Where was Disney+'s Rivals filmed? And can you visit Rutshire IRL?
Let's get one thing clear, we are 100 per cent, completely and utterly obsessed with Disney+'s Rivals. The series, based on Dame Jilly Cooper's iconic novel of the same name, follows the glamorous and shocking lives of a groups of friends/frenemies in the upper class society of Rutshire.
As Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) desperately attempts to cling onto his TV franchise, a new sub-group form, built by his arch enemy Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and threaten everything he's built so far. Among the TV wars, there's also love affairs, family secrets and plenty of country-side scandal, not to mention a lot of horses too.
The eight-part series, is set in Rutshire and as such you can expect gorgeous country estates, grand houses, and quaint picturesque English villages. But is Rutshire real? And where was the series filmed? Here's what you need to know about Rivals' filming locations.
Is Rutshire real?
Disney+'s Rivals is set in the county of Rutshire, but unfortunately Rutshire is not a real place and was created by Dame Jilly Cooper for her novel series The Rutshire Chronicles.
Rutshire is based on the Cotswolds and the three English counties which make up the area - Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire.
Where was Rivals filmed?
In order to bring to life the fictional county of Rutshire, filming for Rivals took place on location throughout Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
The town of Tetbury in Gloucestershire was used frequently and is actually where Dame Jilly Cooper has lived for over 40 years. The town of Corsham, Wiltshire was also used in Rivals, as was the city of Bristol and Monmouthshire in Wales.
As for the specific locations used, read on...
All the filming locations of Rivals
The O'Haras house
Easily one of the most stunning properties featured in Rivals, is The Priory, the home of the O'Haras.
The Priory was filmed on location at Chavenage House, which is just outside of Tetbury. Aidan Turner who plays Declan O'Hara in the series, will be all too familiar with the house, as it was also used for filming in the series Poldark, of which he was the lead.
The house is available for tours booked through reservation only, click here for more details.
The Baddingham's home
The grand house of Tony and Monica Baddingham, known as The Falconry, was filmed on location at Neston Park. The property is a privately owned stately home, and is not currently open for visitors.
You may have seen the house before when it was used for filming scenes in BBC's 2008 Larkrise to Candleford and ITV's 2007 Persuasion.
Cameron Cook's house
Cameron Cook lives in the centre of town in a house Tony purchases for her as part of the deal of Cameron moving to the UK.
The house was filmed at a Grade II-listed property in the town of Tetbury known as Berkeley House, which is actually available as a holiday rental.
London scenes
Though mainly set in the Cotswolds, in the series the characters do occasionally visit London and these exterior shots were filmed in Bristol in and around Queen Square, Corn Street and Broad Street.
The award ceremony
In the sixth episode of the series we see Cameron attend an awards ceremony, this was actually filmed in Bristol at the Harbour Hotel.
And you don't need to be a hotel guest to visit as the Harbour Hotel has the Gold Bar which is open to the public.
The flight scene
Rivals opens with a scene of Rupert Campbell-Black having sex on a flight back from New York. In reality the series was filmed on Aerospace Bristol on board an actual Concorde plane, the last Concorde plane to take flight, which you can still visit. See here for more details.
Rivals is available on Disney+ now
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