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In a bid to diversify incomes and ensure the survival of Britain s great stately homes, many have turned to Hollywood, allowing big wig producers to pitch up in their parlours and film scenes for television series and blockbuster movies, with many offering up their country homes for rent for countless decades now.
Yet none perhaps have been so popular with location scouts as Hatfield House, the Marquess of Salisbury s 223-room Jacobean pile in Hertfordshire, which has had a starring role in a remarkable 70 feature films since the 1960s, according to its entry on IMDb (the family live in one wing of the house, with the rest of it used as a film set and for visitors touring the property). Perhaps it is its proximity to London, or maybe it is its sheer size and glamour, but there s no denying, it s top trumps when it comes to a stately film set.