Where Was Sex Education Filmed? Wye Valley Locations Guide

If you’ve ever wanted to walk the same country lanes as Otis Milburn on his way to school, you’re not alone. Netflix’s Sex Education built its entire fictional world of Moordale across a remarkably compact stretch of the England-Wales border—and fans have been tracking down the real locations ever since. From the chalet overlooking the River Wye to the historic campus that became Moordale Secondary, here’s where every frame was shot.

Primary Filming Region: Wye Valley · Counties: Gloucestershire, Herefordshire · Key Spot: Symonds Yat East · Fictional Setting: Moordale, UK · Series Run: 2019–2023

The table below maps fictional Moordale settings to their real-world filming counterparts across the Wye Valley corridor.

Where is Otis House filmed?

The home shared by Otis and sex therapist Jean Milburn is probably the show’s most recognizable location. The production team chose a distinctive Norwegian-style chalet perched above the River Wye in Symonds Yat East, Herefordshire (Atlas of Wonders film location guide). The location overlooks the river where paddlers and hikers still pass today.

Otis House in Wye Valley

Symonds Yat East and Symonds Yat West are actually two separate communities divided by the River Wye itself. The famous rock rising above the valley is an ancient hill fort where peregrine falcons still nest alongside buzzards and ospreys (Visit Britain travel guide). The chalet’s red treehouse—Otis’s unofficial therapy room—was specially rebuilt for each season to maintain the show’s visual consistency (Visit Dean & Wye Valley).

Visiting the Otis House exterior

The exact street address isn’t publicly disclosed at the owners’ request, but visitors can enjoy the riverside walks in Symonds Yat East without disturbing residents. The Wye Valley Greenway passes nearby, offering views toward the property from public vantage points. For those wanting a more structured visit, the White House on Wye guesthouse is a short walk away and has hosted location tours.

The implication for visitors: respect private boundaries and focus on public vantage points where the scenery matches what viewers see on screen.

Sex Education Locations Filmed In The Wye Valley

The Wye Valley forms the beating heart of Sex Education’s geography. Spanning the border between Gloucestershire and Herefordshire in England and Monmouthshire in Wales, this designated National Landscape (formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) provides the sweeping rural backdrop that makes Moordale feel authentically remote yet accessible.

Visit Dean & Wye Valley, the regional tourism body, has embraced the show’s legacy, creating walking guides that highlight filming locations across the area (Visit Dean & Wye Valley tourism guide). “There’s no mistaking that this is the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley in all its glory,” the organization notes on its dedicated Sex Education page.

Key Wye Valley spots

Beyond the chalet, several locations recur throughout the series. The Wireworks Bridge at Tintern—now part of the Wye Valley Greenway—is where Otis and Maeve have some of their most pivotal conversations (Visit Dean & Wye Valley). Brockweir Bridge, just north of Tintern, also appears in multiple scenes. Browns General Store in Llandogo doubles as Brown’s Supermarket throughout the show (Visit Wales tourism authority).

Tintern and Llandogo details

Eric and Rahim’s arcade scene in season two was filmed at a leisure park in Symonds Yat West (White House on Wye blog). Eric’s family home appears at Old Farm House Mews in Llandogo, while Aimee’s house is the private Bigsweir House in Gloucestershire (Visit Dean & Wye Valley). Fairground scenes were shot in Vauxhall Fields, Rockfield Road, Monmouth.

Where Was Sex Education Filmed School?

The fictional Moordale Secondary School exists in the show as a sprawling campus complete with distinctive corridors and gymnasiums. In reality, the production team transformed the former University of South Wales Caerleon Campus in Newport into the school (Atlas of Wonders film location guide). The Caerleon Campus had been a satellite facility of the University of Wales, Newport until its closure in 2016, after which it was sold to a developer in 2019 for housing transformation (House Beautiful property report).

Moordale Secondary School site

By the time Sex Education began filming in 2019, the Caerleon Campus was an abandoned shell awaiting redevelopment—perfect timing for a production needing authentic educational architecture without disrupting active students. The campus’s brutalist 1970s design translated well to the fictional Moordale’s slightly worn aesthetic.

