Lights! Camera! Action!… Ever since Helen Hayes pulled up to her Danish castle in the 1956 film “Anastasia”, Knebworth House has had a starring role in the movies. Over 70 films and TV episodes later our beautiful gothic exterior and ancient interiors still inspire filmmakers. This summer Knebworth House has been on television twice a week in two series, “Summer of Rockets” starring Keeley Hawes, and “Year of the Rabbit” starring Keeley Hawes – something to do with her initials perhaps?
It seemed like a good moment, therefore, to look back over the history of filming at Knebworth House, with a summer exhibit in our Banqueting Hall. So I have stretched a black cotton ‘washing line’ across the old hall and hung it with the DVD (or VHS – some titles are quite obscure now!) of every single movie or TV show that Knebworth House has ever been involved in. It makes for colourful and impressive bunting, stretching the full length of the room. To this, my family and the Knebworth House team have added their unique recollections and stories from the various shoots.
Also lined up, in the garden outside, are sculptures from our returning Zimbabwean stone exhibit, Matombo. This is the last year of this popular summer display, so do try and catch it before the end of the month – before 29th August, in fact, as we close a couple of days early this August for the return of the music festival Cool Britannia. Hopefully the weather will be as lovely as it was last year and you’ll be joining us in the line up for that too!
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH