Calling all chocoholics, don’t be a Wonka, follow us to England, a land of pure imagination.
The most anticipated film this Christmas sees Timothée Chalamet reprise Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka.
And the good news for Anglophiles is that Wonka was shot around England.
And you won’t need a golden ticket to get to follow in Willy’s footsteps to the locations in the movie.
Wonka magic
As if by magic Warner Bros Studios London in Leavesden was transformed from Harry Potter’s world into Wonkaland.
Where you can transport yourself to Scrubitt & Bleacher’s enterprise, the cathedral vault and Wonka’s chocolate shop.
The beauty of Roald Dahl’s world is, of course, that it is universal.
But he was informed by his English surroundings (yes, we know he was Welsh born)!
The Golden Ticket
And Wonka celebrates iconic English destinations.
The action begins in picturesque Lyme Regis in Dorset on the south coast.
Where Willy’s cargo ship docks in the town’s harbour
While Oxford makes a cameo with the Bridge of Sighs as a backdrop.
Or our old stomping ground in neighbouring Royal Berkshire.
And Mapledurham with its scenes of Willy and his mum and the willow tree and Thames canals.
Go west and you’ll hit historic and literary favourite Bath.
Where the Bath Colonnade is prominent.
St Albans in leafy Hertfordshire, north of London.
Where Verulamium Park doubles as the zoo where Willy and his sidekick Noodle visit.
Chocs away
London, of course, is the jewel in any English odyssey.
And St Paul’s is as iconic a building as any in the English capital (you’ll have to watch to see the reference).
All in the green and pleasant land is a perfect filling for Wonka’s world.
Ah yes. England, a land of pure imagination.