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So you’re looking for A Very British Christmas filming locations? I’ve got you covered!

A Very British Christmas (known as A Very Yorkshire Christmas in the UK) is a Christmas movie filmed in England for the American TV channel, Showtime (shown on Channel5 in the UK). When the movie was being filmed it was stamped with Hallmark, so I’m not sure if they sold it to Showtime or what happened.

*This post may contain affiliate links and I get a commission for the purchase made through the link at no extra cost to you. These are services and items I use and recommend myself.

If you’ve been binge watching Christmas movies this season, I have a guide to all the filming locations for My Dad’s Christmas Date on Amazon Prime.

I will go ahead and say there’s a ton of SPOILER ALERTS!

But if you are looking up A Very British Christmas filming locations, then I assume you have already seen the movie!

A Very British Christmas Filming Locations Guide

The majority of A Very British Christmas was filmed in Knaresborough, England with all the railway scenes filmed at Pickering Station and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

Knaresborough is a super cute, super attractive, quintessential English town in Yorkshire.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I was visiting Knaresborough for the first time (only a short drive/train ride away from me) and they were filming a Christmas movie! I was like a kid in a candy shop. The end all, be all for my Hallmark Christmas movie obsessed self was to actually BE in a Christmas movie!

Dreams do come true!

Even though you wouldn’t notice me, I notice me every time I watch it! (I’m in the final scene of the movie, in a bright red jacket, you can’t miss me now and yes… I inadvertently matched the main character)

Don’t forget to check out my list of EPIC things to do in Knaresborough!

The Perfect Cheesy Christmas Movie

I’m gonna warn you, if you are not an avid cheesy Christmas movie viewer, then you will think this movie sucks.

The whole point of a cheesy Christmas movie is the predictable plot, the love story, maybe a single parent, a few Christmas carols, some Christmas tree shopping, or something that’s stopping the protagonist from making it home – therefore she has to stay where she is, only to fall in love and end up staying.

Throw in some fake snow, a plot twist, and a little bit of betrayal and you’ve got yourself a classic Hallmark Christmas movie.

I have NO SHAME.

There’s even a Christmas movie drinking game!!

Do I hear a Zoom happy hour session?

All my pictures from Knaresborough are taken with my Canon EOS 2000D!! Super affordable and the PERFECT Christmas gift for your budding, young photographer!

A Very British Christmas plot

The movie centers around Jessica Bailey, an opera singer from the US on the way to a concert in Vienna, Austria.

Her flight gets diverted and she doesn’t know for how long, all she knows is it’s “an overnight stay”.

On the way to the closest town from the train station, she falls asleep and misses her stop.

Now she is stuck in the rural town of Knaresborough (don’t know why they didn’t change the name?) in England. *SURPRISE*

She ends up settling in a lodge in Pine Falls (I know, not a very British name at all), just outside of town, for the night owned by handsome, single dad Andrew Hunter.

Andy’s family is struggling with his lodge and parkland (a big mining company wants to buy him out and save all his money problems) and Jessica is trying to schedule the next flight out so she can make it to her concert.

Jessica finds out about the park’s doomed history and decides she’s going to save it!

A Very British Christmas Filming Locations

Pickering Station – North Yorkshire Moors Railway

*No scenes were filmed at Knaresborough Station (even when she is walking away from the train into Knaresborough), however the station in Knaresborough is very attractive.

The movie opens with Jessica writing in her journal and the train master comes up to her and makes small talk. She asks him if there’s a closer town to spend the night and he directs her to take the train two stops down.

The steam train pulls up, “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me, where does this go? Wizarding school?”.

The North York Moors National Park is highlighted as Jessica rides the steam train through the countryside. Taking selfies and enjoying the views.

We then revisit the station at the end of the movie when Jessica is reluctantly leaving Knaresborough. Once again, the wise train master has a conversation with her as it starts to snow and says there’s “nothing more important than a loving family during Christmas”.

Check out my full guide to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway!

Knaresborough

Jessica falls asleep on the train and misses her stop.

We are now officially in Knaresborough!

The film makers did a great job of highlighting the beauty of Knaresborough throughout the movie, especially with the multiple drone shots. (It’s no wonder you’re looking up the filming locations for A Very British Christmas – A Very Yorkshire Christmas if you’re reading in England).

In the middle of the coffee shop scene in the beginning of the movie, we see a beautiful montage of picturesque scenes of Knaresborough. The river and viaduct are really highlighted.

We see another montage after Jessica decides she’s going to help save the lodge and parkland. It briefly shows Jessica and Andy walking around a couple of the stores around the market square.

After Jessica gets the call confirming her flight for Christmas Eve *cue sad music montage*, Jessica walks through the streets. You can see the white house on the corner of Waterside and Water Bag Bank at the bottom by the viaduct.

