Carey Mulligan spent hours standing in a bath full of sheep droppings while filming 'Far From The Madding Crowd'.

The 29-year-old actress - who stars as farm owner Bathsheba Everdene in the film adaptation of the 1874 novel of the same name by Thomas Hardy - recalled a particular scene in the movie in which her character tries to impress love interest Gabriel Oak by wading in to a sheep bath.

Speaking at the London premiere of her new movie, Carey said: ''That was so much fun, although slightly disgusting by the end of the day. The sheep were doing their business in the water.

''The boys whinged constantly but they were wearing wetsuits under their costumes - I was wearing no wetsuit, so I was basically swimming in sheep s*** all day, which was a joy.''

In the film, Carey's character is torn between romances with three men, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen and Tom Sturridge, and the actress said she loved working with her talented co-stars.

She said: ''It was fun, it was great. They're such good characters, so different, and we got such brilliant casting, so I felt like every day I had a different treat to get to act with these three brilliant actors.''