the real-life location of the cult film

There are plenty of can't-tear-your-eyes away moments in the now-cult hit film, Saltburn, which has been nominated for a slew of awards this season: certain scenes featuring drains and graves spring to mind, for starters, as well as a dance routine made famous by a naked Barry Keoghan. But you may also have found yourself captivated by something else: the location.

Fans of the film have been flocking to Drayton House (the mansion which served as Felix Catton's ancestral home, and the film's main shooting location) in their thousands; one TikTok video that shares directions of how to access a public footpath that runs through the middle of the estate has netted over 400,000 views.

But where exactly is the real-life Saltburn made quite so popular by the film? Why was it chosen as the location, can you visit – and who lives there?

Where was Saltburn filmed?

Saltburn was filmed at Drayton House, a crenelated, Baroque façade mansion with 127 rooms that dates back to around 1300, and sits within a sprawling, 200-acre estate dotted with feature pools and formal gardens. You'd be forgiven for thinking the maze – famously a focal point of the film – is a star attraction, but this was actually erected in the grounds for filming and dismantled when the crew left.

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The estate (which was recently valued by Agent Advice at roughly £42.5 million) is situated in the sleepy, Northamptonshire village of Lowick and is typically closed to the public. The location "needed to be something that hadn’t been used before. This hadn’t been photographed even, let alone put on film," said Saltburn's director, Emerald Fennell.

"We always wanted the exact sense that it is a real place. When I first went into the house the busts in the great hall had silly hats on them and I was like, 'That’s exactly it. That is exactly what it needs to feel like.' To the people who live here it’s just home and it’s just funny. These grand things are just the clutter of your everyday life. That was something I felt we hadn’t really seen before."

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Who lives at Drayton House?

The estate has been occupied by the Stopford-Sackville family since 1770, and Charles Stopford-Sackville, who formerly worked in finance and inherited the estate a decade ago, is the current incumbent. He and his family are famously private, so the estate is usually closed to the public – although guided tours and private parties can be arranged by appointment.

Stopford-Sackville – who is a friend of Fennell's family – only agreed to the house being used as the location for Saltburn, so long as its name was never mentioned on screen. But a surge of interest in the home after the film's success has left him both bemused and with his privacy invaded.

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"I never envisaged the amount of interest there would be. It's quite weird," he said in a recent interview. "I don't take it as flattering. How would you feel if people were taking pictures outside your house? I'd prefer the interest to blow over." Stopford-Sackville added that the family have encountered numerous trespassers since the film's release, and that they have had to increase security around the property. "Most people are fairly good, but some get a bit inquisitive, let's say." The generous fee offered by the producers did "100 per cent" influence his decision to allow the mansion to be used as a film location, he said, explaining that "these houses don’t run on water".

As for what he thinks of the famously controversial film, Stopford-Sackville said that a few of the more outlandish scenes weren't quite to his taste. "There were bits that I liked and bits that I wouldn’t necessarily have put in myself," he said. "But it’s not my film, it’s Emerald's film."

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How was Drayton House transformed into Saltburn?

The house's private ownership turned out to be a bonus for Fennell and her team: generally, English heritage laws forbid the alteration of period buildings during filming – in this case, however, the owners gave their blessing to Fennell and the production designer Suzie Davies to change the interiors where required. The TV room, for instance, is usually a breakfast room, and Davies ripped up the carpet, added silk panels and painted it.

The team added topiary, art and sculptures, and brought in furniture from Lots Road Auctions in London. Some of the modern artwork was created by the art department, but the team also got permission to reproduce pieces by artists including Ryan Mosley and Colin Harris, and created portraits of the Catton family that can be seen throughout the house.

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"In a National Trust or English heritage site, I wouldn’t be able to go near it!" Davies said. Felix and Oliver’s bedrooms are actual rooms in the house, but were altered for cinematic effect. "We flipped them around, painted them, took tapestries down, and put them back up," Davies says. "We turned a bedroom into a bathroom and a bathroom into a dressing room." In the shared bathroom that connects Felix and Oliver’s rooms – and yes, where that scene was filmed – a bath was made especially to accommodate Jacob Elordi’s 6ft 5in frame.

Then, of course, there was the pivotal party scene. "We just went for it," says Davies. "We had some music on and we had a riot dressing it. We planned it within an inch of its life, anyway. We had a team doing greens, a team doing sculptures, a team doing the nightclub. It was a crazy ride." A vibe that – if you've seen Saltburn – you'll know is clearly reflected in the film itself.

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