I’m not exactly known for my taste in films. And by that I mean, give me a cheesy rom-com over an Oscar-winning drama any day. But one film I know is beloved by both “serious” film critics and myself is The Holiday. In case you live under a rock – or, more reasonably, detest Christmas films and choose to ignore the genre completely – the Nancy Meyers romance is a Hollywood classic. Starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, it follows two single women who do a house swap over the festive season. Diaz, a film editor, relocates from Los Angeles to the English countryside, while Winslet, a journalist, heads Stateside for the holidays. They meet men (Jack Black and Jude Law, in all his glasses-wearing glory), fall in love, and live happily ever after. It’s a masterpiece, and I just got to relive Cameron Diaz’s plot-line on a trip to Beaverbrook (minus the falling in love with Jude Law part).
Let’s set the scene. I was sat at my desk in Vogue HQ, when my colleague Hayley pulled me into a nearby meeting room. My immediate thoughts were, “Oh my God, I’m in trouble,” but reader, I was not. Instead, on account of my being a “rom-com fanatic” (a very apt description of me), she asked me to review something called Surrey on Film: The Holiday at Beaverbook, a five-star estate in the heart of the Surrey Hills. I was, I learnt, to be whisked away for a two-night stay to “follow in the footsteps of Cameron Diaz’s character, Amanda”. Sign me up.
Upon arriving at the sprawling estate on a crisp November afternoon, I immediately WhatsApped the friend who would be joining me at the hotel a few hours later, “Holy shit this place.” I can confidently say I’ve never stayed anywhere quite so luxurious in the UK – but you’re here for The Holiday breakdown, so let’s begin.
Item #1: Being Chauffeured Around The Surrey Hills, Cameron Diaz-Style
Part of the charm of The Holiday is Cameron Diaz embracing the frazzled-English-woman aesthetic and attempting to drive around the English countryside lanes in a red Mini Cooper, and after devouring some breakfast waffles in the Japanese Room at Beaverbrook, my friend and I were whisked away in our very own Mini to start our festive day. I can confirm the film wasn’t exaggerating when it said those country lanes are tight – drivers, you have been warned.
Item #2: Seeing The IRL Cottage That Inspired Kate Winslet’s Cosy Home In The Holiday
Here’s some The Holiday trivia for you: Kate Winslet’s picturesque cottage doesn’t actually exist. The film’s set designers were inspired by Honeysuckle Cottage, a real-life home in Holmbury St Mary, Surrey, and as I stood in front of someone else’s house while construction workers stared at the three women who had piled out of a Mini (after manoeuvring a very tight three-point-turn), I did start to question why I was there. But dreaming about homes I can’t afford is a favourite pastime of mine, and seeing the gorgeous home IRL did make me long for things that I can’t have. Excellent.
Item #3: Seeing The Fields Where Kate’s Cottage Should Be, But Actually Isn’t
While the interiors of Kate Winslet’s Rosehill Cottage were built from scratch in a London studio, the shots of the surrounding countryside were captured in a field in Shere – and, as I stood amongst the mud and sheep, I realised why. There are many things that Britain lacks (good weather, decent politicians, a way to get around south London that doesn’t involve a Tube ride into central), but the outdoors… The outdoors we excel in. The rolling hills of Surrey are as good a place as any to film a Hollywood blockbuser; you almost forget there actually isn’t a cottage there. That’s movie magic, baby.
