Dales welcomes Margot Robbie for movie shoot

Margot Robbie has taken the lead role in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights

Rural North Yorkshire is having its Hollywood moment.

The latest production to be filmed in the region is a new adaptation of the classic novel Wuthering Heights, which has just finished shooting in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

It stars Australian actress Margot Robbie, who recently took the lead role in Barbie, and will play Cathy alongside Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff.

Emily Bronte's novel was written in 1847 and set in the rugged Yorkshire moors.

The locations chosen for the new film included Arkengarthdale, Swaledale and the village of Low Row. Robbie, 35, stayed at the hotel Simonstone Hall, near Hawes, with other cast members.

She was also photographed in a white wedding gown surrounded by film crew for a scene believed to be her marriage to Heathcliff's rival, Edgar Linton.

Fashion bible Vogue has criticised her dress as being historically inaccurate, as the style was only popularised by Queen Victoria 40 years after the story is set.

Margot Robbie even signed some autographs at the hotel where she stayed

The hotel is a "historic country lodge" where presenter Jeremy Clarkson famously got into a fight with a Top Gear producer in 2015.

A staff member said Robbie was "very lovely" and even enjoyed a Sunday roast and afternoon tea there with her husband and new baby.

The employee told the BBC: "The weekend was great fun, where she met lots of other guests and visitors and she introduced her baby to the resident pigs and peacocks here."

The film crew's base camp was near Holiday Home Yorkshire in Reeth, whose owner said it was "very exciting" seeing the trailers in the tiny village.

One local holiday let owner said he saw Robbie driving a tractor with her co-star - although the agricultural vehicles were not invented until the late 19th Century.

He said: "There were four tractors, old-fashioned open-to-the-elements style and they were being escorted by two Range Rovers."

Another Dales resident said he had seen filming at Surrender Bridge, which is close to an old lead smelting mill. The landmark also featured in the opening scene of the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small in the 1980s and is on the Coast to Coast path route.

The film's base camp was located in rural Arkengarthdale

Crew members also stayed at the Charles Bathurst Inn, in Arkengarthdale, and were described as "very friendly".

The film, directed by Emerald Fennell, is due for release in February 2026.

There are hopes that it will lead to an upsurge in interest in the Bronte sisters and their work.

The director of the Bronte Parsonage Museum, a literary museum located at the former Bronte family home in Haworth, West Yorkshire, said: "Every screen or theatre adaptation brings something fresh for contemporary audiences to think about.

"It is a testimony of Emily's legacy that her writing continues to inspire creatives today and we look forward to seeing what Emerald Fennell's adaptation adds to the mix."

Haworth Parsonage is where Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights and lived with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, and it was gifted to the Bronte Society in 1928.

The Bronte Parsonage Museum is where Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights

It has the largest collection of Brontë items in the world.

Director Rebecca Yorke added: "We're also delighted that some filming has taken place at nearby locations and hope that this will attract new visitors to the area and to the Brontë Parsonage Museum."

There have been at least 10 film and television adaptations of Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte's only novel.

One of the most well-known was the 1939 version starring Merle Oberon as Cathy and Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Rebel Wilson said she was 'loving it' in Yorkshire

Other high-profile actors who have played Heathcliff over the years include Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hardy and Richard Burton.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire was also the filming location for a Christmas film starring Rebel Wilson and Kiefer Sutherland.

Tinsel Town will be released in December 2025 and was shot in Knaresborough.

Wilson, 45, said at the time she "loved" the area and had been practising her Yorkshire accent.

In 2021, Tom Cruise surprised locals of Pickering when he touched down in a helicopter to shoot scenes for Mission: Impossible at a heritage railway.

The owner of a local B&B said in a Facebook post they had been walking the dog when they "bumped into" the Hollywood megastar.

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