So this is the post I was so damn excited about writing last weekend :D On Saturday 15th October I went to Lacock to visit the village and the abbey (it is part of the National Trust, so hehe). Main reason besides doing something cultural, exploring and getting out of London is, of course, film locations. More specifically for Downton Abbey, Pride and Prejudice and yes, Harry Potter. Yes, I'm at it... Again...
I went with one of my friends who just wanted to get away from London and is a Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter fan as well :)
We planned this weekend back in September, booked our tickets back in September. It is only about an hour and 20min train ride to Chippenham from London Paddington, so we planned to arrive in Chippenham around 9.50am so we could catch the 10.05am bus to Lacock. Well, that was more of an challenge than first expected. All the time tables said there would be a bus leaving from the bus station, turned out that the bus station isn't infront of the train station, but is about a 10min walk. We've asked people to show us the way, where to go, when a bus would leave, etc. When we finally found the station we needed, the X34, our bus, just left... Another look at the time tables showed that another bus would leave in approx 20min. Not too bad, lets wait. Half hour went by and still no bus... Turned out, we looked at the Monday to Friday time table and not the weekend time table. Next bus would leave at 11.05am... So we lost a good hour. Thank god the weather was nice and we've had a good chat, so the waiting wasn't too bad.
Anyway, by 11.30 we finally arrived in Lacock. First thing on the agenda: food. Besides a coffee, I hadn't had any breakfast yet! We first wanted to go to the little National Trust cafe, but they didn't have any breakfast menus, so we then tried another little cafe, well tea room, at the King Johns hunting lodge. Breakfast was delicious and I had a Jane Austen tea (yum!). Apparently they hadn't had someone who was so excited for a tea... x)
By 1pm our bellies were enough satisfied and started the 'tour' through the village.
Lacock is only 4 streets big. Literally. But oooh man, the number of films and series that were filmed here. A dream for a movie geek like me! Especially costume dramas like Downton Abbey and Pride and Prejudice. But also Robin Hood, Cramford, etc. A bit more fantasy would be, yes, Harry Potter! I found this really cool map online of all the film locations of Harry Potter in Lacock.
So we did a tour combining all the film locations of Harry Potter (Godric's Hollow and Budleigh Babberton, Downton Abbey (Downton) and Pride and Prejudice (Meryton - 1995)
Within an hour and a half I had taken all the photos that I wanted in the village and then it was time to visit the Abbey. As National Trust members, we were able to walk through and marvel at the stunning building that was built somewhere in the 12th century (I believe).
But it would be just an abbey if they didn't shoot any films there! Three guesses... Yes, Harry Potter. It served as Hogwarts in the first 2 Harry Potter films :) The Mirror of Erised, first potions class and the Defence Against the Dark Arts class were filmed here.
The 11 year old in me is yet again satisfied x)
The abbey was much bigger than we expected, so we ended up walking around for a good hour and a half. Did a tour around the abbey and then made our way back to the village. We absolutely couldn't miss our bus back to Chippenham, as that would mean we would miss our train back to London. Something we definitely wanted to avoid :)
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| We had brunch in the garden of this tearoom |
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| Village life |
Around 19.30 we arrived back in London Paddington and I made my way to Waterloo station to go to a birthday party nearby. It was passed 12 when I made my way home, but hurray for 24hour busses around the corner x)
Sunday was spend indoors on Pinterest, putting together my imaginary apartment :) And then Monday happened again. Work work work. Counting down to the weekend again.
And that is it for this weeks update. Probably one of my favourite days of 2016 ^^
Thanks for reading!
xo - Sara
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