Hidden Gem

HARRY POTTER LIVED HERE:BACK IN THE 11TH century, when the Domesday Book recorded it as belonging to Edward of Salisbury, son of one of William the Conqueror's knights, the English village of Lacock was bounded to the south by the royal hunting forest of Melksham.

Drop into King John’s Hunting Lodge, on Church Street, and the owner of this BB and tea room will tell you that it was likely a resting place for the king after his hunting trips.

“I rather doubt it,” says the local historian I am with, shuddering at what he perceives as the use of a royal name to promote the business, as we walk past the Carpenters Arms pub, a 16th-century free house whose claims to authenticity appear more rooted in documented history.

And therein lie both the appeal and the conundrum of Lacock: the vast majority of the buildings on its four streets – Church, East, High and West – are owned by the National Trust. Yet unlike some other NT properties, the village is not a still life.

That said, there is no such thing as a yellow line in the centre of Lacock, and if you look at the roofs or the frontages of the houses you might notice something very unusual indeed: no TV aerials or satellite dishes.

So what makes Lacock tick, then? It’s incorrectly perceived as something of a museum piece, the spot for a Sunday-afternoon stroll for the twinset-and-pearls brigade. Or perhaps it’s just a movie set for scenes in the Harry Potter films – it was, among other things, the site of Potter’s childhood home.

Curiously, anyone I’ve mentioned Lacock to has never heard of it. Perhaps this hidden gem doesn’t exist, then. Yes, that must be it.

nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-lacockabbeyvillage

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