The ancient, sleepy village of Lacock is beautifully preserved in the Wiltshire countryside and a visit here feels like taking a step back in time. The village is managed by the National Trust and is a popular place for film & tv teams to record because of its brilliantly higgledy piggledy, historic feel. The most famous and probably the most popular series with scenes shot here is Harry Potter. Take a walk around the village and visit the Abbey to find plenty of locations you’ll undoubtedly recognise!
1. Lacock Abbey Cloisters
One of the most used locations in Lacock for filming Harry Potter scenes is Lacock Abbey. Whilst you do have to pay for entry (£16.50 with Gift Aid on my visit but check most up to date here) you will be treated to plenty of Harry Potter locations within the Abbey ruins as well as lovely gardens to stroll through and the fascinating country home of William Henry Fox Talbot (inventor of the photographic negative) to explore.
When you arrive at the Abbey Ruins, the first thing you’ll notice are the magical cloisters. As you walk along you can feel yourself walking through the corridors of Hogwarts! There were plenty of different Hogwarts corridor scenes filmed here as the students and professors walked between classes. Most notably, Lacock Abbey was used for filming in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New College in Oxford, Durham Cathedral & Gloucester Cathedral have all been used for filming Hogwarts corridors as well.
More recently the cloisters have featured in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
2. Lacock Abbey – Chapter House
The Chapter House room in Lacock Abbey has been used in two different Harry Potter films. Here Harry discovers the enchanted Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and later on in the Chamber of Secrets it is used to film a scene where the students are revising!
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3. Lacock Abbey – Warming Room
The Warming Room is easy to find as it has a great big cauldron in the middle of it! It’s not a prop from the set but has actually been in the Abbey for many hundreds of years. This room was used to film Quirrel’s classroom for his Defence Against the Dark Arts Class in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
4. Lacock Abbey – The Sacristy
The last spot from Lacock Abbey used in Harry Potter filming is The Sacristy which was used as Snape’s Potions classroom in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
As the cloisters, many of the Lacock Abbey rooms were used for filming Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald so if you’ve seen the film, how many of the rooms do you recognise?
5. Lily & James Potter’s House
You might recognise the lovely grey bricked home at the end of Church Street as Harry’s parents house from the first Harry Potter movie. Whilst the cottage door has changed colour, this house is the one that was used in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in flashbacks to Harry’s childhood when Hagrid shares with Harry the story of his parents.
6. Sign of the Angel
As Harry & Dumbledore walk through the streets of Budleigh Babberton in the dark, you’ll notice a pub called the Babberton Arms which is actually the beautiful timber framed structure of the Sign of the Angel pub in the village.
7. Horace Slughorn’s Hideaway
This brilliant house can be found on Church Hill and is where Horace Slughorn is hiding in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. As Dumbledore seeks to bring Slughorn back as a Hogwarts teacher, you’ll see this home is the actual exterior of the Muggle home that Slughorn is trying to conceal himself away from the Death Eaters in the village of Budleigh Babberton!
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Cat x
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