Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1316563
part of the ciphers and clues in the story. I wanted the house to embrace the overgrown garden that almost completely covers it and in places breaks into the interior, through the windows, before transitioning into the hand-painted vine motifs in Enola's bedroom walls, and the arts and crafts- inspired wall papers in the main hallway. In the studio, the paintings spill off the canvas and onto the walls in places just as the garden spills through the window into the room. An early decision was made to shoot on location where practical. Harry Bradbeer was keen that the actors would be, as much as possible, in real environments, so the production began the hunt for a house that would be old enough to have conceivably housed several generations of the Holmes family, have the gothic elements that we were looking for, and would countenance the massive intervention that we had in mind. After a long search, location manager Bill Darby came up with Benthall Hall in Shropshire, a national trust property that had never been filmed in, looked the part, and, most importantly, had a very accommodating gardener. The garden and the grass were allowed to go wild throughout the spring and early summer and then John Marland's greens team carried on and completely covered the house and garden with trailing creepers and additional foliage. isual effects extended this still further. For the interior, a much bigger house was chosen, West Horsley Place in Surrey, which had room to move, was accessible from a London base, and where the production had the freedom to make A. FERNDELL HALL BEFORE PRODUCTION. SET PHOTO. B. FERNDELL HALL EXTERIOR DRESSED AND OVERGROWN. SET PHOTO. C. INTERIOR OF ENOLA'S HOUSE, SHOT AT WEST HORSLEY PLACE. SET PHOTO. A B C