Shakespeare fans can book stay in Herefordshire farmhouse featured in Hamnet this spring

Hamnet fans have a chance to step into Shakespeare’s world and experience rural Elizabethan life in the English countryside this spring.

From March, travellers can book a rare stay in the Grade II-listed Jacobean farmhouse seen in the on-screen adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel about Shakespeare’s only son and the grief that inspired Hamlet.

Cwmmau Farmhouse, a five-bedroom National Trust holiday cottage in the heart of Herefordshire, sets the scene as the romantic backdrop to Chloé Zhao’s version of the story.

Although Agnes Hathaway’s real home, “Hewlands” farm, actually sits on the edge of Stratford-upon-Avon and is now a tourist attraction, the anticipated film starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal sees the lives of Will (Mescal) and Agnes (Buckley) played out between the black and white timbers of Cwmmau.

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Filming funded several “sensitive” renovations at Cwmmau. Original farmhouse features, including oak beams, stone floors and 16th-century bread ovens, remain, with added modern upgrades including spacious bathrooms and a biomass boiler.

Set along winding lanes in the Welsh Marches, the farmhouse property is surrounded by ancient woodlands and meadows.

National Trust cultural heritage curator, Lucy Armstrong-Blair, described staying at the property as “like time travel”.

She said: “Cwmmau Farmhouse, with its stone base, timber framing and leaded windows, is one of those rare places where the past feels close at hand. The production team were so thoughtful and careful with this house, director Chloé Zhao, Production Designer Fiona Crombie, everything they did amped up what was already here.”

According to the heritage curator, the farmhouse site “transformed” into a family home with a medicine garden, a tutor room and a time-worn kitchen during filming.

“When the actors stepped into these spaces, in their period garments, it was nothing short of spellbinding,” she said.

Cameras rolled across Herefordshire in summer 2024, with the timber frames of Weobley featured in the film.

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Three nights at the National Trust property, which sleeps 10 across five bedrooms, start from £1,547.

To enjoy a Hamnet-inspired weekend, the conservation charity is offering guests free entry to The Weir Garden and all National Trust places during their stay.

‘Hamnet’ is in cinemas from 9 January.

Read more: Where is Netflix’s Frankenstein filmed?