Ballroom scenes were shot at England's Wentworth Woodhouse estate.
Wentworth Woodhouse
One of the greatest filming challenges is what to do when a grand exterior doesn't quite deliver on the inside. For the scenes at Harewood House, the location team needed to find a ballroom (Harewood has a large gallery instead). Wentworth Woodhouse, in Yorkshire, proved the perfect solution. "I think it’s the biggest facade of any stately home in Europe," Ellis says. "We uses cranes just to get our camera equipment in, rather than coming up the staircase, because we were so nervous about damaging or putting any pressure on this incredible building."
Even after all of the elegant locations he's scouted, Ellis says Wentworth Woodhouse stood out. "I've never seen a ballroom like that in any home I've visited."
As soon as the script came in, Ellis and production designer Donal Woods immediately got to thinking about where to shoot. "We spend weeks traveling the country looking for locations, using old maps, not a GPS," says Ellis. "We have this one giant map where we mark which roads we’ve been down in England, and now there aren't many left! To think we get to do these two-week road trips looking at estates, roads and ruins, and get paid for it. It's a real joy."
Cogges Manor Farm
This Oxfordshire farmstead (and petting zoo) is the setting in the series for Yew Tree Farm. According to Ellis: "It was on its knees when we discovered it, and now it's so popular with a newly built tearoom. I'm not saying it was entirely us, but it's lovely knowing it's back on the map. Whenever I drive past it gives me the warmest glow." The National Trust—the British organization that restores old homes as rentals—has released data showing that Downton has been wonderful for visitor numbers, but Ellis says some properties are stretching the truth a little bit to keep up with the hype. "Sometimes you read in the newspaper that a location is telling journalists Downton was shot there. I'm like, 'No it wasn't!'"
Still, Ellis understands the appeal entirely. In the end, it's the charm of the locations that keep viewers—and Ellis himself—coming back to Downton again and again. "If every job was like Downton, you’d never want to retire," he says. "I must have driven up that driveway 800 times, but the approach on the angle, when the sun is shining on that sandstone—it blows me away every time."
