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.