The manor house from The Draughtsman’s Contract: how it looks today

Peter Greenaway’s 1980s arthouse murder mystery The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982) follows the work of 17th-century draughtsman R. Neville (Anthony Higgins) as he undertakes a commission from Virginia Herbert (Janet Suzman) to produce 12 drawings of the vast country property that she lives in with her neglectful husband.

Neville agrees to the contract on the condition that she agrees to sexual favours in return. But the draughtsman causes an uproar among the property’s various inhabitants due to his attitude and behaviour, and he seems to capture something increasingly sinister in his drawings: an unfolding narrative of intrigue in the property that may not bode well for Neville’s future.

Typical of Greenaway’s taste for exacting compositions, The Draughtsman’s Contract is filled with symmetrical visual splendour, which is echoed in the film’s celebrated score – a meeting of Baroque and minimalist styles composed by Michael Nyman. Added to this is Greenaway’s choice of location, which his film explores in unusually rich detail: the stunning manor house and ornate gardens of Groombridge Place just outside of Tunbridge Wells. Here is the location as it stands today.

Looking east allows Greenaway to adhere most closely to his usual symmetrical composition, as the entrance is on this side. It’s also the side of the property that shows most keenly the influence of Sir Christopher Wren, who helped barrister and architect Philip Packer with the construction of the property in the 1660s. We see it as the draughtsman is preparing one of his drawings, with its bridge over the property’s moat leading to the entrance.

We also see the entrance lit up at night later in the film when the characters dine alfresco on a long table. 

Further along from this path and into the walled garden, Greenaway shoots the house looking south-westerly, marked in particular in the film by the far wall being used to dry the house’s linen.

We get a better shot looking in this direction later, which allows a view of another bridge crossing the water. 

One of the main features of the north side of the house is that it connects to the garden seen throughout the film. This shot, taken looking south, shows the north side of the house along with the beginnings of the garden’s features.

The garden plays as pivotal a role in the film as the house. Its distinctive formal designs were open to further additions on Greenaway’s part; in particular the various white obelisks clearly put there by Greenaway as a further nod to Wren’s role in the building’s designs. We see Neville initially enter the walled garden via one of its large doors.

The garden of Groombridge Place is as symmetrical as Nyman’s music and Greenaway’s compositions, particularly when you look directly through its main avenue, created by a variety of smartly trimmed bushes.  

Further into the garden, we see its equally ornate designs, with the main body of the house dominating the horizon above thick walls of vegetation.

Finally, the exit from the garden leads to the hillside where some of the draughtsman’s compositions are completed. The gate is still present today, though it’s worth noting that the stone features seen throughout were a compositional invention for the film.

The Draughtsman’s Contract is back in cinemas in a 40th anniversary 4K remaster by the BFI National Archive from 11 November.

Frames of Mind: The Films of Peter Greenaway runs at BFI Southbank from October to December 2022. A selection of his films will also be available on BFI Player.