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| Where Was ‘Rivals Season 2’ Filmed? Inside the Grand Estates, Glamorous English Countryside of the 2026 Hulu Series. (Credits: Hulu) |
Rivals Season 2 has returned with bigger hair, sharper insults, messier affairs and enough emotional destruction to power half of 1980s England. But while viewers were busy watching David Tennant weaponise pure chaos as Tony Baddingham and Alex Hassell spiral beautifully as Rupert Campbell-Black, many ended up distracted by something else entirely: the filming locations. Because honestly, every estate, countryside road and cathedral in this series looks like it charges people £45 just to breathe near it.
Like many major productions, not every filming location was publicly disclosed while cameras were rolling. The production reportedly kept several exact sites under wraps during filming to stop obsessive fans from interrupting shoots or leaking spoilers online. Considering the level of chaos already happening onscreen, the cast probably did not need random people hiding behind hedges screaming “Rupert!” in the middle of emotional scenes.
Still, enough locations have now surfaced to confirm that Rivals Season 2 fully embraced the glossy excess of Jilly Cooper’s world. From aristocratic Wiltshire estates to dramatic Somerset caves, the series transformed some of the UK’s most beautiful locations into playgrounds for scandal, romance and aggressively expensive-looking bad decisions.
One of the biggest filming hubs for the series was Neston Park in Wiltshire. The historic country estate became one of the central visual identities of the show, representing the kind of aristocratic wealth that quietly screams old money while pretending not to care.
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Located near Corsham, the estate’s grand architecture, landscaped gardens and enormous grounds perfectly suited the ridiculous glamour of Rutshire society.
Several outdoor party scenes, horse-riding sequences and tense confrontations were filmed there. Fans online immediately declared the estate “the real star of the series”, which honestly feels slightly unfair to the actors but not entirely wrong.
The surrounding village of Neston also appeared throughout the season, helping create the sleepy but secretly vicious atmosphere that defines Rutshire. The contrast between postcard-perfect English scenery and characters emotionally destroying each other remains one of the show’s funniest unspoken jokes.
The production also heavily used Tetbury in Gloucestershire, a town already famous for its elegant Cotswolds charm. The honey-coloured stone buildings, historic streets and polished countryside atmosphere gave the series its classic upper-class aesthetic.
Several café scenes, shopping sequences and social gatherings were filmed around Tetbury, making the town look like the physical embodiment of passive-aggressive wealth.
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Not far from Tetbury, the series also filmed around Chavenage House, one of the Cotswolds’ most famous manor houses. The estate reportedly doubled for several elite Rutshire homes and private event scenes.
With its dramatic interiors and sprawling grounds, the location fit perfectly into the show’s obsession with privilege, status and people making catastrophic romantic decisions in expensive rooms.
A huge portion of production took place in Bristol, which continues its mission to appear in literally every British series released lately. Much of the indoor filming happened at The Bottle Yard Studios, especially inside the new TBY2 facilities designed for large-scale productions.
Many of the Corinium and Venturer television station interiors were created there, including newsroom spaces, executive offices and backstage production sets. Fans praised the retro production design, with many saying the series somehow made 1980s television politics look both glamorous and deeply exhausting.
The production also filmed around Clifton in Bristol, using its elegant Georgian streets and classic architecture for several transitional sequences and elite social scenes.
The area’s polished aesthetic matched the show’s upper-class energy so perfectly that viewers joked everyone in Rutshire apparently lives within walking distance of a wine bar and unresolved trauma.
In Clevedon, the series used Castlewood and parts of the seafront for some of Season 2’s most visually striking moments. The dramatic coastal atmosphere added a slightly darker edge to several emotional scenes involving Rupert and Taggie.
Clevedon Pier also reportedly appeared briefly, because apparently every emotionally complicated British couple must eventually stare into the distance near cold water while questioning their life choices.
The countryside scenes expanded further into Boarhunt in Hampshire, where rolling fields and quiet rural landscapes helped create the idyllic version of England the series loves to present before immediately ruining it with betrayal.
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The area featured during horse-riding sequences and reflective moments, adding a softer visual contrast to the increasingly chaotic drama unfolding between the characters.
Additional filming reportedly took place around Southwick Estate in Hampshire, another location that practically radiates old aristocratic tension.
The estate’s grand halls and countryside surroundings blended seamlessly into the Rutshire universe, where everyone somehow has both inherited wealth and deeply unstable personal lives.
London also appears throughout the season, though usually as a sharper, colder contrast to the countryside excess. Several scenes were filmed around Mayfair, Soho and parts of Westminster, giving the series a more corporate and politically charged atmosphere whenever characters stepped away from the rolling green hills.
Tony Baddingham’s scenes especially benefited from the capital’s sleek modern settings, reinforcing the idea that this man probably treats emotional manipulation like a competitive sport.
The production later moved into Somerset, where Wells Cathedral became one of the season’s most visually stunning locations. The cathedral’s towering Gothic architecture gave several dramatic sequences an almost theatrical quality.
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Fans online immediately joked that the show had officially reached “peak British drama” once arguments started happening inside centuries-old religious buildings.
Not far away, the series also filmed inside Wookey Hole Caves, which added an unexpectedly eerie atmosphere to some of the season’s more secretive moments.
The caves brought a darker visual tone to the series, proving that even hidden underground locations can somehow become settings for emotional chaos in the world of Rivals.
The production reportedly expanded further across Somerset with scenes filmed in Glastonbury, particularly around its historic streets and countryside landscapes.
The town’s mystical reputation oddly fit the show’s over-the-top emotional energy. Viewers online joked that after two seasons of affairs, scandals and manipulative power games, the characters probably do need spiritual healing at this point.
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What continues to make Rivals Season 2 stand out is how aggressively committed it is to excess. Bigger sets, larger estates, more expensive interiors and even more dramatic scenery all reflect the escalating madness of the story itself.
The locations are not simply decorative backdrops; they actively reinforce the absurd privilege, emotional recklessness and social warfare that define Rutshire society.
Some fans praised the production for showcasing the British countryside so beautifully that it practically doubled as a tourism campaign.
Others joked that every location looked like somewhere people go to either inherit millions or file for divorce. Meanwhile, viewers outside the UK flooded social media asking for exact estate names, cathedral sites and village locations so they could build unofficial Rivals travel itineraries.
Many fans were especially obsessed with the countryside estates, while others became unexpectedly attached to the television studio interiors. One viral comment summed up the fandom’s mood perfectly: “I started Rivals for the drama and stayed because I apparently now want to relocate to Gloucestershire.”
And honestly, that reaction makes sense. Rivals Season 2 does not just romanticise scandal and chaos. It romanticises England itself — the grand houses, the rainy countryside, the ancient cathedrals and the deeply dramatic people wandering through all of it wearing tweed while making terrible decisions.
So if you could visit one filming location from the series, where would it be? The aristocratic Wiltshire estates, the Somerset cathedrals, the Bristol studio world or the rolling Cotswolds landscapes? Fans are already debating it online, and the arguments are almost as dramatic as the series itself.