Lacock
The Village of Lacock in Wiltshire
Lacock is a village owned almost entirely by The National Trust, a UK charity that operates and cares for many of the country’s historical homes and gardens. It is a unique place to visit because apart from the cars parked outside old stone houses, it looks very much as it did 200 years ago. Because it is so untouched by time, it is often used as a filming location, along with nearby Lacock Abbey. If you’ve ever watched Cranford, Harry Potter, Downton Abbey, or Pride and Prejudice, you’ve caught a glimpse of Lacock. Almost all that’s required to take you back in time is to change a few storefronts and cover the street with dirt and mud.
You can see these Tudor houses in the background of the BBC’s 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. In that film, Lacock stands in for the village of Meryton. The horses deliver Mr. Bingley and his stuck-up sisters outside these buildings for the Meryton Assembly, and Elizabeth and her sisters first meet Mr. Wickham on these streets. Pick up a map from the National Trust shop of all the filming locations in the area, and you can have a lovely day out seeing the village, as well as touring the abbey and walking around the abbey grounds.