‘Saltburn’ Mansion Has Film’s Fans Flocking to the English Countryside

Drayton House, a privately owned mansion with more than a hundred rooms, has stood in Northamptonshire, England, for close to 700 years.

For most of those seven centuries, the manor was a silent countryside presence, known mostly to locals or experts with a penchant for viewing beautiful homes owned by England’s upper classes.

But that peace and quiet has changed since the release of “Saltburn” in November. Though the film largely didn’t impress critics, it has generated a flood of memes, jokes and commentary on the internet.

And a pilgrimage to this once-quiet estate was made even easier after Rhian Williams, who lives nearby, posted detailed directions to the house in a TikTok video on New Year’s Day. Her clip ended up attracting more than 5.5 million views. She has since followed up with more videos, including another visit to the house as well as a visit to the local pub.

“I haven’t got very many followers on TikTok,” Ms. Williams said in a phone interview. “I didn’t predict it,” she said.

The house is at the center of “Saltburn,” the eponymous home of the Catton family where Oliver Quick, played by Barry Keoghan, spends the summer. Many of the film’s most memorable scenes take place inside the house and on the property’s sprawling, lavish grounds.

Vanity Fair reported last summer that the filmmakers, as a condition of being allowed to use the estate, were not permitted to reveal its location or who owned it. But in August, just before the film’s premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, the British magazine Tatler identified the home based on a close viewing of the trailer.

Drayton House, a Grade I building that is protected because of its historical nature, has been privately held for hundreds of years. Its ownership has changed over the centuries through inheritance, and is currently owned by Charles Stopford Sackville, who inherited the home from his father.

The house has been in hands of the Sackville family since the late 18th century, when it was inherited by Lord George Sackville, according to Historic England, the public organization that tracks such buildings.

The current owner is reportedly unhappy with all the attention his house has been receiving, however, telling the British newspaper The Daily Mail on Sunday, “How would you feel if people were taking pictures outside your house?” Drayton Estate Office, located in the same town, declined to comment.

While the house is visible from a public footpath, some visitors have tried to get closer, Ms. Williams said, resorting to climbing fences or other methods to get too close to the private home. (Ms. Williams said she didn’t encounter any trespassers during her visits.) Others have posted videos of their own visits on TikTok, with many posing in front of the gate through which Mr. Keoghan’s character enters his life-changing summer.

England is peppered with dramatic, stately homes, some of which have hosted film productions — and the tourists who come with them. Chatsworth House was seen in “Peaky Blinders” and the 2005 version of “Pride and Prejudice” and other productions. Highclere Castle, the house at the center of “Downton Abbey” is open to the public.

The popularity of “Saltburn” has brought hundreds of tourists to a part of the country that is not usually busy, especially not in the dark winter months. Steven Hyare, the manager of the local pub the Snooty Fox, said he had seen a steady increase in visitors since the film was released late last year.

In 2023, early January was a quiet time, he said. This year, the weekends at his establishments have been fully booked two weeks in advance. Many of the guests are younger than his usual clientele, Mr. Hyare said.

Mr. Hyare said that while he welcomed the increased business from “Saltburn” tourists and the younger visitors, he was not planning on doing anything different. “We’re not outside selling T-shirts,” he said.