Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum and Village

As I sat in the child switch area of a ride in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood, I looked at the movie playing on the TV screen and my heart skipped a beat. As Severus Snape talked with the student trio in his classroom, I immediately recognized the ceiling as a location I had stood in a couple months ago.

Right before we left for England and long after our itinerary was set we happened upon something awesome, a real triple-threat: a 13th century abbey preowned by a man named Henry Fox (what?!) Talbot, photography pioneer, aka the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

The first thing that drew us in was the irony of my husband’s profession that includes a hefty dose of photography beginning with a man who is sometimes argued as the father of photography over Louis Daguerre (many say he was first but didn’t report it to the public) and my son’s name being Fox Henry (not named after Talbot). It wasn’t too far off the beaten path so we added it into our itinerary before heading back into London.

Remember this area from when Harry Potter comes out of detention in Professor Lockhart’s room and hears the basilisk?   Inside the abbey we saw several of the items Talbot photographed with his inventions. The photo on the left is from Wikipedia, depicting what may be the oldest existing camera negative. Tyler’s photograph is on the right.

Above is the remnants of an old brewery.

Fox experienced his very first playground on the Lacock Abbey grounds! These are smiles by the way, trust me when I say he was out of his mind with happiness!

Are there any hidden gems you’ve found along the way on your travels, whether statewide or internationally? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!