Scotney Castle is a place that is very much the stuff of dreams, and Netflix certainly took this into account when they used the National Trust location in their adaptation of Neil Gaiman's cult classic graphic novel The Sandman.
The Sandman is a 10-episode fantasy TV series adapted from the comic book series of the same name by Neil Gaiman. It follows Dream, who has been imprisoned for over 100 years, as he escapes and begins to rebuild his realm that has fallen into disrepair due to his absence.
Scotney Castle can be seen in Episode 2 of The Sandman as the home of a cute gargoyle which just happens to be the last remaining complete creation of The Dreaming, which is the realm of Dream aka Morpheus, aka The Sandman, played by Tom Sturridge.
We first see Scotney Castle as the aforementioned Gargoyle, who is charmingly named Gregory, as he flies over the landscape and drops down on top of the beautiful historic building of Old Scotney Castle.
Soon after, we meet Cain and Abel of the age-old biblical stories, played by Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry, respectively, who keep Gregory as a sort of pet. But, Dream and his trusty Librarian Lucienne, played by Vivienne Acheampong, soon come to visit to reclaim this last fragment of Dream's creation to harness its energy.
Scotney Castle takes on the guise of the House of Mystery or the House of Secrets; amusingly, it's not entirely clear which one it really is, but there are tea and biscuits, which is delightfully British.
To have such a beloved Kent landmark make an appearance on a global TV show is electrifying, and it feels absolutely fitting that Scotney Castle should make an appearance in a dream realm, as visiting the National Trust location does make you feel as if you are stepping out of reality and into a fairytale.
The highly anticipated adaptation of Neil Gaiman's epic graphic novel series The Sandman is now showing on Netflix.
