{"id":86890,"date":"2023-10-23T14:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?p=86890"},"modified":"2023-10-23T14:00:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T14:00:14","slug":"we-live-on-picturesque-hill-where-famous-advert-was-filmed-tourists-peer-into-our-windows-homes-are-left-empty-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/we-live-on-picturesque-hill-where-famous-advert-was-filmed-tourists-peer-into-our-windows-homes-are-left-empty-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"We live on picturesque hill where famous advert was filmed – tourists peer into our windows & homes are left empty | The Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"
A PICTURESQUE hill where a famous advert was once filmed is filled with tourists and empty homes.<\/p>\n
Residents along Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset, have become used to the sight of visitors taking pictures of their 17th-century terraced cottages.<\/p>\n
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Some even go so far as peering in through living room windows in the belief the road is just a film set.<\/p>\n
The Gold Hill shot to fame when it was used by Ridley Scott as the location for his 1973 TV ad for Hovis bread.<\/p>\n
The commercial featured a bakery boy struggling to push his bike up the steep hill only to then free-wheel down after making his delivery of bread.<\/p>\n
Nick Wade, a retired London cab driver, has resorted to purposefully leaving a bike propped up outside his house for tourists to use as a photo prop or to recreate the advert.<\/p>\n
The 63-year-old moved from the East End of London to Shaftesbury two years ago.<\/p>\n And since he is around the same age as the bakery boy would be now,he has even been mistaken for him.<\/p>\n Nick said: "It is an iconic spot and as soon as I walked up the hill I imagined owning a home here.<\/p>\n "You do get a lot of tourists from all over the world – Singapore, Hong Kong, America, Australia.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n "People take photos of the houses along the hill and look through the windows all day, I think they think it is a film set but you get used to it.<\/p>\n "But I love going out and speaking to the tourists. I put a bike outside for them to use because of the advert.<\/p>\n "I think I\u2019m a similar age to the boy in the advert but it\u2019s not me!"<\/p>\n Retired couple Owen and Lynne Sekree bought their cottage on Gold Hill 20 years ago.<\/p>\n They said the iconic hill is so popular because visitors have seen it on boxes of chocolate and jigsaw puzzles.<\/p>\n Lynne added: "We used to live in Hampshire and when we were looking for a home for our retirement and there was a viewing in Shaftesbury I went to it.<\/p>\n "I couldn\u2019t believe it was on Gold Hill and I fell in love with it instantly. I bought it on the spot and had to tell my husband later.<\/p>\n "It\u2019s a magical spot and we have never regretted that decision.<\/p>\n "On one side you have the cobbles through the windows and on the other side is beautiful green countryside."<\/p>\n Owen continued: "There are a lot of international tourists but it doesn\u2019t bother us.<\/p>\n "I think they must have seen pictures of Gold Hill on chocolate boxes and jigsaws.<\/p>\n "We are one of the longest survivors here as quite a few elderly people have sold their cottages in the last five years. We love the tranquility."<\/p>\n One resident who has recently moved on to the street is engineer James Bux.<\/p>\n The 41-year-old's family is from Shaftesbury, but he has just moved back from London after jumping at the opportunity to buy a cottage.<\/p>\n He said: "I\u2019m from here and I can remember riding up the hill as a 10-year-old on my mountain bike, although I don\u2019t think there was a load of bread in the basket!<\/p>\n "It is an iconic spot so I couldn\u2019t say no to this great opportunity (to live on Gold Hill).<\/p>\n "The place was an absolute mess so it will be a big project to get it into a liveable condition."<\/p>\n Only 10 homes line Gold Hill with the wall of Shaftesbury Abbey on the opposite side.<\/p>\n Several of the cottages now lie empty, while the two at the top of the hill are Airbnbs.<\/p>\n There is also the Gold Hill Museum at the top.<\/p>\n Elaine Barratt, chair of trustees at the museum, said they attract up to 30,000 visitors a year.<\/p>\n But she thinks the appeal of the spot pre-dates the Hovis advert.<\/p>\n She said: "I started working here in 1972, a year before the Hovis advert. Even then tourists came to see it.<\/p>\n "A lot of people didn\u2019t realise the advert was filmed here – they thought it was filmed in the north of England.<\/p>\n "I think that\u2019s because it was part of a series of adverts \u2018extolling northern values\u2019."<\/p>\n Gold Hill hosts several quirky events, including an annual cheese race.<\/p>\n<\/picture>WAVE GOODBYE <\/span><\/p>\n
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