At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic last December, I was unable to organise a birthday party due to health-related concerns. So in the manner of a true introvert, I signed up for LSE’s exclusive tour to Lacock Abbey for General Course students. The possibility of discovering new places while getting away from busy London for a day was very exciting!

I woke up early in the morning to catch the bus. I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of Lacock Abbey, having learnt that one of my favourite TV shows, Downtown Abbey, was filmed there. When I walked inside the building, the surroundings seemed very familiar to me for a strange reason. After a couple of walks around, we found out that the old hallways we were walking through were where the first scenes of Harry Potter were filmed. At this moment, in a true Gen Z fashion, I was too busy revisualizing scenes of the famous franchise in my head to learn anything about the history of the small estate!

There was also a beautiful farm outside the manor with a lot of cows and sheep. We were also able to visit a well-preserved 14th-century barn that was used to store grain. We also learnt that the tenants did not pay rent in money. Instead, they opted to give the abbey a proportion of their crops.

I was also able to walk around the town with a couple of other people. At the end of the village, we were able to see the house of Harry Potter’s parents from the films. It seemed a bit older and rustier than I remembered from the movie. We then visited a small old shop that sold both antiques and postcards of Downtown Abbey and Pride and Prejudice, which also previously filmed here (the Colin Firth version, not the Keira Knightley version). We also dropped by a local Christmas market where handmade soap and scented candlers were being sold. It took me a long time to get away from the candy section! Towards the end of my visit to the village, I even stopped by a pastry shop that had amazing apple pies. Although there was a little traffic on the way home, I had a blast seeing more of the English countryside and making new connections on the trip.