Locations - 'Akenfarm'
"What an amazing location;
so versatile..."
Set in 170 acres of beautiful Suffolk countryside, this site offers everything a film maker could possibly want; a stunning Georgian Farmhouse with many period outbuildings and every type of countryside location from woodland to meadow including two ponds, a lake and, with enough time to obtain permission, a redundant village Church. The farmhouse also boasts some superb interiors.
Whilst the majority of productions filmed here so far have been of a military nature, the house and outbuildings lend themselves to many periods of history. One can just imagine Pride and Prejudice being filmed on the front lawn of the House and the farm outbuildings could easily date from the Napoleonic Wars or from France and Flanders during the two World Wars.
We have often been asked to build First World War Trench Systems for film and television work and we now have a purpose-built one covering several acres on this site (below). British and German Trenches, dugouts, communication trenches, shattered trees, machine gun posts and No Man's Lands are all featured. We also have a purpose-built Dug-out interior inside a barn.
When BBC1 were preparing to film The Somme; From Defeat to Victory they were originally going to shoot the reconstructions in Poland. However, after we persuaded them to come up for a site visit, they realised that they could shoot the whole production here in Suffolk.
One of the major expenses in any production is the cost of continually moving unit bases. However, by coming to our location in Suffolk the BBC were able to shoot every scene bar one in this location - a huge saving of time and money which they were able to spend on the important things instead...
The farm has most of its original features including the garden well (below) and the old Servants Quarters which are ideal as they have been pretty much left as they were sixty years ago.
The farmyard has an almost timeless quality about it, and in the past, has seen many kind of productions including one featuring a Sherman Tank in a 'French' farmyard c1944 (below).
Other outbuildings feature a wide variety of building styles and a great deal of flexibility for filming. The soldiers of the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs in 1915 (below) were filmed here for the Channel 5 Victoria Cross Heroes series.
The interiors are very impressive too; the big barn has a really useful space which can be used as a studio set and has often had other sets built inside it. All the original features are still present including the hayloft and the granary.
Externally the buildings have been used as many different locations including one memorable scene in which The Blitz was faithfully recreated with wartime fire engines, wartime firemen and lots of special effects.
The Cow Yard (below) has several useful buildings in various states of repair around the outside and still has a 'midden' which would have been seen in all farmyards in years gone by.
Dilapidated buildings have become very hard to find nowadays but our location still has a few delightfully battered buildings!
A Cart Shed (below) still contains an Edwardian horse-drawn seed drill and plenty of other period farmyard clutter.
The farm has three separate areas of water; a pond in the farmyard (below)...
...a small, round pond in an area of parkland which has been shown on maps of the site since the Doomsday Book (below)...
...and a large lake which has often been used in productions as a river (below).
The parish Church is, sadly, now redundant but makes a splendid backdrop and has been featured in many previous programmes as a typically English village Church (below).
Behind the farmhouse is a super vegetable garden which has a timeless quality about it (below). As one director said, "One can imagine almost anything being filmed here; from a period drama to Silent Witness!".
Another feature of the back garden is the cellar to the original house which was burnt down in the early 1800s (below). This brick cellar has given us many filming opportunities.
Khaki Devil recently used this original cellar as the basis for a First World War German dugout with the addition of a corrugated iron roof, some sandbags and several inches of water on the floor (below)!
There are many types of land around the farm site including some splendid woodland and several acres of parkland grazed by cattle.
A BBC production about The Battle of The Somme had a requirement for a viewing platform in a tree where a General could watch his troops advance (below). This is part of our Great War battlefield.
There are plenty of great locations inside the farmhouse. The farm celler has been used for many different scenes; the celler of the ruins of Thiepval Chateau for The Somme; from Defeat to Victory, an interrogation room where Nazi Officers were questioned for The Last Tommy III, and a billet for the Great War poet Wilfred Owen in BBC1's Remembrance Tale to name just a few.
Other interiors include the Old Servants Quarters which have rooms that look much as they must have done sixty years ago. Plenty of other rooms throughout the house have original features and furnishings. The Servants Kitchen (below) has been used for many productions in roles such as 54 Brigade Headquarters for the BBC1 Somme film and for SOE Headquarters where women learned Morse code before being dropped into occupied Europe as agents.
So, open fields, First World War trenches, woodland and a superb 1812 vintage farmhouse are all onsite and waiting for you to come up for a site visit. The farm owners also provide limited accommodation and onsite catering for smaller crews which can save productions a great deal of time and money. There is also a large open Dutch barn which makes an ideal Unit Base and there is also plenty of room for parking up to 500 vehicles.
The farm owners, Jerry and Jose can be contacted on:
In addition to easy access there is plenty of hotel and B&B accomodation available nearby for cast and crew plus many other facilities; ASDA Superstore, B&Q Warehouse, Steel Yard, Sawmill, and many other useful suppliers all within a few minutes drive...
Oh yes, and some very friendly farm animals such as Badger (below) and her friends...
Come and take a look!
