Basildon Park
Movie-goers will recognise Basildon Park as the location for Netherfield in the 2005 adaptation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. That this spectacular Georgian mansion exists today is a testament to the extraordinary dedication of its 1950s owners Lord and Lady Iliffe, who ensured the property’s survival against all the odds.
Basildon Park has an intriguing history. It was originally completed in 1783 for Sir Francis Sykes, a British East India Company merchant. Poor trading ruined him, and his son died almost immediately on inheriting the house. His grandson was a cruel, wasteful man (Dickens based the nasty character Sikes on him in Oliver Twist), and bankruptcy forced him to sell.
After a succession of owners, the property was due to be dismantled and rebuilt in the USA. In fact, much of the decor was stripped out and found its way to New York’s Waldorf Hotel and Metropolitan Museum of Art. After use by the army, it stood derelict. Every pane of glass was broken, the windows boarded up, and the place covered in graffiti. It was saved from demolition by the Iliffe’s who lovingly restored it to its former glory and subsequently passed it onto the National Trust to maintain.