The Hamnet Filming Location Where You Can Stay

To watch or not to watch is not a question we’ll be asking of the soon-to-be-released Hamnet – if there is any film you should be ready and seated for this year, this Oscar-tipped tragedy is it.

An adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell‘s award-winning novel of the same name, the heart-wrenching story tells the tale of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway (here reimagined as Agnes) and what happens when their young son Hamnet becomes afflicted with plague.

With Shakespeare’s ambition whisking him away from his home in Stratford-upon-Avon to London, O’Farrell’s fictional reimagining of this real life tragedy questions how the loss of Shakespeare’s only son may have affected the playwright and his family. And whether the interchangeable spelling of Hamnet and Hamlet in the era was something more than a coincidence.

Published in 2020 as the world faced a new plague of its own, the much-praised novel has already been adapted into a West End play and will soon be released to the big screen where it has been brought to life by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland). Starring Paul Mescal (Normal People) as the famous playwright and Jessie Buckley (Wicked Little Letters) as his healer wife Agnes Hathaway, reviews suggest that tissues are advised. As the film transports us back in time to Shakespearean England, here’s all the Hamnet filming locations to visit.

The Hamnet Filming Locations You Can Visit

Weobley, Herefordshire

Whilst both the real and fictional Shakespeare family lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the once quaint Elizabethan town has since been transformed into a much more urban, and less timber-framed, hub. Seeking out a more rural location to better reflect how Stratford-Upon-Avon would have looked back in the day, the crew eventually stumbled upon the Herefordshire village of Weobley, one of the best-preserved Tudor villages in the country. Hardly touched by the Industrial revolution, the streets are lined with wonky Tudor houses and plenty of historic charm. Transformed by carts and stacks of hay, the effect in the film is like stepping back in time.

Filming commenced across Herefordshire during the summer of 2024, with key sites including the Weobley church where Agnes and Will are married and the fictional Hewlands cottage where Agnes grows up.

Though the real Hewland farm sits on the edge of Stratford-upon-Avon, now a tourist attraction known as Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, fans of the film will soon be able to stay in the Weobley cottage where Hewlands was shot. Owned by the National Trust, Cwmmau Farmhouse is a holiday cottage located in the heart of Herefordshire. The Grade II listed Jacobean home provides the backdrop to Agnes’s childhood, her and Will’s first meeting, and where they fall in love. And it’s available to rent as a holiday home from March onwards.

Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes in director Chloé Zhao’s HAMNET, a Focus Features release. (Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)

Set along winding lanes of the Welsh Marches, Cwmmau Farmhouse was discovered by chance. ‘Our location manager was driving to a historic house that she’d heard had good potential, but those people didn’t answer the door,’ says production designer Fiona Crombie. ‘So, she carried on going and came across this listed farmhouse, which had never been on camera before. It was an amazing find. It’s got the perfect frontage, but because it’s a rental, it’s been renovated inside. We actually had to [temporarily] reverse all those modernisations before filming began.’

National Trust Cultural Heritage Curator Lucy Armstrong-Blair who oversaw the shoot explained how the location felt like travelling back in time. ‘Cwmmau Farmhouse, with its stone base, timber framing and leaded windows, is one of those rare places where the past feels close at hand. The production team were so thoughtful and careful with this house.’ Transforming Cwmmau into a family home, the crew introduced vegetable patches, young apple trees, a tutor room and historic kitchen, sensitively dressed by the art department with the time-worn objects of 16th century life. ‘When the actors stepped into these spaces, in their period garments, it was nothing short of spellbinding,’ says Lucy.

The shoot left a lasting legacy on the home, helping to fund sensitive restoration work to the property. Many original features – including leaded windows, oak beams, stone floors and a 16th century kitchen with bread ovens – remain intact. Outside, the production donated the real prop apple trees and replaced a stretch of period-style wooden fencing near the farmhouse.

Particular attention was paid to Agnes’ medicine garden which was recreated with painstaking care: ‘Two stone beds were built by the front door, each planted with herbs, vegetables and flowers chosen after meticulous research. It was vital to honour her character as a herbalist and healer – these plants were Agnes’ lifeblood and livelihood – so every detail had to feel authentic,’ explains Lucy.

Lyndey Park Estate

For the scenes set deeper in the heart of the countryside, including where Agnes gives birth to her first daughter, the crew ventured further afield. For these idyllic rural moments Lyndey Park Estate in Gloucestershire was used. Around a 90 minutes’ drive south of Weobley, the estate’s gardens are open to the public and many of the estate buildings have been converted into holiday lets.

London

As for the London locations, Fiona Crombie shared that nearly all of the London sequences were filmed at Charterhouse. A heritage site in the heart of the city, the 600 year-old property has previously been a monastery, a hospital and a boys’ school, before being transformed into an almshouse for elderly people in need. Visitors can book tours and events at the historic site if you want to take a peek inside.

Though you can also visit the actual London Globe, you won’t be able to explore the theatre used in this adaptation. Unable to film inside, the team built their own replica theatre in Elmstree Studios, taking inspiration from the more historically accurate first Globe which burnt down in 1614. The Globe we know and love today was inspired by the second, more ornate globe constructed in 1615.

Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes and Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew in director Chloé Zhao’s HAMNET, a Focus Features release. (Agata Grzybowska / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)

Despite the difficulty of constructing this replica, Crombie explained that the hardest scene to film was in fact the one where Shakespeare is sitting on the banks of the Thames, contemplating his future. The London beach they used is located at Durham Wharf, sat between Greenwich and the Thames Barrier – with movie magic helping to create a more Shakespearean, and less skyscraper riddled, skyline. ‘The moon dictated our whole schedule in London,’ explained Crombie. ‘There was only going to be one night with a full moon and a spring tide, that would expose the beach, giving us enough time to shoot. It was such a complex scene.’

Hamnet will be released in cinemas on 9 January.

The five-bedroom Cwmmau Farmhouse will be available to book from March, with three nights costing £1,547. Book now at nationaltrust.org.uk