The Holiday house is real! Fans can now stay inside Kate Winslet’s iconic cottage – recreated in the mountains of Georgia

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Good news for fans of romantic comedies! The charming cottage featured in a beloved holiday movie is now available to rent for real.

Okay, so for almost twenty years, those of us who live for The Holiday – and you know who we are! – have been absolutely obsessed with that cottage. I mean, the one Iris escapes to in the English countryside? We’ve all pictured ourselves there, under those low beams, with a book and a cup of tea by that incredible fireplace. It’s just… perfect. But it’s totally devastating to find out that Rosehill Cottage isn’t real. Like, it was built for the movie and doesn’t actually exist! It’s honestly heartbreaking.

The charming house featured in the show was actually just a temporary set, constructed in a field in Shere, Surrey, and taken down immediately after filming finished.

The design was inspired by Honeysuckle Cottage in Holmbury St Mary, a charming, storybook-like house that remains popular with visitors.

When interior designer Lucy Small began working on the cottage, she knew her goal was to make a cherished Hollywood dream a reality.

Instead of building in England, she decided to start construction in Blue Ridge, Georgia—a charming town where it wouldn’t be surprising to see a celebrity like Jude Law casually stroll by.

While the movie set was just for show, Lucy’s version needed to be a real, livable home – complete with working plumbing, electricity, and all the little comforts that make a house feel cozy.

She explained to The Daily Mail that building the cottage from scratch was more costly than renovating an existing structure. Plus, the movie set’s cottage had impossible architecture – the interior didn’t match the exterior – making it difficult to recreate in real life.

Small shared that the intentionally outdated and unstylish look of the film’s sets was surprisingly costly to create, and recreating it proved to be expensive as well.

Despite appearing cozy and a little worn, the cottage was surprisingly expensive to recreate, as Lucy pointed out.

She explained that many of the items used in the movie were very expensive. For example, each of the living room chairs cost around $10,000, and even the umbrella stand near the door was priced at $15,000.

She chuckled and admitted they hadn’t purchased the real items. “But even the copies quickly became expensive,” she said.

To create a cozy, inviting atmosphere, she used authentic materials like natural stone, handcrafted wooden beams, and textured plaster walls. She also incorporated vintage fabrics and carefully chosen decorative items, making it feel as though the homeowner had simply stepped out for a moment.

Lucy noted that her surroundings helped inspire the full-blown rom-com fantasy.

She described her town as the perfect backdrop for a Hallmark movie – complete with mountains, a charming downtown area, and even a gazebo. Because people already visit to get away from it all, she felt it made sense to create a dedicated space for them to truly relax and unwind.

Although the build was stressful and risky, she insisted the emotional payoff made it worth it.

She acknowledged that creating this place was challenging, costly, and caused a lot of stress. However, receiving heartfelt messages from guests – stories about cherished family traditions or sisters who make annual movie nights a ritual – makes all the effort worthwhile.

Despite her optimism, experts warned her the idea was ridiculous.

To her delight, fans proved them wrong by booking months ahead.

People I trusted told me nobody would be interested in a movie that was made twenty years ago, and they questioned how I would even find a distributor for it, she explained.

Instead, it’s become a full-blown phenomenon.

She said they’re fully booked for the coming months. Weekends become available starting in March, but those dates are filling up quickly with summer reservations.

Rates begin at $399 per night off-season and reach $499 during peak holiday months.

“It’s been incredible,” Lucy shared. “I’ve read every single message people have sent online. They’ve shared such heartwarming stories about their relationships and family traditions, all connected to this film. It means more to me than I could have ever hoped for.”

And yes, staying there truly feels like stepping into the beloved holiday romance.

In the movie, Cameron Diaz plays Amanda Woods, who decides to trade homes with Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet), a British journalist, for the Christmas holidays. Amanda is hoping to escape her problems back in Los Angeles.

To her surprise, she falls in love with Iris’s brother Graham (Law) during her stay. 

‘I just wanted to build something people love,’ Lucy said. ‘And I think we did.’

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2025-11-09 06:49