once belonged to Henry VIII). He recalls "The whole experience was a real pleasure".

A special team of 25 volunteers plus staff oversaw filming to protect Knole's ancient and fragile fabric. With winter weather so terrible, they made sure the stars wiped their muddy feet before entering! Volunteers also took lengthy turns providing "candle light" in obscure and rarely visited nooks and crannies in the north wing of the house.

Penshurst Place

At Penshurst Place, room guides enjoyed a break from their day jobs to become film extras, watched by Philippa Gregory who was on set. Giant 16th-century trestle tables in the Baron's Hall made authentic props for feast scenes. And room guides like Trish Evans got to grips with their new, "absolutely fantastic" Tudor costumes of velvet and rich brocades decorated with pearls and jewels. The ladies completed their makeover with hair scraped back under gables (fashionable Tudor headdresses).

With up to 30 takes for a sequence, there was plenty of waiting around. But by the third day, Penshurst's budding stars were in full swing, being treated to breakfast (filming began at 7.30am) and strutting their stuff around the Tudor gardens of Henry VIII's former hunting lodge.

"We felt hugely privileged to have been part of this adventure," Trish reflects. "The camaraderie was fantastic and stories abounded. That old cliché ‘stars in their eyes' became very real as we all had those aplenty!"

Dover Castle

The set builders had a real challenge at Dover Castle - the movie's Tower of London - as bad weather kept causing scenery to fall off! However, the fake wall built in the Great Chamber to create Anne Boleyn's prison bedroom remained suitably secure.

The execution episodes, lasting just moments in the film, took three long weeks to prepare. Shooting covered five days from 6am to 8pm and involved 150 crew and 260 extras. But what a dramatic wrap!

See the locations in action with Kent TV!

Why not come and see these fantastic Kent movie locations for yourself, you could even stay in one of the same luxury hotels used by The Other Boleyn Girl's famous cast.