A historic Kent dockyard with 100 buildings where Bridgerton and Call the Midwife were filmed is just 50 minutes away from south east London.
Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent, spanning 80 acres with its 100 historic buildings, is located within the former Royal Navy Dockyard and dates back over 400 years.
The dockyard is also famously known as being the first Royal Dockyard to build submarines, which played an integral part in the Navy during World War I and World War II, with 50 built during both.
Today it’s a popular attraction in Kent for families to explore, featuring exhibitions focused on Britain's naval history.
It’s located on the River Medway with travel links by train from Chatham and Rochester.
The dockyard houses several vessels to explore such as the HMS Cavalier, a CA-class destroyer launched in 1944, and HMS Gannet, built in 1878 and once sailed around the world.
Chatham Dockyard was a previous Bridgerton filming location for season one of the hit Netflix series, with a number of locations in the dockyard featured in the series, including the Ropery, officers terrace and the Tarred Yarn Store, which served as the boxing club frequented by a number of the Bridgerton brothers.
Visitors can see the Ropery dating back over 400 years, and even have a chance to try their hand at making rope themselves, as it would have been made on a rope machine back when the dockyard was a working docks.
The location was also used for the filming of several other films including Enola Holmes 2, Les Misérables and the popular BBC drama Call the Midwife, to name a few.
Call the Midwife fans can also join a filming tour of the docks to see how the space was transformed to recreate the streets of East London in the 50s and 60s, which is currently running until October 31.
If you fancy immersing yourself into the history of the docks take a walk on the Hearts of Oak Experience, which immerses visitors into a recreation of the dockyard as it would have been 250 years ago, when the dockyard was used to build the legendary HMS Victory ship.
The dockyard is also known for having the UK’s ‘largest’ collection of historic lifeboats, which you can browse during a visit at the RNLI Historic lifeboat Collection.
History lovers should also check out No.1 Smithery, holding a vast collection of historical artefacts relating to naval history, including a model of the dockyard which was presented to George III in 1774.
Don’t miss the Historic Railway which you’ll find in the yard, dating back to 1865, these historic locomotives once ran 17 miles connecting the dockyard with London.
Today the railway is manned by volunteers, and visitors can explore the vintage locomotives and learn about the history they played in the historic dockyard.
Tickets to visit Chatham Historic Dockyard cost £28.50 for an adult and £18 for children, and allow you to visit as many times as you like for a year.
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