july // 2026
Shakespeare in the park — the London, Ontario Park: Much About Love filming locations
Much About Love
It started with 50 crew members and a closed restaurant. By the time the Hallmark Channel production Much About Love — previously titled Nothing But Love — wrapped its shoot in mid-May 2026, it had left its mark on some of London, Ontario's most distinctive addresses. A fairy-tale amusement park. A heritage building that used to be a hotel. A pub named after Chaucer. It's almost too on-brand for a modern Shakespeare adaptation.
The film is a retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, written by star Ashley Williams and her husband Neal Dodson. Williams plays a TV director who returns to her theatre roots for a Shakespeare festival and runs into an old flame — rekindling what Hallmark calls "a merry war of wits." Niall Matter plays opposite her. Filming took place from late April through mid-May 2026, entirely on location in London, Ontario.
Marienbad and Chaucer's Pub
Marienbad — the European fine dining restaurant at 122 Carling Street that has been a London institution since 1974 — was currently closed for heating system repairs when the crew arrived. That made it available. And it's a remarkable building: a City of London Heritage Designated Property dating back to 1854, originally the home of the London Free Press, then the Queen's Hotel from 1871 to 1920. The production team transformed it into Ye Olde King's Tavern for the film.
A Shakespeare-themed Hallmark movie filming in a European restaurant next to a pub named after the father of English literature, in a building that once housed the Queen's Hotel. The location shout did a very good job!
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Storybook Gardens, Springbank Park
On the western edge of the city, where the Thames River bends through London's largest park, sits Storybook Gardens — a nursery rhyme-themed amusement park complete with a pirate playground, a Ferris wheel, a summer splash pad, an enchanted garden, a magical castle, and statues of Mother Goose, Pinocchio, and Humpty Dumpty scattered throughout the grounds. Destination Ontario describes a visit as "like walking into a fairy tale." The production used it as the Summer Shakespeare Festival venue.
Covent Garden Market
London's Covent Garden Market in the downtown core also appears in the film. Established in 1845, the Covent Garden Market located in Downtown London offers an abundance of food, services, a weekly local farmer’s market and an array of cultural festivals and events.
Other locations used are: Elsie Perrin Estate (the festival offices) and Grosvenor House (for costume shops).
Much About Love premieres on Hallmark Channel on Saturday, August 29.
SOURCE
London Free Press / EntertainmentNow / It's a Wonderful Movie / Tourism London / Destination Ontario / Marienbad.ca
CREDITS
© Hallmark, French Toast Films,, Muse Entertainment, No Rushing Pictures
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