Lacock

I have to admit that we did choose where to visit somewhat at random from the guide book as we headed down the motorway, but as soon as we got there we were certainly happy with the choice we'd made.

The Abbey itself is now a country house that was originally a medieval abbey and was the home of William Henry Fox Talbot, the pioneer of photography. One of the things that the Abbey is best known for nowadays is as part of the film set for two of the Harry Potter films. Photos of the cloisters when used in the film certainly look recognisable, but I was a tad confused by the fact that the tops of the windows did look slightly different. A trick of computers, or actually another location? I'm not sure.

Unfortunately the weather was such that we ducked out of visiting the gardens, but we did talk a walk around Lacock village which is a delight in itself. The village dates back to the 13th Century and has remained largely unchanged since then. Hence it's no surprise to find out that the National Trust also owns the village. 

Several of the streets look very familiar and when you hear that Lacock is regularly used as a set of costume drama it's certainly makes sense. One of the most obvious things being the lack of electricity lines anywhere. The village has previously appeared in the BBC adaptations of Pride And Prejudice and Cranford. Certainly if the modern cars were removed you could certainly picture yourself in the past.

As I went through the village there was one particular thing that caught my eye though. I spotted the following sign over the entrance of the village hall and had to smile at the fantastic language that it uses.