Balcombe farm house
Arthur Dent’s house
The opening scene in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy television series showed Arthur Dent’s house about to be demolished for a bypass.
This farmhouse was used for the exterior shots of that scene. The house is on a farm just outside Balcombe, 11.5 kms south of Gatwick Airport.
The television series was released by the BBC in 1981, but the farmhouse still looks unchanged in 2019.
360°x180° Spherical Panorama
The interior of the house was also used for Arthur’s bathroom, where he looks out the window to see a bulldozer approaching his house.
The road just outside the property was also used for the scene where Arthur and Ford run back to his house from The Red Lion pub.
The farmhouse is not easy to get to. The winding road from Balcombe is very narrow—most of it is only wide enough for one car, even though it carries traffic in both directions. The bypass never did get built!