Do I need a permit to film at Manderston House?

Yes — filming on or around Manderston House typically requires a permit. Allow roughly 5–10 working days lead time for most UK councils. Interior shoots on private property may also need owner consent.

Is parking available at Manderston House?

On-site parking is available at Manderston House. Capacity varies — confirm crew-vehicle numbers with the venue before the day.

How much does it cost to film at Manderston House?

Manderston House sits in the £££ band. Typical UK film-location day rates range from under £200 for simple interior shoots to well over £1,000 for period properties and landmark venues. Confirm with the venue directly.

What crew size is suitable for Manderston House?

Manderston House can accommodate a large crew of 15+ including feature-film unit requirements, trucks, and extras.

Has anything been filmed at Manderston House before?

Manderston House appears on Filmshoot's UK location index because it has a documented track record or strong characteristics for film and photography. Specific production credits aren't displayed unless publicly confirmed by the venue — ask the venue directly or check ScreenSkills and IMDb Locations for verified credits.

Manderston House — film location in Duns

Summary

A Category A listed Edwardian country house near Duns in Berwickshire, Scotland, rebuilt between 1901 and 1903 to designs by John Kinross for Sir James Miller, 2nd Baronet, on an unlimited budget, incorporating a silver-plated staircase and interiors modelled in part on Kedleston Hall; seat of the Palmer family; used as a filming location for The House of Mirth (2000), The Edwardian Country House (Channel 4, 2002), The Awakening (2011), and Man to Man (2005).

About this location

Manderston House stands near Duns in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. The estate was historically in the possession of the powerful Hume family; their tower house appears on General Roy’s military map of 1750. An earlier Georgian house was built on the site around 1790 for Dalhousie Watherston, and this was altered in 1870 before being completely rebuilt at the turn of the 20th century.

The present house was designed by John Kinross and constructed between 1901 and 1903 for Sir James Miller, 2nd Baronet, who had inherited a fortune from his father’s herring and hemp trading business in Russia. The estate had come to the Miller family in the 1860s. Sir James Miller is reported to have told John Kinross that there was no budget for the project, saying “It doesn’t matter.” Kinross produced one of the most lavishly appointed Edwardian country houses in Scotland, with interiors drawing on the Adam brothers’ work at Kedleston Hall — the family home of Sir James’s wife Eveline, daughter of Alfred Nathaniel Holden Curzon, 4th Baron Scarsdale. The principal feature is the silver-plated staircase in the entrance hall, which is among the most extravagant decorative elements in any Scottish house of the period. Kinross also designed the Category A listed stable block, the boathouse and gateway, and the gamekeeper’s cottage with its dovecot, all forming part of the listed estate complex. The estate is listed in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.

Sir James and his wife had no children and the estate passed to his brother John Alexander Miller, 3rd Baronet. It subsequently descended to the Palmer family, whose connection to Huntley & Palmers biscuits is reflected in the house’s collection of Huntley & Palmers biscuit tins, said to be the largest in the world.

The House of Mirth (Capitol Films, 2000, directed by Terence Davies, starring Gillian Anderson as Lily Bart and Eric Stoltz, adapted from Edith Wharton’s novel) filmed at Manderston alongside Gosford House. The Edwardian Country House (Channel 4, 2002, broadcast as Manor House on PBS in the US in 2003) used the whole house and estate as the setting for a long-format documentary reality series in which participants lived as Edwardian household staff and family. Man to Man (2005, directed by Régis Wargnier, starring Joseph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas) filmed at the house. The Awakening (BBC Films/StudioCanal, 2011, directed by Nick Murphy, starring Rebecca Hall and Dominic West, a period ghost story set in 1921) filmed at Manderston.