Shere. The village from The Holiday.
Half-timbered cottages, a stream down the main street, the Surrey Hills all around. Hollywood didn't build it — it just borrowed it.
What was actually filmed here.
In The Holiday, Shere plays itself: the village centre, the church, the lanes in the snow. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason filmed here too. Location scouts keep coming back for the same reason photographers do — the place looks the way England is supposed to look.
One honest footnote: Rosehill Cottage, the film’s famous honey-stone hideaway, was a set — built in a field nearby for the shoot and taken down afterwards. You can’t visit it, because it never really existed.
The landscape it was built in, though, is entirely real. And on the edge of the village, behind a gate, there are three acres of water gardens you can actually book.
The version you can book.
You can’t hire the village. You can hire Netley Mill House: a private estate on its edge, with a lake, a mill pond, stone bridges and lawns — fifteen minutes from Guildford, an hour from London.
- Shoot or film here — the light the scouts came for, without the crowds.
- Marry or celebrate here — a ceremony on the lawn in the landscape from the films.
- Walk the gardens — gate to mill pond to bridges to lake.
What people ask about Shere.
Was The Holiday really filmed in Shere?
Yes — Shere appears throughout The Holiday, including the village centre and the church. Rosehill Cottage itself, though, was a set built in a nearby field for filming and taken down afterwards. The village is real; the cottage was movie magic.
Did any filming happen at Netley Mill House?
No — the films were shot in and around the village, not at the house. What Netley Mill House offers is the same landscape: three private acres of water gardens in the village the location scouts chose.
What else was filmed in Shere?
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason filmed scenes in Shere, and the village has stood in for the archetypal English village many times since. It looks the part because it is the part.
How do I visit or hire a location in Shere?
The village itself is public and much loved. For private hire — a shoot, a wedding, an event — Netley Mill House is a three-acre estate on the edge of the village, available by enquiry.
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