Where Was Rivals Filmed? Consider This Your Sign To Visit The Cotswolds

Season 2 of Rivals is here, which means more ‘80s style, drama, and yearning in the English county of Rutshire. OK, so technically, the British county from Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles is fictional. However, the setting was inspired by a very real place: the Cotswolds region in England, where production filmed the Hulu series.

If you’ve ever wanted to venture into the posh countryside where Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner), and Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) reside, you’ll need your passport and a flight to the UK. According to IMDb, a majority of Rivals was filmed in and around Tetbury in Gloucestershire, England.

Here’s a full breakdown of the Rivals filming locations — plus, the best spots to go to channel your inner O’Hara.

Take A Trip To Tetbury For The O’Haras

The home of the O’Hara family — Declan, Maud, Taggie, Caitlin, and Patrick — is the Chavenage House. This historic mansion has been used in several British movies and shows, including Emma and Poldark (which also starred Turner, BTW). There are limited tours of the house, due to “filming commitments,” so you’ll need to make a reservation ahead of time if you want to visit IRL. Group tours are £12 a person with a minimum group size of 21.

When you’re in Tetbury, make sure to visit the quaint village for some shopping. This area is the fictional Cotchester village that you can see in Seasons 1 and 2. You could also stop by Berkeley House, which is where Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams) lives in the show.

While in Gloucestershire, be sure to plan a stop in Bisley to see the town that Cooper herself called home before her death in 2025. Back in 2020, the author told The English Home that her hometown served as the original inspiration behind Rutshire’s most memorable locations.

“All around Gloucestershire features in all my books because when I have a new character, I need to find a house for them, so I need to find one locally,” she said at the time.

Cooper also revealed that her house (The Chantry in Bisley, Gloucestershire) was featured prominently in the novels. “My house is Rupert’s house, although his grew much grander, and his land extends all around the valley.”

While her home is a private residence, the town of Bisley is open for travelers to embrace all the Rutshire vibes.

Stop In Bristol, Somerset, & Corsham While In The Cotswolds

From Bisley, travel about an hour to Bristol, where more iconic Rivals scenes were filmed. The Cosy Club and the Harbour Hotel on Corn Street were both used in production. Plus, the Battleaxes pub in Wraxall will look familiar, too — in the show, the same building was a Rutshire restaurant. Although the spot is currently closed, it will reopen as The Temperance House in fall 2026. Starting in the summer of 2027, visitors can stay there or just pop in for a bit to eat.

Nearby in Somerset, you’ll find the Cranmore railroad station, aka where Rivals shot that adorable scene when Freddie (Danny Dyer) chases down the train after Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson) left her chapters onboard. Somerset is also the home of Rivals’ Corinium Studios — IRL, it’s the North Somerset District Council Offices.

Production also filmed in the Corsham, a market town in Wiltshire, just an hour away from Somerset. Rivals fans will recognize Corsham’s high street, even if the IRL shops are more modern than their fictional ‘80s-era counterparts. South of town center is the Neston Park Estate or, as Rivals fans know it, The Falconry — aka Baddingham’s country home.

Rutshire might not be real, but you can see bits and pieces of it throughout the Cotswolds, even if a real-life Rupert is a bit harder to find.