Firle Place near Lewes stars in Jane Austen film

Firle Place, near Lewes, stands in for Hartfield, Emma’s home in the Autumn De Wilde film.

Cast and crew of the film, which is out on Friday, fell in love with the Regency property.

Jane Austen’s tale of misguided matchmaking is set in the fictional village of Highbury in early 19th-century England.

It is perfectly reimagined in Firle Place, a Tudor stately home and garden remodelled in the 18th century, although some minor renovations were needed before filming began.

Firle Place is the family seat of Henry Nicholas Gage, 8th Viscount Gage, whose family have owned the land at Firle since acquiring it from the Levett family in the 15th century.

The Gage family were excited about the prospect of filming the blockbuster film at their home.

Director Autumn De Wilde said: “It was incredible to be at Firle, which was Emma’s house.

“Lord and Lady Gage were so inviting and embraced the whole process.

“There already was some colour which is part of what appealed to me. I really wanted Emma’s to not be ‘patched together’, I wanted the actors to have the benefit of really living inside of Emma’s house.

"I think because Emma is really sort of trapped there, I felt like it would be better if we could feel the isolation and the beauty of being trapped there.

“So, we wallpapered some rooms, we painted some rooms.

"The mint room was already mint – which I was obsessed with – and they were really excited at seeing the house take on the brighter colours of the Georgian period, because people visit these great houses and they forget that what they are looking at; the faded colours and that was not the original colour and the same with costumes.

“We think of this time period as being yellowed and brownish and faded with age, but they loved colour.”

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Emma, said: “It was so beautiful, but it’s extraordinary with Firle, because it’s a really big home and yet within two days of us moving in there, it did feel like home.

“We were all very cosy there.

“The family that lives there were very kind to us and made us feel like we could really settle in, and we had so much fun in the grounds and just being able to have lunch outside, in British summertime on the lawn, is just extraordinary.”

The manor house was built in the late 15th century by Sir John Gage, who made Firle Place his principal home. He held many high offices, including Constable of the Tower and was an executor of Henry VIII’s will.

The external cladding of the building is Georgian, using Caen Stone to make it look like a classical French Chateau.

This work was completed by Sir William Gage, 7th Baronet, who inherited the house in 1713 and the house is set in typically open parkland.

The interior of the house however is Tudor in style and circulates around a central courtyard.

The house has an extensive collection of paintings, porcelain and furniture, including works by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Van Dyck, Raphael, Puligo, Zoffany and Teniers.

During the First World War, students from the nearby Southover Manor School in Lewes were housed here and during the Second World War, Canadian soldiers were quartered here.

The house has previously featured in TV shows including the BBC’s Jonathan Creek and the three-part mini-series The Line of Beauty and BBC’s Bake Off Creme De La Creme Series 2 which aired in 2017.

Filming took place last Marchin with music video director Autumn de Wilde making her film directorial debut with the latest – and third – adaptation of Austen’s matchmaker story.

The story was previously made into a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow in 1996, an ITV mini-series with Kate Beckinsale and another film, the most commercially successful version, Clueless in 1995. The new film also stars Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth, Josh O’Connor, Callum Turner, Miranda Hart, Rupert Graves, Gemma Whelan, Amber Anderson and Tanya Reynolds.