London, April 5 (ANI): It has emerged that more and more tourists are flocking to historic movie locations, creating a trend that has been described as ‘set jetting’.

The trend is earning millions of pounds for the National Trust, whose properties often provide the backdrop for Hollywood blockbusters.

Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe, is the latest big-budget production to turn to the Trust for filming.

Rather than Sherwood Forest, the oaks and beeches of the Ashridge Estate, in the Chiltern Hills, served as the hideout for the medieval outlaw and his band of merry men.

Another Trust landscape, at Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, was used for the film’s climatic battle scene, with hundreds of extras and horses. Dovedale in Derbyshire was the location for the film’s closing scenes.

It is estimated that as many as four out of 10 family days out involve visiting places which have featured in films or TV series. The National Trust has even established its own Film Office.

“About 60 of our properties are used each year for shoots, from television commercials to feature films,” the Daily Express quoted filming co-ordinator Lauren Taylor as saying.

“The average cost for a major production to film at our property is 4,000 pounds a day and all money made goes back to the building or the location for its upkeep,” she said.

Director Tim Burton’s recent film Alice in Wonderland has put one of the Trust’s lesser-known stately homes, Antony House near Plymouth, in the spotlight.

Now visitors can enjoy the Alice In Wonderland Experience, a series of trails and garden features celebrating the classic tale.

With the 100 million pounds Robin Hood film opening next month, Ashridge and Freshwater West are likely to become some of the summer’s most popular tourist attractions.

“It was awesome. Cast and crew were here for five weeks and Russell Crowe even stayed on Trust land in his motor caravan,” Richard Ellis, the Trust’s head warden in Pembrokeshire, said of the filming experience.

“He and large numbers of the crew stayed in the encampment they created, known during filming as Russell Square,” he said.

Other soon-to-be released films featuring Trust properties include ‘Never Let Me Go’, starring Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley, which was shot at Ham House on the banks of the Thames, and ‘Burke and Hare’, shot at Osterley in Middlesex and Knole in Kent.

Already released films featuring Trust properties include ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Die Another Day’, ‘Young Victoria’, ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’, and Guy Ritchie’s ‘Sherlock olmes’. (ANI)