Haddon Hall Bakewell, Derbyshire (2010)

Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye at Bakewell, Derbyshire, one of the seats of the Duke of Rutland, occupied by Lord Edward Manners and his family. In form a medieval manor house, it has been described as "the most complete and most interesting house of its period."

Franco Zeffirelli chose Haddon Hall as the location for his 1996 film of Jane Eyre. Since then, it has appeared on television in 2006 as Thornfield Hall in Diederick Santer's 2006 BBC version of Jane Eyre and in Cary Fukunaga's 2011 film of Jane Eyre.

On Friday 27th August 2010, my parents took me to Haddon Hall which is a beautiful place! As I am disabled and in a wheelchair I thought I would not get to see very much of the inside of the Hall but Liz, one of the women who works there asked me which Jane Eyre version was my favourite and I told her it was the 2006 one and that I was a massive fan of Jane Eyre.  She said 'The 2006 version is my favourite too.' She then introduced me to her boss who was there when the 2006 Jane Eyre was being filmed so she told me some wonderful Jane Eyre facts! They also showed me the kitchens, Rochester's study, where Jane plays the piano, the staircase where Jane walks down in her wedding dress, the doorway where Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester kiss in the rain, the chapel and Bertha's tower. Polly, the lady who was Liz's boss told me all about how the fire was filmed and how it took the crew two hours to get the owl to fly past the hall! She showed us a big picture of the fire scene.  I saw Jane's bedroom window too and Polly told me that I had entered the way where Edward Rochester rides off followed by Pilot, his dog.  I loved every minute of it, my Mum did too and my Dad took lots of photos.  Mum and I got very excited!

I had a lovely day and got to see more than I thought I would thanks to the kindness and generosity of the staff at Haddon Hall.  My Mum walked through the Long Gallery (which unfortunately I was unable to see) and took a photo of it for me, she saw the stairs where Edward Rochester walks down after Jane after the money scene. I also went outside and saw the path where Jane Eyre looks around Thornfield and walks down the steps opposite Bertha's Tower. I asked Polly where the library was and she told me it was upstairs.

The only thing that was missing was Toby Stephens striding out of the Hall towards me to hug and kiss me! Oh well... I can dream can't I?!   Whenever I watch Jane Eyre 2006 in the future I will remember this wonderful day which has added to the magic of Jane Eyre 2006 and I love Jane Eyre even more!  I highly recommend everyone visiting this wonderful place!
:) xx