Harry Potter in the Cotswolds: Lacock Abbey and Gloucester Cathedral

The Harry Potter locations near the Cotswolds are Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, whose cloisters played Hogwarts in the first two films, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002); Lacock village, which was Godric's Hollow in the first film and Budleigh Babberton in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009); and Gloucester Cathedral, whose medieval cloister appears as parts of Hogwarts in three of the films. The abbey also appears in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018).

Every film and room named here comes from the people who look after the buildings: the National Trust for Lacock, and Gloucester Cathedral for its cloister, with a 2015 ITV News report for the two films the cathedral does not name itself. Neither place is inside the Cotswolds National Landscape. Lacock is a few miles south of its boundary near Chippenham, and Gloucester lies on the Severn below the Cotswold edge, but both make an easy day from the hills, and they are about 42 miles apart by road.

Lacock Abbey: Hogwarts in the cloisters

Lacock Abbey's cloister is the Hogwarts you can walk round. The National Trust says (opens in a new tab) several scenes set at Hogwarts were filmed here for the first two films, and that the medieval cloisters were used as the school's corridors and classrooms. The cloister dates from around 1450, and the abbey began as a nunnery founded by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, in 1232; her tombstone is in the cloister walk.

The rooms off the cloister survive from the nunnery, and the Trust names each. The Warming Room was the only place the nuns could sit by a fire; its fireplace is the oldest on the site, and the great cauldron in it, which the Trust's own photographers caption the Witch's Cauldron, was used in the kitchen until 1747. The Chapter House, where the nuns met each day, has a nineteenth-century tiled floor and a case of medieval tiles. The Trust does not say which scene was filmed in which room, so neither do we.

The abbey came back to the screen in 2017, when it was filmed for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The Trust leans into it: its Potter page invites you to challenge your friends to a wizard duel in the grounds, and seasonal spotter trails lead children round the cloister.

Lacock village: Godric's Hollow and Budleigh Babberton

The village, which the Trust also owns, appears in two of the films. A cottage in Lacock was the outside of Harry's parents' house at Godric's Hollow in Philosopher's Stone, in the scene where Voldemort kills Lily and James Potter. And the village streets played Budleigh Babberton, the Muggle village where Harry and Dumbledore find Horace Slughorn, in Half-Blood Prince: the Trust's filming leaflet (opens in a new tab) says that filming took three nights, with Harry and Dumbledore walking through the village after the meeting.

The leaflet maps three Potter sites in the village: the Potters' house, Slughorn's house and the Sign of the Angel, the fifteenth-century inn on Church Street that is a backdrop in Half-Blood Prince. The houses are private, and the Trust asks visitors to respect the privacy of the people who live in them: look from the street, and do not go into gardens or up to doors. The leaflet is a free download from the Trust's page on the village, and village leaflets and maps are at visitor reception.

Visiting Lacock Abbey

The cloisters, the grounds and the Fox Talbot Museum are on one ticket, free to National Trust members. On 25 October 2026 the grounds and museum opened from 10am to 5pm, the cloisters from 10.15am to 4.45pm and the abbey rooms from 10.30am, with last entry at 3.45pm. The upper rooms close for the winter clean from 1 November to 1 March and reopen in spring, and the Trust's prices drop to match: an adult paid £21 without Gift Aid from March to October 2026 and £14 in winter, or £16 over Christmas, when the Great Hall reopens from 28 November. Tickets are sold at visitor reception on the day, with no need to book.

Park in the Trust's car park on Hither Way, under 400m from visitor reception: £5 a day for non-members in 2026 by the JustPark app (code 896468) or the machine, and free for members. There is no parking on the village streets. Without a car, the Faresaver X34 between Chippenham and Frome stops in the village, and showing your bus ticket earns a free hot drink at the Stables Café. Melksham station is 3 miles away and Chippenham 3.5 miles. Dogs on short leads are welcome in the garden all year. The Trust lists Blue Badge parking and electric vehicle charging in the Hither Way car park, an accessible toilet in the courtyard, and steps and uneven floors inside the abbey. Our two-day drive through the Cotswold film locations takes in Lacock.

For lunch, the George Inn serves from midday to 8pm, and the Red Lion on the High Street has rooms. The fourteenth-century tithe barn and the village lock-up are on East Street, and the walk over Naish Hill and through Bowden Park starts from the village.

Gloucester Cathedral's cloister

Gloucester Cathedral says (opens in a new tab) its medieval cloister appears as parts of Hogwarts in three of the Harry Potter films. It does not name the three. ITV News, reporting on the cathedral's first Potter tour in 2015, said the makers of Philosopher's Stone chose the cloister for its dark walks and high ceilings and returned in 2001 to film Chamber of Secrets. The third film is widely said to be Half-Blood Prince, but we have not found the cathedral or the studio saying so.

What you see is the fan vaulting, the ceiling the monks walked under every day, and a garden in the middle with a view of the tower. You can go in through the cloister door off College Green.

Visiting Gloucester Cathedral

The cathedral opens from 10am to 5pm Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm on Saturday, and on Sunday from midday to 2.30pm and 4pm to 5pm, around the services; times change for special events, so check before a long trip. Entry is by donation, with £5 suggested for an adult. Well-behaved dogs can come in from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays only assistance dogs.

Two of the cathedral's guided tours cover the Potter cloister. The Highlights tour, 50 minutes, runs several times a day and costs £8 for an adult and £4 for a child under 16, and includes the places where Harry Potter was filmed; the 30-minute Cloister tour, £6 and £3, runs at 11am on selected Saturdays. Pay for either at the Welcome Desk on the day; the Highlights tour can also be booked online through GetYourGuide. The cathedral also runs occasional Potter-themed cloister events, listed on its what's-on pages.

Gloucester station is on the line from London Paddington by Stroud and Kemble, a short walk from the cathedral. By car, use one of the public car parks in the centre, as parking in the Cathedral Close is for pass holders only; the cathedral has eight Blue Badge spaces on a first come, first served basis.

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Myths and half-truths

All the Hogwarts scenes were filmed at Lacock. The Trust says several scenes for the first two films, in the cloisters. Hogwarts was built from many places and studio sets, and Lacock's share is its cloister walks and the rooms around them.

Godric's Hollow is Lacock. Only in part. The Trust says the Lacock cottage was the Potters' house in the first film, while for Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010) the Trust's Lavenham Guildhall in Suffolk became the derelict house, and Lavenham the village.

You can go inside the Potters' house. You cannot. It is a private home, as are Slughorn's house and every other cottage in the village.

Gloucester's three films are the first, second and sixth. The first two are reported by ITV; the cathedral itself names none, and the sixth rests on secondary sources.

Lacock is in the Cotswolds. It is in Wiltshire, outside the National Landscape, though only a few miles from Castle Combe and Biddestone, which are inside it.