One of our favourite TV series is BBC Ghosts, created by the Horrible Histories team – see series 1 trailer. It was filmed almost entirely on-site at West Horsley Place, an historic manor east of London - known in the series as Button House. We worked our itinerary around their filming tours which run on Fridays.

The series has concluded now with 5 seasons, and is about a group of ghosts from all different periods who reside at Button House, including Robin the prehistoric caveman, the plague ghosts (14th century), Humphrey (late 16th century), Mary (17th century), Kitty (late 18th century), Thomas (1820s), Lady Button (late 19th to early 20th century), the Captain (1940s), Pat (1980s) and Julian (1990s).

Without giving too much away about the plot, a young couple move in after inheriting the property, and, following an incident, one of them can see the ghosts. The story takes off from there. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our 90 minute tour – it had a great mix of filming insights and interesting history. You'll notice there are various life-size cut-outs of the Ghosts characters in some of the photos, as well as the famous doll house, Mike's infamous bear, and some props like Alison and Mike's car. There's also a photo of Robin's mousehole and the girls photographing it, the window that Lady Button falls out of each morning, and Mary's contemplation spot in the garden (note more photos below).

There were only six of us on the tour, and coincidently the other family were from near Geelong, only an hour from our house. It was nice to hang out with some Aussies for a short time, especially as we all shared a common interest! 

The estate is set on 400 acres, and the oldest surviving part of the house dates back to 1425. It has had many additions added since then, now boasting 50 rooms. If you look closely you can spot various features from the different periods, including medieval, Tudor, Georgian and Victorian.

The house was built on the site of a Saxon settlement called Horselege, thought to have originated in the late 9th or early 10th century (I'm assuming that's where the name Horsley came from). The village consisted of a cluster of huts with thatched rooves. It's just incredible to know that people have lived on this site for such a long time. 

The manor played a significant role in English history. King Henry VIII owned it at one stage and ate a 35-course banquet meal here in 1536. Anne Boleyn, one of his wives, also visited around that time, and Queen Elizabeth I visited six times as it was owned by a personal friend of hers. Guy Fawkes was a servant here in the 1590s. 

Most scenes of Ghosts were filmed on the property. The production team were very clever with creating the sets and costumes to make them very believable, even scenes that appeared to be somewhere completely different. 

The property was also used for scenes from Enola Holmes and the Durrells – also favourites of ours – plus Howard’s End, Vanity Fair, My Cousin Rachel and Mothering Sunday. 

We were pleasantly surprised when we were out wandering the grounds when a gardener driving by on a tractor stopped and offered to take our photo for us as he could see we were trying to take a selfie. We met a lot of people throughout our time in the UK who were willing to go out of their way to help us out, usually unasked, which added a nice vibe to our trip!