How the British countryside became 2026's breakout onscreen star

""On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made me shiver through every limb," so wrote Emily Brontë. In a story studded with untameable lust, unbreakable love, fierce tempers and shocking acts of revenge, perhaps the most faithful aspect of Emerald Fennell's latest film, "Wuthering Heights", to its 1847 novel is the tempestuous depiction of the remote English countryside. The Yorkshire moors, to be exact."

"Whether you love the film or loathe its notorious deviation from the source, Fennell's devotion to the dramatic landscape that outfits the twists and turns of the plot is unmistakable. Mist rolls in with theatrical intent; passionate red sunsets light up the horizon; nature literally and purposefully presses in on the house itself. "Very early on, we knew we wanted to be much more expressive," Emerald Fennell commented. "One of the main things we did was we said that nature invades Wuthering Heights, the place.""

"The beauty of the Yorkshire moors hardly needs Brontë or Fennell to sell its rugged, sweeping vistas to the world. But admittedly, the novel's impact and its reintroduction to international consciousness have given the region fresh allure. The cobbled streets and charming boutiques of Haworth - also known as Brontë country - is England's green and pleasant land at its most storybook-esque; it acquired its name for the steady trudge of literary tourism the town receives. For those seeking the atmospheric, "half-savage, hardy, and free" scenes fleshed out in Fennell's film, the BBC has reported that the Yorkshire Dales National Park is expecting a major boom in both domestic and international tourism this year."

Screen adaptations and high-profile series are boosting demand for the British countryside as filming locations and tourist destinations. Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights foregrounds the Yorkshire moors, using mist, red sunsets, and encroaching nature to intensify narrative mood. Haworth, known as Brontë country, features cobbled streets and boutiques that attract steady literary tourism. The Yorkshire Dales National Park is expecting a major boom in both domestic and international visitors. Popular productions including Bridgerton, a new Harry Potter series, and an upcoming Narnia movie are widening interest in Britain's varied rural landscapes and boosting regional appeal.

Read at CN Traveller