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‘Bridgerton’ Stars on Benophie’s My Cottage Fairy Tale & Get First Look at the Kite Scene

Bridgerton Season 4 is the closest the show has ever been to a fairy tale, putting Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) in Prince Charming’s shoes, as he sweeps the Lady in Silver, a.k.a. Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), off her feet at his mother’s masquerade ball, making her his Cinderella.

But there are no castles to be found in this fairytale. Instead, it’s My Cottage, the abode Benedict occupies in the countryside that serves as the captivating setting where this pair’s bond deepens. Filmed on location at the old Tudor mansion known as Loseley House, readers of Julia Quinn’s novel An Offer From a Gentleman will recognize the estate from its pages, but stars Thompson and Ha are taking Swooon behind the scenes.

“I think what’s so special about My Cottage is that it is a little bit of a fantasy getaway for the two of them,” Ha gushes. “I think [it] really does the book justice as well, but there’s also new elements to it, like the kite scene, which I think is really nice.” While we won’t recount what leads Benedict and Sophie to My Cottage in the show, in Quinn’s novel, Sophie and Benedict bump into each other in the countryside, and the pair are forced to seek refuge from a storm, leading them to My Cottage.

What unfolds there is pivotal to the building of their relationship outside of the masquerade ball, where Benedict is unaware of Sophie’s true identity and class difference as a maid. But the aforementioned kite scene is certainly something new for viewers and book readers to experience. Thankfully, we have your exclusive first look at the highly teased moment with the clip above. “It just digs deeper into the connection between these two characters outside of the eyes of society,” Ha continues, noting the importance of sending the characters to this new spot.

“I remember arriving there, and it was just so expansive and huge, and there’s just a lawn that goes on for miles, and this huge, huge house, and beautiful details and it was all filmed there,” Thompson muses, remembering what it was like to arrive at Loseley House to film My Cottage scenes. “It’s a whole chamber of Benedict that has been there since the beginning because he’s had that place since Season 1 or Season 2 or whatever. We just haven’t seen it.” In other words, fans should prepare to see a new side to Benedict in a place where he’s most at ease.

When finding the perfect spot, production designer Alison Gartshore told us on set, “We walked into [Loseley House], we went, ‘Oh yeah, this is absolutely Benedict.’ It was just a beautiful blend of really gorgeous things, paintings on the wall, the architecture is out of this world, and it just gave us everything that we needed for his character.”

“I have a sentimental place in my heart just for filming at My Cottage as well… because it was like a little summer camp for Luke and I,” Ha further elaborates. “It was just us two, and that was where I really got to bond with Luke.” When Swooon visited the Bridgerton set in October 2024 to observe the masquerade meet-cute between Benedict and Sophie, Thompson and Ha had already filmed some scenes for My Cottage, including the kite scene (above).

“There’s so much time off camera between setups, and we had so many [deep and meaningful] conversations where I think he got to see quite a vulnerable side to me and got to know about my insecurities and doubts or aspirations or just really deep conversations that you don’t actually get to have with everyone,” Ha shares, recalling how valuable it was to build Benedict and Sophie’s chemistry while filming the My Cottage sequences. “To be able to connect that bond with him offscreen, person to person, I think only helped us bring it to the screen for Benedict and Sophie in the later episodes, so I think it was like one of the most crucial times that we had that I really cherish, actually looking back.”

Thompson echoes Ha, saying, “It was an amazing time with Yerin, because it was early days and… I just think of it as the time when we really discovered our rapport, both as actors, but also as characters. It’s like you discover the chemistry that’s there rather than work out whether there is any or not.”

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For readers, Thompson adds, “It’s actually a very rich book, I think, when it comes to those moments that feel so filmic. They do feel like you can see them. I remember actually walking into Benedict’s bedroom to shoot one of those scenes [at My Cottage], and maybe my memories blurred it, but I feel like it was exactly as I had pictured it when I read the book, and that’s exciting when that happens.” He cites that “the whole stay at My Cottage” feels that way.

One moment in particular from the book that Ha is eager for fans to see adapted is the lake scene. In the novel, Sophie happens to walk by a lake as Benedict takes a swim on the My Cottage property. The pivotal sequence from the novel does feature in the series, as teased in the trailer, and Ha shares,  “With the lake scene, I like to think we did a pretty good job.”

Get ready to get whisked away into Benedict and Sophie’s fairy tale as they head to My Cottage in Bridgerton Season 4 (don’t forget the sneak peek above), and stay tuned for more as the episodes unfold on Netflix.

Bridgerton, Season 4, Part 1 Premiere, Thursday, January 29, Netflix

Bridgerton, Season 4, Part 2 Premiere, Thursday, February 26, Netflix