It then cuts to her walking down the Gallons Steps and then under the viaduct, past the checkerboard chimney house.

She then takes a picture of the church, St. John the Baptist.

Check out my ridiculously amazing post on OVER 50 Things to Do in Yorkshire for EVEN MORE Yorkshire wanderlust

Art in the Mill

In the very first montage of Jessica walking through the streets of Knaresborough, we see her walking around the corner on Castlegate, past the Art in the Mill gallery with her luggage in tow.

Later in the movie, Jessica is peeking through the window of the gallery as she picks up a phone call from her agent, Marvin.

He brings good news – 3 solos and a gig at Carnegie Hall. She’s gotta be back in 3 days though! OH NO! But she’ll miss Christmas with Andy in England!

Number Thirteen Coffee House and Cakery

A LOT of the movie is filmed in here!

Jessica gets off the train and heads straight to the coffee shop, The Crumble Cafe.

“Another American, what are the chances?”, she meets Amber and they chat over coffee and lunch. Jessica asks for a recommendation for overnight accommodation and she says she’ll ask her uncle.

Later we meet Amber’s uncle, Adam. He recognizes Jessica’s from a performance with he attended at Madison Square Gardens. Adam mentions how nice Andy is and walks off.

Amber and Jessica continue to have small talk where she suggests that Jessica stays here for the holidays. She says she can’t because she has “an agent”.

Later on, Amber takes orders for Andy’s tree topper angel because the patrons love it! All of sudden, everyone wants an angel tree topper! Always support your local business!

Knaresborough Castle and Outlook 

After the man comes around trying to get Andy to sell up because he can’t do this without his wife. The scene cuts to Jessica exploring Knaresborough. *ANOTHER montage*

The first shot is a drone shot of the castle and we see Jessica taking a picture of the viaduct from the outlook point.

She then tries to take a selfie with the castle and a local offers to take her picture for her.

It then shows Jessica looking at the War Memorial in the corner of the castle grounds.

Marigolds Cafe & Boating

The first scene here, you actually don’t see the cafe. It’s a small, covered outlook point with a bench above the cafe.

The stairs are right behind the cafe, next to the bathrooms.

Jessica gets her first call from the airline saying there is a flight out tonight. “I’m too far away, I can’t make tonight”. The airline says there might not be another flight for a week. She says ok, and hangs up the phone.

“Jessica Bailey, what on earth are you doing?”

Later in the movie, Andy takes Jessica on a row boat on the River Nidd.

Once again, Marigolds Cafe is in the background, HOWEVER, this is where you can rent the EXACT same boat for yourself! (The boats do not operate during off season).

This is where Andy and Jessica share their first kiss.

Market Square

Blind Jacks

The town crier officially greets “Jessica Bailey from America” outside of Blind Jack’s pub as she’s drinking her coffee. He also announces she gets free coffee for life at the Crumble Cafe and everyone wishes her safe travels back to the US.

*Fun Fact: This guy is ACTUALLY Knaresborough’s official town crier. I literally didn’t think town criers still existed until I moved over here!

Market Cross

The end of the movie is filmed here.

(Remember when I said I was an extra… these are the scenes!)

It’s time for the Christmas carol event in the Market Square. The carolers are standing on the market cross.

After we see the cut scene at Pickering Station, Jessica comes running back to Andy just in time to sing O Holy Night with the carolers.

Everyone is back together again and they live happily ever after.

Behind the Scenes

The movie was shot during the last week of March 2019. I was only there for one evening of filming, which I think was the second to last day of filming.

It took about 4 hours to film the final scene of the movie.

We had to wear winter coats (like this red coat just like Jessica’s – and the one I was wearing *can you spot me?) because clearly the movie takes place during the holidays. The winter gear was welcomed though, because it was FREEZING! It felt like it was snowing outside!

They decorated the big tree at the last minute and it took them about 55 minutes because they couldn’t wrap the lights around the top. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

And normally the cast hang out in a green room or trailer, but they were just walking around the market square while everything was getting set up.

They only had about 3 cameras filming and we had to be totally silent and mouth the words as if we were chatting in a group because they would add the background noise tracks during post-production.

We also had to remember where we were walking and what we were doing during every moment of the scene because they did several takes in several different positions.

Overall, it was a fun evening out in Knaresborough.

Have you guys been to Knaresborough or are you planning a trip now because of the movie? How did you like the movie? Leave your thought in the comment below!!

If you’re a big fan of visiting filming locations, why don’t you check out these!

• The Ultimate Harry Potter Filming Locations Road Trip
• Doc Martin Filming Locations in Port Isaac
• Portmeirion, Wales – The Prisoner Filming Location 

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