Hamnet | 2025
- Locations |
- Herefordshire;
- Gloucestershire;
- Hertfordshire;
- London
- DIRECTOR |
- Chloé Zhao
Discover the real locations where Chloé Zhao's powerful film was filmed around the UK, including villages in Herefordshire, a forest in Gloucestershire and a 14th century almshouse in London.
Chloé Zhao's adaptation of 'Maggie O'Farrell's novel looks breathtaking, seamlessly piecing together tangibly real locations with astonishingly convincing sets (and a little CGI). It tells an affecting, if fanciful, story of William Shakespeare dealing with the unexpected death of his young son Hamnet through his writing.
'Hewlands Farm', home of the Hathaway family where tutor will Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) first meets Agnes (now commonly known as Anne (Jessie Buckley) is Cwmmau Farmhouse, Cwmma Road, near the village of Brilley just north of Whitney-on-Wye in Herefordshire.
Dating from the early 1600s, the Jacobean house is now managed by the National Trust and if you want to immerse yourself in the world of the 17th century, with modern amenities, you can stay here.
The actual real-life historical site still exists, famously, as Anne Hathaway's Cottage, 22 Cottage Lane in Shottery near Stratford-upon-Avon, now owned and managed by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
For the film, the town of 'Stratford-upon-Avon' is represented by the village of Weobley, also in Herefordshire, about 25 miles north of the city of Hereford.
There are plenty of black-and-white half-timbered buildings here, though a little set dressing was needed to disguise more modern intrusions and of course, plenty of dirt on the roads.
The view of the town seen in the film is Broad Street, looking north to Bell Square, with the Church of St Peter and St Paul in the background.
In fact, it's on the corner of Broad Street and Bell Square that Will and young Hamnet take forever over their bye-byes as the playwright heads off to London.
A crafty bit of set dressing covers the Lavender Blue and Annie Mac's Tea Room and gift shop.
The lush forest to which Agnes retreats and where she gives birth to her first daughter Judith is the Lydney Park Estate, Aylburton in Gloucestershire. This is a 17th-century country estate surrounding Lydney House in the Forest of Dean district, known for its gardens and a Roman temple complex. It's open to visitors at certain times and it boasts several properties in which you can stay.
The mysterious dark hollow among the tree roots was a real feature enhanced slightly for visual effect.
The interior of the Shakespeare household, which looks so convincing, is a studio set built at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood in Hertfordshire.
When Will moves down to London, almost all of the city scenes were filmed in the ancient walled Charterhouse complex, EC1, near Smithfield (nearest tube: Barbican – Circle, Hammersmith and Metropolitan lines).
The Charterhouse was originally built in 1371 as a priory on the site of a Black Death Plague Pit (now lying beneath the peacefully green Charterhouse Square). The name has nothing to do with "charters" but comes from the corruption of Carthusians, the order for whom it was built.
It was an almshouse for the aged, and largely rebuilt during the Tudor and Jacobean periods, hence its suitability for the film. Its Chapel and Museum are open to the public (free admission) but to see the interiors and courtyards, you'll need to book for a guided tour (£15 as of January 2026).
The complex is still home to more than 40 'Brothers' (a title which now includes women) so you're required to be respectful and quiet.
The courtyards seen in the film are the Master's Court and the smaller Washhouse Court.
The shadow puppet play Will watches was set up in Washhouse Square.
When Agnes and her brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn) venture down to the capital to see Will's new play Hamlet, their arrival was filmed in the narrow Charterhouse road running alongside the left of Washhouse Court, with blue screen technology adding an amazingly convincing view of the river Thames in the background.
The cobbled courtyard in which they approach Will's lodgings is again Washhouse Court, viewed from a different angle.
The 'Globe Theatre' where Hamlet is premiered is not, as you might have expected, the wonderful recreation of Shakespeare's long-vanished circular theatre close to its original site in Southwark. It's a set, built on a smaller scale to appear more intimate for that heart-wrenching finale, on the backlot of Elstree. Only the ground level was built, the upper galleries added digitally using blue-screen again.
(I love how the close-up of the Hamlet playbill lists the names of the film's real cast members, led by Mr Jupe).
By the way, to experience what an original Shakespearian performance might have felt like, don't miss Shakespeare's Globe on Bankside.
With plays performed in daylight under an open sky (though with the occasional plane or helicopter passing overhead), it's radically different from the Victorian tradition of illuminated proscenium performances we've become accustomed to. The acting style is generally broader, recognising the presence of the audience in a rousingly involving way.
If you have the stamina, I recommend the economic option of standing with the groundlings to experience the immersive experience that was live theatre before we retreated into the anonymity of darkness and red plush seats.
(I'm not paid for this, by the way, I love the bold immediacy of the Globe's Shakespearian productions.)
The only other London location is Thames' 'Cheapside' pier where Will gazes into the murky river, giving the now overfamiliar "To be or not to be..." soliloquy the full weight of it's underlying the contemplative, suicidal themes. This is Durham Wharf, on the south side of the River Thames, east of Greenwich towards the Thames Barrier.
