When it comes to selling property, film and television exposure brings the sort of publicity that glossy ads cannot provide. It seems that viewers are paying attention as much to homes and settings as the plot and character development in their favourite programmes.
The blue riverside chalet that was home to DI Alec Hardy, played by David Tennant, in the second series of Broadchurch, the ITV crime drama, has recently gone under offer close to its guide price of £275,000. Last time the two-bedroom home came on the market, in 2000, it sold for £37,500.
“The Broadchurch effect probably pushed the price up by close to £50,000,” according to Malcolm Gill, the managing director of Lyme Coast Holidays, which is handling the sale. “Most of the interest has come from Broadchurch fans who want the kudos of owning something that has been on the television.”
The second series of Broadchurch prompted a surge in property searches for the fictional town, according to Rightmove, as well as for the real location, West Bay, a small seaside village near Bridport in west Dorset. Atmospheric shots of the beach with East Cliff towering behind have also boosted demand for holiday homes. “We have seen a 50 per cent rise in inquiries for our holiday rentals,” Gill says.
The recent interest in West Bay has helped to push property prices up by about 5 per cent, says Martin Bowen-Ashwin, a director of Humberts. The estate agency has a one-bedroom flat in the Pier Terrace building on the market, with a guide price of £172,000; a four-bedroom bungalow is for sale at £425,000.
Advertisement
Buyers’ interest in west Dorset is not entirely down to Broadchurch, says Bowen-Ashwin. Seaside villages such as Burton Bradstock, just up the coast from West Bay, have long been popular with second-home buyers. He also credits the “slow burn” effect of television exposure through programmes such as the River Cottage series putting the area on the map.
And there is more to come. A new film of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, starring Carey Mulligan, opens in cinemas in May. Look out for more West Bay and a major supporting role from the town of Sherborne, which also starred in The Imitation Game.
Location fame lingers long in the public memory. Seventy years after the release of the film, the Carnforth Station Heritage Centre in Lancashire has its Brief Encounter Refreshment Room. Portmeirion, in North Wales, still draws fans of the 1960s cult television series The Prisoner, while nostalgia for James Herriot and Last of the Summer Wine remains a powerful marketing tool in Yorkshire.
Contemporary television hits reach even bigger audiences globally. Residents of Port Isaac on the north coast of Cornwall — Port Wenn of Doc Martin fame — are preparing for the return of the cameras for the seventh series. With the film crew come even more tourists and a large number of American fans are expected to visit this year.
After 11 years of filming, locals in Port Isaac have adapted to the disruption caused by months of filming. “Essentially the village is supportive of the series because it brings people in,” says Josephine Ashby, director of the John Bray & Partners estate agency. “But it can be frustrating when they are filming.”
Advertisement
Unsurprisingly, Port Isaac has a large number of second homes, which has helped to push up the average property price last year to a hefty £325,000. The average in Cornwall is £228,000.
Fern Cottage in Port Isaac is immediately recognisable, from the outside at least, as Doc Martin’s surgery. When it came on the market in 2000, the two-bedroom cottage sold for £115,000. Two years ago it was sold for £330,000. Buyers hoping to boast that their front door has appeared in an episode should look for properties near the harbour. A two-bedroom fisherman’s cottage on Church Hill is on the books of John Bray for £280,000, while the five-bedroom Georgian house next door is on the market for £750,000.
However, in the world of television all is not as it seems. Die-hard Poldark fans and Cornwall residents were reportedly affronted that Corsham in Wiltshire stood in for Truro in the new series. Corsham is another period drama veteran and one of many picturesque Cotswold towns that boasts the well-preserved honey-coloured stone buildings much loved by directors.
A little further north, in Oxfordshire, a less well-known Cotswold town has been pushed into the limelight, thanks to Downton Abbey. Bampton serves as the fictional village of Downton, even though it is 40 miles from Highclere Castle in Berkshire, which plays Downton Abbey itself. The drama is set in Yorkshire.
This potential confusion has not put visitors off. “We are on the tourist route now for UK and overseas visitors,” says Damian Leahy, director of Abbey Properties in Bampton. “Before we were a bit hidden away but it has brought people in from a 10 to 15-mile radius.” It takes about 40 minutes to drive from the town to Oxford or Swindon, and property prices are lower than in nearby Witney. A three-bedroom period cottage is on the market with Abbey Properties for £375,000.