School interiors and exteriors

Unfortunately, the campus redevelopment means the school site is no longer available for visits or filming. Season 4’s narrative required students to transition from Moordale Secondary to Cavendish College, necessitating entirely new filming locations for the new school environment.

Where is Sex Education Set in UK?

While the show is set in the fictional English town of Moordale, every real-world location used falls within a tight cluster around the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean. The setting straddles the England-Wales border in a way that deliberately blurs national boundaries—something Visit Wales credits for the show’s international appeal.

Fictional Moordale mapping

The show never reveals exactly where Moordale sits geographically. Viewers infer it as somewhere remote in England, yet all exterior shots place it squarely in the Forest of Dean region of Gloucestershire and the Wye Valley of Herefordshire. The woodland cycling scenes between Otis and Eric were filmed in Bargain Woods, Whitestone (White House on Wye blog), while many forest sequences used Fedw Wood near Devauden in Monmouthshire.

Real UK regions used

The production spanned two countries and at least three counties: Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Monmouthshire. Season 4 expanded the geographic footprint somewhat, filming Wallace University scenes at Westonbirt School near Bristol and interior scenes at the Wills Memorial Building, Bristol University’s Gothic landmark from 1925 (Visit Dean & Wye Valley).

Visit Wales (Welsh tourism authority) on Sex Education’s location choices:

“The show has been described as mid-Atlantic in tone and look, so it’s no wonder these locations were chosen as the sweeping backdrops.”

Sex Education House Location

Beyond Otis’s chalet, several other character homes appear throughout the series. Maeve Wiley’s caravan home is located at a private caravan park near Ross-on-Wye—reportedly a site historically used by fruit pickers during seasonal harvests (White House on Wye blog). This location’s exact address remains private, and visitors should respect that the caravan park isn’t set up for tourism.

Houses available on Airbnb

The Milburn House chalet at Symonds Yat East is the sole Sex Education filming location confirmed to operate as accommodation. It functions as a luxury self-catering property and working bed and breakfast, accepting bookings through standard accommodation platforms. This is the one location where fans can legitimately sleep in show history.

Properties for sale

No confirmed Sex Education filming locations are currently on the market as of this writing. The Caerleon Campus site was sold in 2019 for residential development, meaning that portion of Moordale Secondary School will eventually become housing—but at this stage, that’s general redevelopment rather than fan-accessible real estate.

Visit Dean & Wye Valley (regional tourism authority):

“The distinctive red and white house below is Otis and Jean’s home in the show. The house is next to the River Wye at Symonds Yat East in Herefordshire, and its stunning views make it one of the most photographed locations from the series.”

Sex Education Filming Locations for Season 4

The final season brought narrative changes that required new filming locations. When Moordale Secondary closed within the story, students transferred to Cavendish College—and the production team found a ready-made exterior at St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff (Timeout entertainment coverage). The museum’s historic buildings provided the perfect period-appropriate setting for the show’s new educational institution.

Wallace University—where Maeve pursues her writing career—required different locations. Exterior scenes were filmed at Westonbirt School near Bristol, while interior scenes used the Wills Memorial Building at Bristol University (Visit Dean & Wye Valley). The Gothic architecture, with its dark wood bookshelves, vaulted ceilings, and magnificent Great Hall built in 1925, provided the academic gravitas the production needed.

The Wye Valley remains the primary anchor throughout all four seasons, with 2019–2023 marking the production’s filming years across the region. The area’s mix of riverside villages, historic bridges, and protected woodland delivered the blend of intimacy and adventure that defines the show’s visual identity.

The implication for visitors is clear: you can walk most of the show’s iconic locations in a single day trip from Hereford or Gloucester, following riverside paths and country lanes that haven’t changed much since cameras rolled. Respect private property boundaries, book accommodation well in advance for the chalet experience, and focus on the public landmarks—the bridges at Tintern and Brockweir, the village green at Llandogo, the riverside paths at Symonds Yat—that genuinely welcome the curious.

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