The Harewood events team pride themselves on making the impossible, possible routinely proving that filming at a listed location doesn’t have to be difficult.

We were approached by NM Productions in May of 2024 for a large-scale filming project for JLR. After a series of in-depth site recces that encompassed the majority of the Harewood estate, the question remained: Can we drive the 3030 kgs Range Rover up the steps of the Victorian Terrace?

We’re ‘yes’ people at Harewood, in fact, the stranger the request, the better, so it was more of a matter of how do we make this happen? Luckily, our Collections team, who lovingly care for the House and all it’s contents were on board.

After two structural surveys the extensive prep work began. Firstly, they needed to make the car as light as possible – stripping the inside of any non-essential weight. Next onto the Terrace Café, which sits below the steps, with it’s archways and columns was suddenly filled with a crystal maze like structure of props that supported said archways. The Terrace and all it’s flagstones were covered with a load-spreader mat and the stairs themselves were protected with custom made aluminium profiled track covers for the vehicle to travel on ensuring the wheels never actually touched the historic steps. The Art Department quickly descended to disguise the aluminium as stone steps, camouflaging the protective barrier.

Cue the stunt engineers, key members of the Harewood team and around 60 crew members holding their breath on a sunny day in June and for the first time ever, a car made it’s way onto the Victorian Terrace. Only three tries were permitted and after each one, the steps and slabs were carefully inspected for any potential signs of cracking. Thanks to the extensive preparations, none were found.

The shoot didn’t end there, as over the week, we travelled with the crew all over the Harewood Estate, from the Deer Park to back-roads and hidden locations no one else would know about.

We were delighted to be a part of this exciting and ambitious shoot and loved working with the fantastic teams at NM Productions and JLR, making the twelve-hour days, sunburn and tired legs all worth it!

At Harewood, we’ve always been on a mission to make shooting at a heritage location as painless as possible and now when we get asked, “Would we be allowed to do…?” we always answer, “Have you seen the Range Rover Sport advert?”