A STELLAR cast, including Martin Clunes, descended on local landmark West Horsley Place, near Guildford, to film ITV’s adaptation of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, which started last Sunday.

West Horsley Place provided the interiors for Queen’s Crawley, where Martin Clunes’ character Sir Pitt Crawley resides, in the literary classic, which takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and follows modern heroine Becky Sharp, played by Olivia Cooke, as she attempts to claw her way out of poverty and scale the heights of English society.

As the house is a cross-section of different architectural and decorative styles, it was able to provide sets for several locations in the series including Pumpernickel, Coventry Island, and Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, as well as Queen’s Crawley.

Those who have visited West Horsley Place will recognise the Stone Hall as the dining room at Queen’s Crawley, together with its staircase and drawing room.

One spectacular scene required the orchard to be transformed into a winter paradise of snow and ice.

Clunes, who was at the grade-one listed medieval manor house for every day of the shoot, said: “West Horsley was my favourite of all of the houses we visited. Freezing but beautiful.

“It’s colder inside than out. But it is really pretty. And it looks real, lived in and a bit wonky.”

nWest Horsley Place will be opening its doors to the public for Heritage Open Days on Saturday, September 15, and Sunday, September 16. Access is free by pre-booked guided tour. The grounds are now home to Grange Park Opera. For more information and to book visit www.westhorsleyplace.org