From there we went to visit the village of Lacock and Lacock Abbey.

Lacock village is famous for its picturesque streets, historic buildings and more recently as a TV and film location. Scenes from two of the Harry Potter films were filmed in the Abbey and throughout the village.

The Abbey, is a quirky country house of various architectural styles, built on the foundations of a former nunnery. There are still the medieval cloisters on the ground floor, dating back to the 1300’s and on the first floor the more modern by comparison house with it’s odd rabbit warren collection of rooms weaving around the former nunnery.  Wealthy ladies used to stay at the nunnery when their husbands or fathers were away for long periods of time to preserve their chastity.

A notable owner of the Abbey was William Henry Fox Talbot the inventor of photograpy.  There is a museum of cameras through the ages along with the story about William Fox Talbot.  There is also a photographic exhibition of Michael Palin’s travels taken by his friend and travelling companion Basil Pao.