Geeks galore, expensive baths and vintage shopping
- Esmee
- 2 mei 2019
- 5 minuten om te lezen
Bijgewerkt op: 30 jul 2019
Last weekend might have been my favourite one so far. Me and my classmate (from the NHL) Esther went away for the weekend. The plan was: Bath on Saturday, with a little detour to Lacock to see some very exciting filming locations and Bristol on Sunday.
I took the train from Brighton to Southampton on Friday afternoon to have dinner and spend the night at Esther’s host family in Andover as this would be the easiest way to make use of our time this weekend.
We were on the road to our first stop: Lacock. It’s not difficult to find Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter in Lacock. You just have to know where to look. I knew about the Abbey and it’s beautiful corridors that were used to film the Hogwarts corridors but we were pleasantly surprised.
After parking the car, we made our way to the 800-year-old Lacock Abbey. Once a medieval nunnery, its beautiful cloisters are some of the finest in the country. They also, rather excitingly, feature prominently in the new Fantastic Beasts film, The Crimes of Grindelwald.
In one of the adjacent cloister rooms, you discover the room where Harry looked into the Mirror of Erised and Professor Quirrell’s classroom from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
You can recognise these same rooms in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. They were filming at the Abbey for two weeks. In the film, there are several scenes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and you should be able to spot the familiar rooms and cloisters of Lacock Abbey, which stands in for many of the interior shots, most memorably in the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson and when Jude Law as the young Professor Dumbledore looks into the Mirror of Erised.
The medieval village of Lacock in Wiltshire, with its timber-framed cottages and stunning abbey, has to be one of the prettiest villages I’ve seen so far in England. The beautifully preserved stone cottages look like they belong in another age. There are no television aerials or overhead cables to spoil its old world look.
As you walk around, some of the streets and houses might start looking a bit familiar. The village has been used as the setting for numerous scenes from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts as well.
The village dates from the 13th century and was once the centre of the medieval wool trade. The 15th-century wool merchant’s house is now an inn called Sign of the Angel, which stood in for the Babberton Arms in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Next to the old church, quite hidden, is a small house. Not just an ordinary small house but one with great significance in the Harry potter movies. Can you guess whose house it is?
And the last one, a beautiful, tad more modern house than the rest of the houses in Lacock. Can you guess in which of the movies it was used?
But you won’t just find Harry Potter in Lacock. You’ll see beautiful timber-framed cottages everywhere you look. It’s a delight to just walk around, even if you’re not a fan of the Harry Potter movies (in which case I’m silently judging).
Bath
After geeking out over the filming locations, we continued our journey to Bath.
“Bath is famous for the Roman baths, hence its name. We were planning on going in to see them, however, the queue was enormous and the entrance fee expensive, so we decided to see other things (read: have cream tea and burgers)”. – Esther Dijkhuizen
Even though we didn’t go into the building, here’s the story behind it and some of its history: ‘Using the hot mineral water that rose through the limestone beneath the city, channelled through lead pipes, the Romans created a series of chambers including the baths, ancient heated rooms and plunge pools. The baths were a huge draw and people travelled across the country to bathe in the waters and worship at the religious temple. After the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the early 5th century, the baths were neglected and fell into disrepair, before being destroyed by flooding.
In the 17th-century, doctors began to prescribe the drinking of the thermal waters for internal conditions and illnesses. The first Pump Room opened in 1706, allowing patients to access water directly from the spring – it’s now a beautiful restaurant!
The baths, and the accompanying museum which houses artefacts from the Roman period, attracts over one million visitors a year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in England.
The weather was a lot nicer than initially predicted so we had a nice walk around the city and had cream tea at a really cute and small Alice in wonderland themed tea place.
But Bath certainly isn’t just a Bristol accessory, it’s very much a jewel in its own crown – in fact it’s amazing just how close and how different the 2 cities are.
Bath is much smaller, and the centre more easily explored on foot in a shorter amount of time than Bristol. This makes a quick excursion to Bath really manageable. In fact, Bath is one of the best day trips from London.
If you’re looking to see more of England outside of the capital, then I can highly recommend Bath which combines all the necessary factors of history, heritage, finesse and countryside charm.
head to the Bath Weir for some iconic photos of the Pulteney Bridge
Bristol If is that’s old-school, quaint and classic English vibe you’re looking for, then I definitely recommend heading to the Bristol Cathedral, which is over 1000 years. Free to enter, this ornate building is quite astounding and taking a wander inside really is worth it.
Outside you can admire the lovely College Green area (a great picnic spot btw) , as well as marvel at the other very prestige buildings around, including some rather special unicorns! This part of town definitely feels very Oxford / Cambridge to me, so if that’s your thing, this is the place to head!
On the completely opposite side of the spectrum seeing some of the city’s famous street art is another of the best free things to do in Bristol.
Offering a strong level of social commentary, Bristol’s street art is generally found on buildings that are slightly less glamorous than the Cathedral.
One of the most famous pieces can be seen on the side of an ex-sexual health clinic on Frogmore Street for example. Titled Well Hung Lover, this piece was created by the very famous Bristol-born artist, Banksy.
There’s some more great examples of Bristol’s Street art along Nelson Street too. Most of these are huge pieces taking up the whole sides of buildings, which makes them quite the logistical, as well as artistic feat.
If you’re into vintage shopping like Esther and I, I suggest you visit the heart of Bristol with a generously filled purse. There are many different vintage shops that sell a wide range of quirky outfits to all different kinds of accessories.
Fun story: while trying something on in one of the shops, Esther and I were chatting away (in Dutch) and we heard ‘Oh zijn jullie ook Nederlands?’ (Are you Dutch as well?), so I popped my head out of the changing room looking at one of the staff members of the store. We started chatting with him and he told us that he moved from – wait for it – Groningen (!) to Bristol in ’96. Small world it is. So fellow Dutchies, visit Beyond Retro when you’re in Bristol!
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