A visit to Lacock was not on my England itinerary. London was the only place that I put on the itinerary. I reasoned that because it was my first time there, I wanted to seize London as much as possible in the two short weeks there.
As luck would have it, I got to spend a short afternoon in Lacock. Lacock is a village in Wiltshire, England, located less than an hour away from Stonehenge. I had only heard about it the day the tour guide announced that we’d be stopping in Lacock for lunch.
Our first stop in Lacock was The George Inn, a typical English pub (the oldest pub in Lacock) for traditional British food. I have said it before, and I’d repeat it, the food here exceeded all my expectations. It was one satisfying meal.
Lacock, I also learned from the tour guide, was where they filmed scenes from Harry Potter movies, including Harry’s house. Which I mistakenly assumed was 4 Privet Drive, Surrey – the Dursley’s house. Later I found out they meant the Potters’ (Harry’s parents) house. Alas, I spent some time walking around the village, trying to spot it before finally giving up.
Instead, I got a sneak peek of Lacock Abbey. It looked like Downton Abbey from far away, which later was clarified by the guide is not where they filmed Downton Abbey’s Abbey.
I spent my last minutes in and out of the shops. I got a Harry Potter house card for Jik and a miniature blue-door house with that reminded me of our yellow-door house back in Melbourne.
The not-in-the-itinerary visit to Lacock got me thinking about giving space to lesser-known places whenever I visit a new country. It brought me a different, albeit more beautiful, of England. I am sure it would feel the same in other pockets of the world too.
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