Bridgerton fans have eagerly awaited Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha) coming to the cottage in Season 4. Now, they finally get to behold Benedict’s previously unseen country estate of My Cottage up close and personal in Episode 2. 

Readers of Julia Quinn’s books know the visit to My Cottage is a pivotal moment for this season’s central couple. “It’s one of those sequences in the novel that I feel is so closely followed and replicated in the series,” Thompson said on the red carpet at the Bridgerton Season 4 Premiere Masquerade in Paris.

The stars compared filming the My Cottage episode to making a short film, spending two weeks at Loseley Park in England. “It was just us two and then the housekeepers,” Thompson said, referring to new characters Mr. and Mrs. Crabtree (Billy Boyle and Susan Brown). “It was magical, and [Yerin and I] were just getting to know each other as actors as well as the characters.” 

The duo end up at My Cottage after Benedict intervenes in a scuffle at Cavender House, which leads to Sophie’s firing. Benedict whisks her away to the cottage, where he goes to recuperate from his injuries. With Benedict bedridden and feverish, Sophie must care for him, which breaks down barriers and allows them to see each other’s truest selves — and their chemistry soars. They bask in the childlike innocence of flying a kite, and Sophie tries (and fails) to avert her gaze from Benedict swimming — sans clothes — in a nearby lake. Mind you, dearest gentle reader, the lake where Sophie sees Benedict is the very same one Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) emerged from in a soaked-through white shirt the Sharma sisters couldn’t ignore in Season 2. 

Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson Talk Bridgerton Chemistry and Filming ‘My Cottage’

While Thompson revealed “the lake was freezing,” Ha said “the result of [the scene] is steamy.” Indeed, as soon as Benedict puts his britches back on, he and Sophie can’t help but steal a kiss before returning to My Cottage. Showrunner Jess Brownell anticipates that fans might need to take a dip themselves after watching Benedict and Sophie’s steamy lakeside moment unfold. “I hope people are feeling a little sweaty, like they might need to go for a swim and cool down. Even though that lake was cold, it gets hot!” Brownell said.

Executive producer Tom Verica directed the episode featuring the significant cottage and is excited for fans to see “some sparks that happen there.” The setting, he explained, allows both fans and the characters to take a real look at the relationship and find two people falling in love for the first time.

PHOTO BY LIAM DANIEL

“That’s the thing,” he said. “When you get down to just two people without all the pomp and circumstance of being distracted by the ton and everything, [it’s about] how they’re coping, dealing with one another, and having to navigate that spark they have.” But as Benedict recovers, both he and Sophie know their cottage escape is fleeting — the pressures of society and class difference loom ever larger as their feelings grow.

(Re)watch Benedict and Sophie’s memorable time at My Cottage in Bridgerton Season 4— including its very special (and surprise) appearance at the very end of Episode 8. 

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