FILM
The house was used as a location for the 1948 film version of the George Moore novel Esther Waters. The film directed by Ian Dalrymple and Peter Proud starred Kathleen Ryan (in the title role), Dirk Bogarde (as William Latch), Cyril Cusack, Ivor Barnard and Fay Compton.
The story of an unmarried housemaid who becomes pregnant and is abandoned by her footman lover, the subject-matter of Esther Waters was the most "English" of his novels. Moore had just returned to England after abandoning his brief interest in the Irish Renaissance theatre movement in 1911. He was also a founder of the Irish Literary Theatre, a precursor to the Abbey Theatre Dublin.
TV
In 2011, Folkington Manor was used for a special episode of Channel 4's 'Come Dine With Me' as the country house for a character from the reality series 'Made in Chelsea.'
In 2017, Folkington Manor became the ‘Pet Training School’ for the ITV series ‘Teach my pet to do that’ hosted by Alexander Armstrong.
LITERATURE
Accounts of life at Folkington Manor appear in the book Violet: The Life and Loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse by Jessica Douglas-Home. Violet Gordon Woodhouse was the sister of Rupert Gwynne and one of the century's most gifted musicians, her salon at Wooton Manor was a rural match for London's Bloomsbury gatherings.
The first chapter of the book details the long and stormy engagement between Violet's parents, James Gwynne and the musical May Purvis, there was strong opposition from the Gwynnes to James marrying someone of "questionable" descent. James and May set up house in Harley Street in London and at Folkington Manor in Sussex giving birth to Violet and her six brothers and sisters.
Violet's salon was visited by Picasso, Diaghilev, the Sitwells, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, Ethel Smyth, Siegfried Sassoon, Poldowski (Lady Dean Paul) and George Bernard Shaw.
Violet's brother Roland Gwynne was renowned for the high profile parties he held at Folkington Manor, attended by, amongst others, Freeman Freeman-Thomas, Viceroy of India and Rudyard Kipling.
