Latest news with #HilaryBaker
Scottish Sun
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
We live in UK's ‘most beautiful village' ruined by tourists filming us through our WINDOWS & flying drones over gardens
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) LOCALS in a picturesque village say their town is being ruined by tourists who knock on their doors and take snaps of them inside their homes. Castle Combe in Wiltshire has been used as a backdrop for Hollywood blockbusters such as Stardust and Steven Spielberg's War Horse and is a delightful day trip for sightseers. 5 Castle Combe in Wiltshire has become a hub for tourists from around the world Credit: Alamy 5 Locals have fumed that the chocolate box village has turned into the 'set of Disneyland' Credit: Alamy 5 A picturesque view of cottages with Cotswold stone walls in Castle Combe Credit: Getty Set within the Cotswolds, Castle Combe is routinely named as one of the prettiest villages in the country. Country Living listed the English village as one of the most picturesque places to visit in the country, writing: "This quintessentially English village is known as the 'prettiest village in England'. But residents in Castle Combe in the Cotswolds say their patience is running thin as visitors from around the world continue to disturb their peace. Around 400 people call the chocolate box village home, while 150,000 tourists pack into the idyllic area annually. Speaking to the Express, Hilary Baker, 69, a former police officer and bed and breakfast owner, urged visitors: "Give us a little bit of consideration." She added that drones have even been flown over the village, "filming children", but pointed out that this has been less of an issue recently. Ms Baker said: "That's what caused everybody to go, 'This is now beyond reasonable.' "Because our children are precious, you don't know who's on the other end of the camera. "I'm not casting aspersions, but you just don't know anymore. "It's out there in the ether before you can blink an eye." Our posh village is now ghost town strewn with empty homes Local Hilary, who has lived in the village for nearly four decades, was equally condemning of the behaviour of some visitors. She fumed: "If only they would stop and think, 'How would I feel sat in my garden minding own business with a drone flying 20 feet above my head?' "It could be four or five. I don't think they would cope with it either." "I was walking the dog and talking to one of my neighbours, when I saw this lady looking through my letterbox. "I said, 'Are looking for somebody? Can I help you?' They said, 'I'm just looking.' "I replied, 'People live here.' They said, 'Oh, do they?'" Another problem, the resident noted, is younger people using "suction cups" to attach their phones to his windows in order for them to take a photo of themselves. "They think it's part of the set of Disneyland," one anonymous local seethed. Jean Boucher, 86, a retired teacher, says she does not have much trouble with visitors, as her house is raised above the main street. But she added: "The whole world is full of tourists being a nuisance. "There are more people travelling, I suppose, and people are obsessed with photographing everything now." The Sun Online has reached out to Wiltshire Council for comment. 5 A woman poses for a photo in the village Credit: Alamy
The Irish Sun
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
We live in UK's ‘most beautiful village' ruined by tourists filming us through our WINDOWS & flying drones over gardens
LOCALS in a picturesque village say their town is being ruined by tourists who knock on their doors and take snaps of them inside their homes. Castle Combe in Wiltshire has been used as a backdrop for Hollywood blockbusters such as Stardust and Steven Spielberg's War Horse and is a delightful day trip for sightseers. 5 Castle Combe in Wiltshire has become a hub for tourists from around the world Credit: Alamy 5 Locals have fumed that the chocolate box village has turned into the 'set of Disneyland' Credit: Alamy 5 A picturesque view of cottages with Cotswold stone walls in Castle Combe Credit: Getty Set within the Cotswolds, Castle Combe is routinely named as one of the prettiest villages in the country. Country Living listed the English village as one of the most picturesque places to visit in the country, writing: "This quintessentially English village is known as the 'prettiest village in England'. But residents in Castle Combe in the Cotswolds say their patience is running thin as visitors from around the world continue to disturb their peace. Around 400 people call the chocolate box village home, while 150,000 tourists pack into the idyllic area annually. Speaking to the Express, Hilary Baker, 69, a former police officer and bed and breakfast owner, urged visitors: "Give us a little bit of consideration." She added that drones have even been flown over the village, "filming children", but pointed out that this has been less of an issue recently. Ms Baker said: "That's what caused everybody to go, 'This is now beyond reasonable.' "Because our children are precious, you don't know who's on the other end of the camera. "I'm not casting aspersions, but you just don't know anymore. "It's out there in the ether before you can blink an eye." Our posh village is now ghost town strewn with empty homes Local Hilary, who has lived in the village