The Famous Five: Mystery at the Prospect Hotel was filmed at Bristol’s Bottle Yard Studios, Chavenage House, Berkeley Castle, Port Gaverne, Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, and around the South West of England.
Season 2 of The Famous Five was also filmed at Whitminster House and in Newport.
Directed by Asim Abbasi, the fourth Famous Five adventure premiered on Monday 23rd of December 2024 before launching on iPlayer and showing on BBC One on Tuesday 31st December 2024.
In the first mystery of Season 2, George (Diaana Babnicova), it’s now 1940 and Dick (Kit Rakusen), Anne (Flora Jacoby Richardson), Julian (Elliott Rose) and Timmy the Dog (Kip) reunite at a hotel on Cragstone Ridge.
True to form, the Famous Five soon become embroiled in a mystery that’s linked to their old acquaintance, Thomas Wentworth (Jack Gleeson),
The Famous Five: Mystery at the Prospect Hotel Filming Locations
Philip Halling / Chavenage House
The Famous Five: Mystery at the Prospect Hotel Filming Locations include Chavenage House, the Llanover Estate, Norchard Station, The Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol and Wolf Hall location Berkeley Castle.
More locations in Wales, and Grade II-listed Whitminster House in Gloucestershire, are also set to feature in Season 2 of The Famous Five.
Once again, the majority of locations are in the South West of England and South Wales.
So far, the BBC Famous Five films have been filmed at everywhere from the Goose and Cuckoo Inn in Abergavenny, Treberfydd House and Bannau Brycheiniog National Park (Brecon Beacons) in Wales, to Gloucester Cathedral, Tyntesfield in Somerset and Port Isaac in Cornwall – with a brief appearance by the Glenfinnan Viaduct in the Scottish Highlands breaking the trend.
The Famous Five: Mystery at the Prospect Hotel Locations
Kirrin Cottage
The Kirrin Cottage location in the new BBC Famous Five series is on the Llanover Estate in Wales, and Port Gaverne in South West England – the Bannau Brycheiniog and Cornwall landscapes are brought together onscreen.
Interior scenes were filmed at Bristol’s Bottle Yard Studios.
In the series, Kirrin Cottage is home to Aunt Fanny (Ann Akinjirin), Uncle Quentin (James Lance) and George, and the perfect place for adventures when the cousins come to stay.
But of course, we don’t see much of the cottage in Season 2 Episode 1, with most of the action taking place around the Prospect Hotel.
The Beach
Port Gaverne. Port Gaverne by Derek Harper, CC BY-SA 2.0
The beach location in The Famous Five: Mystery at the Prospect Hotel is Port Gaverne Beach in Cornwall.
Owned by the National Trust, this scenic little cove is surrounded by cliffs as seen in The Famous Five’s Kirrin Cottage scenes. You may have seen it onscreen before though, as it’s close to Port Isaac - the home of Doc Martin, and the ideal filming location for some of the series’ beach scenes.
Railway Station
Dean Forest Railway at Norchard by Gareth James, CC BY-SA 2.0
We think the train station in The Famous Five: Mystery at the Prospect Hotel is Norchard Station on the Dean Forest Railway.
It’s a heritage line running through 4 ½ miles of Gloucestershire woodland. The line was previously used as a filming location in The Famous Five: Peril on the Night Train.
Prospect Hotel
Chavenage House. Peter Turvey, CC BY-SA 2.0
The Prospect Hotel locations in The Famous Five are Chavenage House and Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.
In The Famous Five, the Prospect Hotel is located at Cragstone Ridge, but the filming locations are actually in the picturesque Cotswolds, with Chavenage House providing the grand exterior and many of the interiors. Look out for its great hall in the hotel lobby scenes, for example.
“I filmed in Chavenage House which doubled mostly for The Prospect Hotel. It's wonderfully atmospheric and I think it will look amazing on screen. Filming in places like this really help, as an actor, to get lost in the story.”
Jack Gleeson, Thomas Wentworth, BBC
The Chavenage estate can be traced back for a millennium, to the days of Edward the Confessor.
But the present day manor was built in the 16th Century, with its Elizabethan style clear to see onscreen in details like the towering windows near the grand entrance.
Chavenage House is the ideal place for a country house mystery, having previously starred as Styles Court in The Mysterious Affair at Styles in ITV’s long-running Poirot series.
But more recently, it’s appeared in Poldark and Rivals. You can only visit by prior arrangement, as part of a group tour, but this manor house is easy to enjoy onscreen.
Berkeley Castle. Fiducial, CC BY-SA 3.0
And it’s not the only atmospheric filming location in the Christmas 2024 Famous Five mystery. Another Prospect Hotel location is Berkeley Castle, an 11th Century castle that’s been home to the same family since the 12th Century.
Scenes filmed at Berkeley Castle include Thomas Wentworth’s vision of Cab Vee’s murder at the piano, with the large window and fireplace in the background.
“Berkeley Castle stood out, our green room was in a big banqueting hall! Allegedly it’s haunted as well. The groundskeeper told one of us that one night something pushed him in the back and when he turned around, nothing was there.”
Amir Wilson, Cab Vee, BBC
It was also a hit with other members of the cast, all praising its weird and wonderful past for setting the scene.
“My favourite location so far was Berkeley Castle. We were in the big dining hall there where the last ever court jester performed, a guy called Dicky Pearce. To be in that room was quite extraordinary. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I dined there, Edward II was murdered there, that was quite an interesting space.”
James Lance, Uncle Quentin, BBC
This Prospect Hotel filming location is easier to visit - Berkeley Castle and its gardens open to the public on set days throughout late spring and summer.