The Real House From 'The Holiday' Movie

Who doesn’t love watching the 2006 darling Christmas movie The Holiday starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz around this time of year?

Most of us fell head-over-heels in love with Iris’s whimsical stone cottage. But did you know the house we fell in love with is not actually a real house?

Sadly, it’s true. The interior shots were filmed on a sound stage in California and the exterior facade was built by set designers (pictured below).

The good news is that the movie house was inspired by a real house:

This quintessential real-life English cottage is located in the London commuter village of Holmbury St Mary near Dorking.

The actual house is named Honeysuckle Cottage.

Whereas the fictional version of the house was called Rosehill Cottage.

Let’s have some fun and compare the movie sets of the cottage to the real-life house…

Movie house set:

The set designers did a phenomenal job of capturing the warmth and coziness of an old English cottage with rich colors, varied fabrics and textiles, and soft accent lighting.

Real-life house:

The actual home – as shown in these listing photos from when Honeysuckle Cottage was on the market in 2018 – is lighter and brighter than the imaginary Rosehill cottage interior.

Movie house set:

Iris’s quaint kitchen is small but packed with old-fashioned charm.

Real-life house:

The real-life house kitchen is not as cozy and warm as the movie version, but it still has some great character with those exposed wood beams soft green custom cabinetry.

Movie house set:

Iris’s bedroom is a divine set with a wood-burning fireplace, great antique furniture, and warm colours.

Real-life house:

The actual house has bedrooms that are lighter and more white-washed than the movie home’s bedrooms. But remember, the movie sets were inspired by this very house and you can see some of those same elements with the rustic, exposed rafters, for example.

Movie house set:

The pint-sized bathroom in the movie was unforgettable with that high tin tub and deeply sloped wall.

Real-life house:

The bathroom in the real house doesn’t have as much quirky character as the movie house bathroom, but it is still quite charming.

If you’re curious to know, Honeysuckle Cottage was listed for £650,000 (the equivalent of around $860,000 USD).

Outside, Honeysuckle Cottage has an ell addition on the backside.

It is larger than it appears from the road and has 3 bedrooms in total.

It has a great patio area and manicured yard that the film crew recreated for the movie (pictured below).

Unfortunately, none of those outside shots made it to the final cut of the film. (In case you are wondering, the movie house set no longer exists – it was just a shell so it was torn down after filming wrapped up.)

Alas, we still have the darling real-life Honeysuckle cottage.