Mr Holmes
The Palmer family were approached by film location scout, Richard George in 2014. He was specifically looking for an Old East Sussex farmhouse with orchards overlooking the sea to fit the role as retired Sherlock Holmes country residence. Wickham Manor and the surrounding gardens followed on to star in the film “Mr Holmes” in 2015. Several rooms of the Manor feature in the film including, the country style kitchen, hall way, bedroom, living room (now part of the William Penn Wing) and the dining room (which is now part of the Tudor Wing) was converted into Holmes’ library. Sherlock shared his keen hobby of bee keeping and throughout the filming his Bee Hives can be seen in the orchards located in the gardens.
Sir Ian McKellen played a wonderful Mr Holmes, enjoying the farm life in between sets surrounds by our pet lambs and chickens. Laura Linney played Mrs Munro and The Tudor Wing was used as her dressing room. Her screen son Roger was played by Milo Parker an upcoming young actor who has since starred in The Durrell’s.
The Crown
In September 2018, following a recommendation, we had a visit from film location manager Peter Gray from The Crown – Netflix. He was on the search for a farmhouse to use as Lord Snowdon’s family home. In January 2019, the Manor was created into a film set which took approximately 1 week due to a furniture change over. Although Wickham only starred in Episode 10 – Season 3, they managed to show external features such as the driveway, the ancient archway approaching the farm, along with Aggie and La-La our pet sheep. The kitchen and living room were also used as the main rooms throughout filming starring Ben Daniels as Lord Snowdon.