Where is Forever Home filmed? Location guide

Graham Norton's darkly comic family thriller Forever Home swaps the west of Ireland for the wilds of the North East, transplanting the story of the Barrie family and their unsettling secret to Northumberland.

The six-part 5 drama, adapted by Clara Salaman, leans heavily on the region's coastline, countryside and market towns to give a family mystery its lived-in, community feel.

Forever Home was shot almost entirely in Northumberland and the wider North East of England, with the historic town of Hexham serving as the production's main base.

Cast and crew stayed in Hexham throughout the shoot, with much of the team drawn from the region itself, many of them veterans of Vera.

Filming ran across 2025 and into 2026, taking in locations from Northumberland's coast and river valleys through to County Durham.

Amy Nuttall, who plays Carol Crottie, described Hexham as a "home from home" and praised the landscape and coastline as the perfect backdrop for what is a family drama about love, loss and connection.

Where is Forever Home set?

On screen, Forever Home unfolds in the fictional Northumberland town of Allentown, where the Barrie family live at No 7 Stable Row. In Graham Norton's original novel, the story played out in the fictional Ballytoor in the west of Ireland, and relocating it to the North East was a deliberate choice for the television adaptation.

Norton has said the move "opened it up somehow", giving the story a bigger canvas, fresh scenery and voices with a different music to them.

The in-universe Allentown, complete with the Allentown Leisure Centre where Sally works on reception, is a composite of real North East towns and villages rather than a single place you can visit.

Hexham

The market town of Hexham was the beating heart of the production. Reported filming sites in and around the town include Hexham marketplace, Hexham Rowing Club at Tyne Green and Tynedale Terrace near Queen Elizabeth High School.

Hexham, which has a cathedral despite its modest size, doubled as a home base for the cast, several of whom became regulars at a local Indian restaurant during the shoot. It is an easy day out for visitors, with the abbey and Georgian streets long a draw for tourists.

Broomley Grange, Stocksfield

Broomley Grange, a residential outdoor activity centre near Stocksfield, was one of the production's most important sites and hosted the unit base. The venue itself publicly acknowledged the filming. Denise Welch, who plays Carol's mother Moira, noted the location's personal resonance, since her son Matthew, of the band the 1975, attended nearby Broomley School as a child.

Consett, County Durham

The production also crossed into County Durham, with crews filming in the former steel town of Consett. The drama's North East ties were celebrated with a regional premiere held in Newcastle ahead of transmission.

Was Forever Home filmed in a studio?

The interiors of No 7 Stable Row, the house at the centre of the mystery, were built as a set inside an existing building rather than shot in a working home.

Amy Nuttall said the team "built a studio inside an old building" for the interior scenes at No 7, and that the result was so convincing the atmosphere seemed to "seep through the walls".

Lewis Cope, who plays Kaden Barrie, described it as a huge stand-alone building housing the kitchen and living room, adding that it still felt like a big old manor house from within.

What have the cast and creators said about the locations?

The North East setting clearly struck a chord with the ensemble.

Amy Nuttall said Northumberland "felt like the perfect backdrop", praising the sense of community and the many generations who have lived there, and singled out Hexham as a place she "absolutely loved".

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Denise Welch, a Geordie herself, filmed "a minute up the road" from her sister's home, with Broomley Grange close to villages she has known all her life. She said she loved being "surrounded by Geordies all day and every day", noting that much of the crew had worked together on Vera.

Graham Norton, who executive produces, said relocating his novel to Britain made "the whole story completely fresh, with new scenery, and voices that have a different music to them".

For cast member Shane Zaza, who plays Kaden's partner Dan, the region was a natural fit: "It was very homely, which was just what this show needed."

Forever Home premieres on 5 on Monday 14 September at 9pm.

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