Austen movie boosts house tourism

Basildon was built in 1783 and was given to the National Trust in 1977

The number of people visiting a stately home in Berkshire has increased since the property was used for the filming of Pride and Prejudice, figures show.

A report by film and tourism bodies found coach tours at Basildon Park went up by 76% after it featured in the 2005 adaptation of the Jane Austen novel.

The mansion, which is run by the National Trust, was closed for seven weeks while filming took place in 2004.

The film starred Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightley.

Entitled Stately Attraction, the report showed that the locations most likely to pull in tourists are stately homes, historic and religious buildings and rural or village landscapes.

It also said that tourism figures were up at a number of other film and TV show locations across the UK.