for nearly four decades, was equally condemning of the behaviour of some visitors. She fumed: "If only they would stop and think, 'How would I feel sat in my garden minding own business with a drone flying 20 feet above my head?' "It could be four or five. I don't think they would cope with it either." "I was walking the dog and talking to one of my neighbours, when I saw this lady looking through my letterbox. "I said, 'Are looking for somebody? Can I help you?' They said, 'I'm just looking.' "I replied, 'People live here.' They said, 'Oh, do they?'" Another problem, the resident noted, is younger people using "suction cups" to attach their phones to his windows in order for them to take a photo of themselves. "They think it's part of the set of Disneyland," one anonymous local seethed. Jean Boucher, 86, a retired teacher, says she does not have much trouble with visitors, as her house is raised above the main street. But she added: "The whole world is full of tourists being a nuisance. "There are more people travelling, I suppose, and people are obsessed with photographing everything now." The Sun Online has reached out to Wiltshire Council for comment. 5 A woman poses for a photo in the village Credit: Alamy
The Sun
06-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
We live in UK's ‘most beautiful village' ruined by tourists filming us through our WINDOWS & flying drones over gardens
LOCALS in a picturesque village say their town is being ruined by tourists who knock on their doors and take snaps of them inside their homes. Castle Combe in Wiltshire has been used as a backdrop for Hollywood blockbusters such as Stardust and Steven Spielberg 's War Horse and is a delightful day trip for sightseers. 5 5 5 Set within the Cotswolds, Castle Combe is routinely named as one of the prettiest villages in the country. Country Living listed the English village as one of the most picturesque places to visit in the country, writing: "This quintessentially English village is known as the 'prettiest village in England '. But residents in Castle Combe in the Cotswolds say their patience is running thin as visitors from around the world continue to disturb their peace. Around 400 people call the chocolate box village home, while 150,000 tourists pack into the idyllic area annually. Speaking to the Express, Hilary Baker, 69, a former police officer and bed and breakfast owner, urged visitors: "Give us a little bit of consideration." She added that drones have even been flown over the village, "filming children", but pointed out that this has been less of an issue recently. Ms Baker said: "That's what caused everybody to go, 'This is now beyond reasonable.' "Because our children are precious, you don't know who's on the other end of the camera. "I'm not casting aspersions, but you just don't know anymore. "It's out there in the ether before you can blink an eye." Our posh village is now ghost town strewn with empty homes Local Hilary, who has lived in the village for nearly four decades, was equally condemning of the behaviour of some visitors. She fumed: "If only they would stop and think, 'How would I feel sat in my garden minding own business with a drone flying 20 feet above my head?' "It could be four or five. I don't think they would cope with it either." "I was walking the dog and talking to one of my neighbours, when I saw this lady looking through my letterbox. "I said, 'Are looking for somebody? Can I help you?' They said, 'I'm just looking.' "I replied, 'People live here.' They said, 'Oh, do they?'" Another problem, the resident noted, is younger people using "suction cups" to attach their phones to his windows in order for them to take a photo of themselves. "They think it's part of the set of Disneyland," one anonymous local seethed. Jean Boucher, 86, a retired teacher, says she does not have much trouble with visitors, as her house is raised above the main street. But she added: "The whole world is full of tourists being a nuisance. "There are more people travelling, I suppose, and people are obsessed with photographing everything now." The Sun Online has reached out to Wiltshire Council for comment. 5 5
Daily Mirror
21-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
'England's prettiest village' is 'like North Korea' as drones snoop on homes
People living in 'England's prettiest village' say tourists are unleashing swarms of drones and 'spying' on their homes - leaving them feeling like they 'live in North Korea' Residents of a picturesque village described as England's 'most beautiful' say they are being terrorised by drones flying over their homes - and have compared it to living in North Korea. Castle Combe in the Cotswolds attracts tourists from all over the world thanks to its charming rows of cottages and enchanting winding streets - but a new trend among some visitors has left many locals feeling "spied on" and worried for their own safety. An increasing number of day-trippers are said to be bringing drones with them to capture aerial footage of the Wiltshire village to share on social media, putting them at odds with villagers and even reportedly leading to the police being called on multiple occasions. One resident, Hilary Baker, told the MailOnline: "You feel like you're being spied on, like you're living in North Korea." It comes amid a rise in reports of other invasive and unwelcome behaviours from tourists, and