TELEVISION filming forms part of a host of new industry introduced at a North Yorkshire stately home in a bid to sure its future.

The Grade I listed Carlton Towers, near Selby, was the set for a film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust in 1988, Micawber, based on Charles Dickens’ character in David Copperfield, The Darling Buds of May, Sky Atlantic documentary series The Guest Wing and ITV1 drama Victoria.

The filming brings in additional income streams for the estate, which is the home of Lord Gerald and Lady Emma Fitzalan Howard, alongside its mainstream revenues generated as a wedding venue.

The estate also is creating a small start-up business community on site, which will include a brewery, a cheesemaker, a bakery, a chocolatier, a cookery school and a spa as well as plans for a farmshop.