Fans from the film “Saltburn” flock to the villa. They reportedly trespass on private property and dance wildly outside the gates of the residence to post on social media – to the apparent annoyance of the real owner.
To everyone who knows the film: an aristocratic sex thriller from 2023, The sprawling property serves as the ancestral home of one of the main characters: Felix Catton, played by actor Jacob Elordi.
The residence – complete with stately rooms, lush green lawns and waterways – is the setting for most of the film and is the site of the relationship and tensions between Catton, his family and his friend Oliver Quick (played by Barry Keoghan).
In real life, the 127-room limestone building is actually called “Drayton House” and is located in Northamptonshire, England. The property's owner, Charles Stopford Sackville, told the British tabloid Mail on Sunday that he did not find the level of interest in his property “flattering” and that security was now patrolling the property after dozens of trespassing incidents. “How would you feel if people took photos in front of your house?”
A representative for Stopford Sackville declined to comment when contacted by The Washington Post on Monday.
A TikTok tutorial on how to get to the 700-year-old property – which has been viewed more than three million times – may have fueled the mass pilgrimage. Many viewers tagged their friends in the comments and wrote messages like, “This is where we have to go.” Since Monday, there have been a slew of videos on TikTok with several people documenting their own trips to the state. Some took their dogs with them, others stopped for lunch in a nearby village along the way.
“Saltburn” seduces with every image, but leaves you wanting more
Rhian Williams, a PR and marketing consultant who lives in the area, posted the video. “If you want to visit Saltburn House in Northamptonshire, follow me,” she says, leading people past the Snooty Fox pub, cottages and horses. In the footage, Williams notes that a public path runs through the property, but said in an email to The Washington Post on Monday that “there is absolutely no reason for people” to veer off the path and onto private property.
Williams, 47, said she had “no idea” when she shared the video that her TikTok would generate so much interest. “I don’t have a lot of followers on TikTok, so I didn’t think it would go viral,” she said. “When hundreds of people started sharing and commenting on my video, it added rocket fuel to my posts.”
Williams said the fact that the film was shot at Drayton House was already public before she released her video in January. It was identified by Tatler magazine in August.
In her email, she urged those planning to visit Drayton House to “be good country citizens” and be respectful of their surroundings.
The county of Northamptonshire is “often overlooked”. tourists and Brits despite its beauty, Williams said, explaining she had hoped her videos would draw attention to the general area. “It's great to see such a hidden corner of our beautiful Northamptonshire in a film as big as Saltburn,” she said.
According to Historic England, a government agency that protects historic buildings, monuments and parks, records for Drayton House date back to 1328. The residence is not open to the public and the owner, Stopford Sackville, told the Mail that he was paid to allow producers to use the house for filming.
The property has never been used on the big screen before, the film's writer and director Emerald Fennell told House and Garden magazine in January. “That’s why the house was so important,” Fennell said of Drayton House. “It had to be something that hadn’t been used before. It hadn’t even been photographed, let alone filmed.”
In a scene that “Saltburn” viewers hailed as “iconic,” Oliver Quick's character danced naked around the villa to the song “Murder on the Dancefloor” by British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
This scene brought the 2001 song back into the top 10 of the UK singles chart, more than 20 years after its initial release. And it has inspired many to travel to the house and perform their own dance outside the gates – although most appear to have kept their clothes on.
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