The Manderley of Daphne du Maurier's imagination was also a composite based on two real places, Menabilly in Cornwall and Milton Hall in Cambridgeshire. ​Although Cornwall is never mentioned in the novel, the Hitchcock film has the house set there and the county played an important role in du Maurier's works, including Jamaica Inn and Frenchman's Creek. Born in London in 1907, Daphne du Maurier regularly came to Cornwall on holiday as a child. But it was in 1926, when her family purchased a holiday home at Bodinnick that she really began her lifelong love affair with the county. 

During her many visits to Cornwall, du Maurier became obsessed with an abandoned house to the west of Fowey, called Menabilly. Like Manderley, Menabilly was a large secluded estate by the sea with a long, winding drive. Although the grounds were overgrown, du Maurier loved to walk through the thick woods and towering rhododendrons.

The house had belonged to the Rashleigh family since the 16th Century and although it was in a state of disrepair, du Maurier eventually convinced the owners to lease it to her. She moved in with her young family and set about fixing it up herself. They lived there from 1943 to 1967, when the new Rashleigh heir decided to move in. After relinquishing Menabilly, du Maurier rented another house on the estate, Kilmarth, where she lived until her death in 1989. 
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Du Maurier said that the interior of Manderley was based on Milton Hall in Cambridgeshire, the home of the Fitzwilliam family. She had visited the house as a child with her mother and her experiences of the daily routines of a big country house would later help her to create the inner workings of Manderley. It was perhaps here that she first experienced the laying of the tea table with a 'snowy cloth' at precisely half past four. Or where she learned that certain rooms were only used at certain times of the day. 
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A Cornish summer can be a heady experience and it's easy to imagine nature taking over here as it does in the end with Manderley. With its rugged coastline and untamed beauty, Cornwall provided the perfect backdrop for Rebecca, but du Maurier didn't actually write the novel while living here. In 1936, she followed her army major husband to Egypt. She saw her time there as a sort of exile and her longing for home and for Cornwall helped to inspire the first pages of the novel. 

Although the author's former homes are privately owned, there are two holiday cottages on the Menabilly estate (these are often booked up years in advance!). And there are  other du Maurier sites to explore such as Polridmouth Cove, which is known locally as Rebecca Beach and where you can catch a glimpse of the elusive grounds of Menabilly. The charming town of Fowey prides itself on its links to the author and hosts an annual literary festival in her honour. For more information on Daphne du Maurier's life and works visit  dumaurier.org.