While the programme Sherlock is mostly confined to London, not all of the filming takes place there. For episodes such as “The Hounds of Baskerville” and “His Last Vow”, the production crew goes a bit further afield, but even some places we are meant to believe are in London are actually elsewhere. Dartmoor, Gloucester, Bristol, and Newbridge have all played host to locations in Sherlock’s grand game. Come with us as we explore many of the filming spots for Sherlock from across Britain.

Wales

At least a couple different places in Wales have been used over the course of three series. In the first series, the Chinese Theatre where Watson attempts to have a nice date is actually the Newbridge Memorial Theatre in the Town of Newbridge. The theatre was built to honour the seventy-five men from Newbridge who died in WWI. By the time Sherlock had used it for filming, it had fallen into a state of disrepair, but has since been restored and reopened in 2014.

In the second series, Watson confronts Holmes about being used as a guinea pig to test the consulting detective’s theory in a churchyard of the fictional Grimpon village. St. Hilary was the actual location used and the site of Sherlock and Watson’s row is the Church of St. Hilary of Poitiers, a 14th Century Gothic building that was restored in the 19th Century and is Grade II listed. You can also find the Cross Keys Pub in Hilary, better known by its actual name of the Bush Inn.

The Baskerville Research Facility was also in Wales, where it is actually the Dynevor Arms Liquefied Natural Gas Storage Facility near Merthyr Tydfil. However, just like the military base it portrays in “The Hounds of Baskerville”, access is not available to the public. However, a more accessible place can be found in Newport at St. Woolos Cemetery, where they faked burial spot for Sherlock could be found in “The Reichenbach Fall”. However, don’t expect to find his gravestone under the tree as it was only a prop for filming and no one is actually buried there.

Dartmoor

Just like the story of its namesake, Sherlock did take to Dartmoor in Devon to film some of its scenes. The moors are both beautiful and mysterious and it’s easy to see how a place such as Hound Tor could have become the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a natural place to film Sherlock. The legend goes that the rock formation was created when a witch transformed a huntsman and his hounds to stone. Visitors to the area should exercise caution, however, as the rock formations have been known to collapse in the past.

Gloucestershire

At least a couple major locations from the last full series of Sherlock took place in Gloucestershire. One of the first is the appropriately named “Reunion” restaurant when Sherlock attempts to reveal his return to Watson in “The Empty Hearse”. While the Landmark Hotel is indeed in London, the interior used for the restaurant is actually the Daffodil in Cheltenham. The building first constructed in 1922 was the town’s first cinema and then turned into a bingo parlour in the 1960s before its transformation into a glorious art deco restaurant in 1996.

A more remote location from Series 3 that you may not be able to visit in the Cotswolds is Appledor, the home of Series 3 big bad Charles Augustus Magnussen. Appledor is actually a mansion named Swinhay House. David McMurty hired eco-architect David Austin to construct the environmental estate of the future. Instead of living in it, McMurty used the home to host fundraisers and other events while renting it out to photographers and filmmakers.

Bristol

Our last filming area takes us far west to Bristol, where a few London locations were actually filmed. One of the most notable is the community pool where the first confrontation takes place between Sherlock and Moriarty in “The Great Game”. The eerily lit pool is the Bristol South Swimming Pool in Bestminster. It opened in 1931 and is Grade II listed. It also holds a personal importance to show co-creator Mark Gatiss, who learned to swim there.

The site of John and Mary Watson’s wedding is also in Bristol, St. Mary Magdalene Church in Stoke Bishop stood in for the church’s exterior. We don’t really get to see inside since they only used the church entrance and the outside for filming the aftermath of the ceremony. If you want to visit the location of the reception, that can be found on the Bristol University campus in the orangery of Goldney Hall. Tours of the hall are available through the university.

Lastly, the most recent entry into this article is nearby to Bristol and was featured in the New Year’s special, “The Abominable Bride”. Sir Eustace Carmichael’s mansion, the ultimate site of his murder, is played by Tyntesfield House in Bristol. Operated by the National Trust, Tyntesfield is a Victorian Gothic Revival mansion which is Grade I listed. Sherlock filmed both inside and outside of Tyntesfield and the estate was closed for an entire month to accommodate the shooting. Additionally, the house stood in for the interior of Watson’s own London home. In recognition of its ties to the programme, Tyntesfield now offers a Sherlock Mystery Tour.