Hilary said others had been spotted using using suction-cups to attach their phones to cottage windows to take photograph of themselves. On other occasions, nuisance visitors are said to have peeked through windows, used drones to observe villagers while they're in the bath, and even peeked through their letterboxes to have a look inside. Some residents have now taken to putting up 'no drones' signs in their windows, though this is not thought to have halted the trend. Villager Draven McConville said he had stepped in on multiple occasions in to ask people not to use the devices, including one man who had launched one from the bottom of his driveway. While many of these resulted in "reasonable conversations" which saw the drone users pack them away, other visitors have subjected him to "verbal abuse for no real reason", he told the BBC. A sign has also been put up in the village's car park asking visitors not to fly drones within 50 metres of people's property. Castle Combe is often hailed as one of Britain's most idyllic villages, and its rustic charm has seen it act as the setting for a number of popular blockbusters, including Stardust, The Wolf Man, and Steven Spielberg's War Horse. Its unique weavers' cottages are constructed from local stone, and stand largely unchanged from down the centuries as a result of strict building regulations. Modern fixtures like satellite dishes and external wiring on house exteriors are forbidden, and tight planning permissions restrictions apply to the size of extensions and garden buildings. The village, which was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, prospered the success of 'Castlecombe', a red and white cloth that was in high demand in markets across the south of England.
The Independent
02-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Independent
Cotswolds villagers call for ban on tourists' drones after man filmed in bath
Residents of 'the prettiest village in England' are calling for a ban on tourists' drones after one local reported being filmed while taking a bath. 'No drone zone' signs have now been plastered across the windows of homes in Castle Combe in the Cotswolds, as well as in the local church and the public car park. Residents say the aircraft are constantly flying over their gardens and streets – and even by one man's bathroom window. Retired police officer Hilary Baker, 69, told The Sunday Times: 'It's almost like some of the visitors have lost their moral compass, they have lost their boundaries. When you go into your back garden and put your washing out and there is a drone hovering 20 yards above your head, it really quite rankles. 'Another neighbour had been working in his garden and jumped in the bath and there was a drone at his bathroom window, watching him in the bath. You just think, really? 'I should think on a monthly basis I will get verbal abuse [for asking them to stop].' Police were reportedly called on a pilot who would not land his drone last month and verbally abused locals when they asked him to respect their privacy. It is claimed he filmed children playing in a back garden and flew up and down the high street hovering at first floor window level. The Independent has contacted Wiltshire Police about the incident. Before the drones, tourists were overstepping boundaries in Castle Combe for years, according to residents, with signs seen asking visitors to not pick flowers or walk down homes' side alleys. But Ms Baker, who has lived in the Wiltshire village for more than three decades, said there has been a recent surge in tourists flying drowns for their social media channels, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. While the picturesque village is only home to a few hundred people, thousands of visitors descend on the area every week, having seen videos on various social media platforms. Often referred to as one of the 'prettiest villages in England', its historic centre is a particular draw as well as its chocolate box cottages. Sisters Lydia Chia, 27, and Deborah Chia, 24, who were posing for photos on a trip from Singapore, told The Times: 'I saw it on my friend's Instagram and a little bit on TikTok. It's really pretty. I pick where to visit based on pictures and aesthetics, and whether or not it's Instagrammable.' Chairman of the parish council Fred Winup found that just over half of tourists chose to visit Castle Combe after seeing it online, in a visitor survey he conducted last year. The retired bank director told of a time a drone followed him along the high street 'just five feet above my head', adding: 'It was a Californian [piloting it], he was a nice guy who didn't know the rules and said he was sorry.' Wiltshire council has now put a sign up in the public car park, following calls from the parish council. The warning to drone pilots reads: 'If you use these devices where people can expect privacy, such as inside their home or garden, you are likely to be contravening CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] guidelines'. The rules that are in place around drones, while complicated, typically require pilots to have the aircraft in their line of sight, to avoid getting close to crowds or building, and to respect people's privacy. With some devices having reportedly crashed into the church roof or resident's trees, Mr Winup said: 'People do lose control of drones and they could take an eye out.'
