Lady Anne Russell goes to Lacock
In this month’s Musings our roving reporter, Lady Anne Russell, shares the highlights of a winter season spent in the uplifting company of Strictly Jane Austen Tours’ esteemed guests.
“My idea of good company, Mr Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company,” Persuasion
October, the formal start of Georgian Bath’s Winter Season, began with when a large number of guests from all over the world, including America, Germany, France and different parts of the UK, arrived en masse for a splendid celebration emanating from The Gainsborough Bath Spa Hotel. There were walks, illustrated talks, fascinating ‘Meet the Writer’ interviews, embroidery and dance workshops; dedicated visits to Chawton and Winchester, as well as an entertaining number of early-evening question and answer ‘Meet the Guides’ sessions. And – of course! – the final farewell, super-memorable, Celebratory Dinner.
There were so many highlights – too numerous to detail – but one which especially stood out was a relaxed half-day trip to picturesque Lacock. A driver, a couple of guides and two lady hosts in charge of a coach, predominantly full of costumed ladies with three or four brave attendant gentleman, one of whom turned out to be a knowledgeable Janeite scholar.
Lacock is a beautifully preserved village of Medieval and Georgian properties and the hugely impressive Lacock Abbey. Both have been owned and maintained by the National Trust since 1942 and are far more intriguing and interesting than such a tiny quadrangle of streets might at first suggest. While the village has no direct Jane Austen links, the streets and houses appear oddly familiar, which is not surprising since – with satellite dishes/television aerials/cars/yellow lines kept to a minimum – it is beloved of film makers and has played host to numerous Georgian/Regency/Tudor and modern day adaptations.
In my capacity as ‘Roving Reporter,’ I was hiding near the front of the coach so I had a first-hand opportunity to witness the comedy commentary (not, I think, intentional) between the two guides with very different – but equally valid – styles. One offered an excellent summary of Lacock Abbey’s origins as a religious foundation, concentrating on the fascinating personal history of the first, indefatigable, thirteenth-century Abbess: Ela, Countess of Salisbury. The other focussed on the – almost intact – fifteenth-century cloisters (a rare example in the UK and Europe), before commenting on the eighteenth and nineteenth-century Gothicising additions including its reinvention as a family home and, under William Henry Fox Talbot’s tenure, the birthplace of modern photography. The guide also provided brief information on the still-beautiful park, the water gardens and architectural features which once defined it. One or two of these still survive today.
Both guides then – microphone passing to and fro – introduced Lacock film locations and suggested different options. Guests were invited to join one or other of their two different 30/40(ish) minute walks around the village in accordance with their areas of interest. Both tours would include film references and conclude with a choice of appealing refreshments, be it a big, honest breakfast, a good pub lunch, a tasty snack in an attractive/barn/café/deli/chocolate shop, or even fine dining in an historic hostelry. Everyone would also, they said, have the chance to peel off should they spot something irresistible in the silver shop, or in one of the many attractive doorstep and garden-wall pop-ups which lined the streets.
“We enjoyed you trying to outdo each other!” Gentleman Janeite remarked to ‘Ela the Abbess Guide’. “Did you two script all this?”
“Good Lord no!,” ‘Architectural Guide’, put in. “I am glad that you liked it; none of us really script; we seem to interact/spark each other off. Our main aim is to give everyone a clear idea of what we can do here. There’s there a surprising amount to see in this tiny place.”
And so it proved….
Once divided into two groups – each guide taking a different direction – there were squeals of delight and a volley of exclamations from our guests as we rounded the corner from the visitor car park – a panoramic view of Lacock Abbey and grounds on our right – and caught sight of the (uncharacteristic for Lacock) red brick façade of the Red Lion:
“That’s the Meryton Assembly Room and the site of Lizzie and Darcy’s first meeting from the Andrew Davies version of Pride & Prejudice,” exclaimed one. “Don’t even think of the wet shirt!”
Surreptitious sniggers all round….
“No, no, don’t be so silly, it’s Johnson’s Department Store from Cranford,” replied another.
“You’re both wrong,” put in a third. “The High Street is the site of the livestock market, complete with sheep, pigs and a long-horned bull, from Downton Abbey and the pub is at the far end!”
“I think that you’re all horribly confused,” interjected yet another. “In Cranford the National Trust shop stood in for the cobbler’s and furniture makers. The present day post office and deli are opposite.”
All were then contradicted by a Harry Potter fan who insisted, “None of you know what you’re talking about! I know my Harry Potter and I can stake my life on the fact that the market cross Dumbledore and Harry stood under in The Half-Blood Prince is just at the end of the street.”
Well, all of the visitor statements were accurate – and the Red Lion has displays of photos to prove it, as does the oldest pub in Lacock, The George on West Street. (This establishment boasts a rare, spit-turning Dog Wheel – a must see!) The Red Lion’s exterior became Meryton’s Assembly Rooms – the Ball scenes being filmed part in a nearby barn and part on set – while the Cranford film-makers constructed a whole false façade in front of the red-brick front, allowing all regulars to still enjoy their local.
Space doesn’t allow me to detail all of Lacock’s filming associations here, but further enlightenment can be found in the excellent book, National Trust on Screen (Harvey Edgington & Lauren Taylor, 2024) which describes the unprecedented and complex April 2007 preparations to return Lacock to the 1840s (then reverse the process), and documents the Harry Potter, The Other Boleyn Girl, Wolf Hall and other shoots at Lacock Abbey. I strongly advise would-be visitors to read the National Trust’s Lacock, A Souvenir Guide before they arrive as its historical summaries, lovely photographs and clear maps will greatly enhance their understanding and experience of this stunning building.
One enterprising and energetic pair somehow managed to sample both contrasting walks, as well as go shopping, read the books, minutely examine the Abbey Shop and indulge in some fine-dining at The (venerable) Sign of The Angel, where they remarked on its rare Horse Passage which allowed horses to be stabled, without disruption, at the rear of the inn. I finally caught up with them at The Red Lion, just before we all got back on the coach, where they were cheerfully quaffing champagne…. I take my bonnet off to them! They sure knew how to enjoy themselves!
