Castle Combe
It’s 3 o’clock in the morning when the alarm goes off. Time for our first weekend adventure! Off to explore and snap two little towns: Castle Combe and Lacock. We need to be there by sunrise, which is at 4:50 AM. On our way there my husband comments that it looks a bit misty and, although there isn’t much sun when we arrive in Castle Combe, the whole look and feel of the little streets with their beautiful old cottages still makes it all worthwhile. We are the only people around so early on a Saturday morning (except for the milkman delivering glass bottles of milk in front of all the small, colourful doors).
When you read about a location that has regularly been featured in films, wouldn’t you want to see what all the fuss is about?
Well, Castle Combe is one of those places, recently featured in the American horror film The Wolfman; the romantic adventure fantasy film Stardust; and Stephen Spielberg’s War Horse. The village was also a location for the 1967 film musical Doctor Doolittle, among many others.
The edge of the village features a motor racing venue, on the site of the former RAF Castle Combe airfield. Drivers have the opportunity to test out different vehicles or drive their own around the circuit.
The empty streets and the sun’s first rays so early in the morning form the perfect scene for taking photos. It seems that the locals are getting a bit annoyed with travelers seeking to take photos and walking everywhere, so they put up a lot of private signs, but if the mere detailing of the milkman did not do it for you, please look through the photos below and you will get the feeling that we were taking a trip back through time. Castle Combe is an absolutely beautiful little village.
Lacock
Lacock village, with its central grid of four streets, looks much like it did 200 years ago. Lacock Abbey was founded in 1229 by Ela, Countess of Salisbury. Ela laid the abbey’s first stone in Snail’s Meadow, near the village of Lacock on 16 April 1232.
It is a quintessential English village with streets lined with timber-framed cottages and local shops.
The Village and the famous Abbey are instantly recognizable from a variety of film productions, including Harry Potter, where the Lacock Abbey and interiors were used as the interiors of Hogwarts School for a number of scenes. More recently, it has also been used in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Our biggest problem now, is that it’s still too early for any shops or restaurants to be open, so while we craved coffee and cake we were about two hours too early. We ended up criss-crossing the streets taking photos before leaving.
We will have to visit again for the tea room and the famous Abbey that only opens at 10 in the morning.
Travel Snaps and (Gluten Free) Snacks 