Owners of the house where Bake Off is filmed share what it’s like behind the scenes

The Great British Bake Off has been (mostly) filmed at Welford Park since 2014. The owners of the estate have shared what it’s like to have Bake Off filmed in front of your house.

The Great British Bake Off is filmed in Berkshire

Hardcore fans will know the first four seasons of the show were filmed in eight different places. In 2014, Bake Off found a more permanent home at Welford Park, near Newbury.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by WELFORD PARK (@welfordpark)

The parkland used to belong to an abbey, then Henry VIII claimed it during the dissolution of the monasteries and used it for hunting for a while. A merchant called Sir Francis Jones bought the place in 1618. His descendants still own it in 2026.

The house we see on Bake Off was built in 1652. The tower on the church next to the house actually dates back to the 12th century. When the bakers and judges are interviewed about how well (or disastrously) a challenge went, they’re often standing by the steps in front of the house, or Aline’s Walled Orchard, or the bridge over the River Lambourn. You can guess when the weather was rubbish, because most of the interviews will be by the same handful of trees right by the tent.

Bake Off judges and contestants being interviewed in the grounds
(Images via Channel 4)

The owners of the house used to cook for the crew

Welford Park is owned by 78-year-old James Henry Lavallin Puxley and his wife Deborah. Apparently, their estate was picked for Bake Off because a location scout encountered Welford Park’s land agent at a party.

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Deborah told The Telegraph: “I had never heard of Bake Off or Paul Hollywood, so my daughter showed them [the location scouts] around. She said, ‘Mum, Mary Berry is in it!’ We never looked back.”

Apparently, Deborah was “the mother of the Bake Off”. For the first few seasons, James and Deborah helped out with the catering. She said: “We cooked for everybody. It was about 70 people [on site] then, and James was Lord-Lieutenant of Berkshire at the time, so he had to do 60 fried eggs before he put on his uniform.”

They felt the show ‘worked better’ on Channel 4

The house, the Bake Off tent, the church and the driveway
(Image via Channel 4)

James and Deborah feared the end was nigh when Bake Off relocated from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2016. However, the change was “a breath of fresh air” as the production team then “brought in catering trucks, and it worked better all-round”.

So, the Bake Off contestants and crew don’t stay at Welford Park. They sleep in a fancy country hotel nearby. During the Covid-19 pandemic, seasons 11 and 12 of Bake Off were filmed at the Down Hall Hotel in Essex. This venue has about 100 bedrooms for guests. so everybody was able to stay on-site there, and stick to Covid restrictions. The show did return to Welford Park for season 13 in 2022.

Deborah told The Telegraph: “We were amazed when they rang up and said, ‘Can we come home?'”

James and Deborah used the money from Bake Off to redo the gardens and some outbuildings.

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Featured images via Channel 4