Shot on location - Films and TV-series: February 2025

19 February 2025

Dark Hedges, Northern Ireland

The first episode of the second season of GAME OF THRONES, “The North Remembers,” was first shown in America on 1 April 2012 on HBO. The episode, in which my fellow countryman Carice van Houten debuts as the priestess Melisandre, was seen by a record-breaking 3.85 million viewers in its initial broadcast.

Game of Thrones, season 2, episode 1, 0:24:56

The episode was filmed in various locations in Croatia and Northern Ireland. In the final scene, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), escaping the evil queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), travels north across Kingsroad. Disguised as a boy, she is part of a group of men seeking to join the Night Watch, a military order charged with protecting the Seven Kingdoms. This scene was shot in Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland.

It has become one of the most recognized locations of the series, although the road with the gnarly trees is seen for less than 30 seconds. Dark Hedges is located on Bregagh Road near Armoy in County Antrim. Around 1775, more than 150 beech trees were planted here by the Stuart family to create an imposing approach for their mansion Gracehill House. Several trees have been lost over the years. Beech trees age between 200 and 400 years, but trees have also disappeared due to storms and traffic damage, among other things. In 2016, 90 beech trees remained.

Dark Hedges, 14 July 2024

The increasing number of visitors due to the popularity of the series has caused Bregagh Road to be banned from traffic since 30 October 2017. This is good news for anyone wanting to visit Dark Hedges. Unfortunately, the trees also suffer from visitors scratching their names into the trees. A local told us we were lucky because it was usually much busier on a Sunday and that would have resulted in less appealing photos.

From Gracehill House, where visitors can use a parking and a restaurant, it takes about 10 minutes to walk to the location from the series, filmed near a stone bridge. It was not difficult to find the exact spot, despite another tree having disappeared since filming. The tree that can be seen behind Arya was fortunately still there.