Wessex Guided Tours

A Wiltshire village has been named as Europe’s top up-and-coming destination by a tourism website.

TripAdvisor UK says interest in Lacock, near Chippenham, has increased more than any other European hotspot over the past 12 months.

A spokesperson for the website, which offers holiday and hotel reviews, said:

“The use of the village as a film set over the last few years may partly explain its significant soar in popularity.”

I’d put it down to the fact that the UK is better value than it used to be. Margaret Barley, Veitchly House B&B

Films and TV dramas including Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders, Emma, Cranford and Harry Potter have all been shot in Lacock.

“There has been a huge increase in the interest in Lacock,” added Alan Williams from Visit Wiltshire.

“It’s probably linked to the films that have been shot there, as well as the Abbey and the village.

“Certainly we’ve seen a lot more people coming to Wiltshire over the last year or so and we did really well out of the ‘Staycation’.

Margaret Barley, who runs Veitchly House B&B near Lacock, said it could be more than just the films that are sparking interest in their village.

She said: “I think I’m right in saying that Lacock is in the Lonely Planet Guide to Europe, and I suspect it’s because of the proximity to Bath, and there’s the issue of the exchange rate.

Harry Potter Films
The National Trust property featured in the first two Potter movies and since they were released Lacock Abbey has been on the must-see lists of tourists from all over the world.

BBC Wiltshire joined the visitors to take a look around as they attempted to match the reality with the fictional locations.

Take a look through the BBC’s gallery of images and see what you recognise from Hogwarts!

The fiction:

The Abbey’s cloisters and side rooms were transformed into the classrooms at Hogwarts School while the location was also used for Harry’s discovery of the Mirror of Erised.

The reality:

The Abbey was founded in 1232 and comprises: cloisters, sacristy, chapter house and monastic rooms, courtyard, brewery and bakehouse.

• Abbey converted into a country house c.1540

• Grounds feature a Victorian woodland garden with an 18th-century summer house, rose garden, botanic garden and ha-ha.

• William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–77), inventor of the negative/positive photographic process once a resident at Lacock Abbey.

• Nearby Lacock village used to film Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders and Emma.

We have been offering guided tours of Lacock Abbey / Village and the Cotswolds for 20 years.  Our private sightseeing tours can depart from London, Bath or Salisbury
Cotswolds Tour Guide
HisTOURies UK – The Best Tours in History