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Mystery Tourists 'Baffle' Villagers

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ghughesarch

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Should be easy enough to ask one of them what the attraction is, but that hasn't been thought of yet, apparently...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-36706591

Residents of an Oxfordshire village have been baffled by the weekly appearance of "coach loads" of tourists in their road.

Groups of sightseers in Benmead Road, Kidlington, have been seen posing for photos in front gardens and against parked cars.

Locals have no idea why the quiet suburb, about five miles north of Oxford, has become a tourist magnet.

One said: "I do find it hilarious, but I am at a loss to understand it."

The phenomenon was first identified on the Spotted: Kidlington Facebook page.

One person said the groups have been appearing for the last three weeks.

"Whose idea was it to turn Benmead road into a tourist attraction?" they added.
 
Do they have a street with a naughty name?
 
The obvious response would be for all the locals to come out and take photos of the tourists! :D
 
Doing a little research online brings up a tour agency based in Kidlington that seems to specialise in trips to Japan (but unlikely to offer tours the other way!), and that Kidlington is the nearest town to Oxford airport (optimistically called 'London Oxford).

I'm wondering if the street was used as a filming location? There are various 'trails' connected with Morse, The Golden Compass & Harry Potter based in & around Oxford. I'm wondering if their tour guide is perhaps telling them that it was Privet Drive (Harry Potter)?

Kidlington also claims to be Englands biggest village.
 
AnonyJoolz said:
I'm wondering if the street was used as a filming location? There are various 'trails' connected with Morse, The Golden Compass & Harry Potter based in & around Oxford. I'm wondering if their tour guide is perhaps telling them that it was Privet Drive (Harry Potter)?
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AFAIK, that was a street in Bracknell.
Actually, not far from where I was born. I might be Harry Potter.
 
Mythopoeika said:
AFAIK, that was a street in Bracknell.
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I'm wondering if the tour guide is keeping the (apparently Chinese) grockles happy by telling 'em Downton Abbey was also filmed in Kidlington :rofl:
 
kamalktk said:
No one stepped out and asked them?
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That would seem to be the obvious course of action, unless the tourists didn't speak English. Even so, maybe it's a picturesque example of the kind of town they like to think is typically English?
 
GNC said:
That would seem to be the obvious course of action, unless the tourists didn't speak English. Even so, maybe it's a picturesque example of the kind of town they like to think is typically English?
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Presumably someone on the bus speaks English in order to handle them getting around, the tourguide?
 
You'd have thought so. I get the impression we're not accessing the full story here (well, obviously, it's a mystery, but facts are thin on the ground in the report).
 
GNC said:
That would seem to be the obvious course of action, unless the tourists didn't speak English. Even so, maybe it's a picturesque example of the kind of town they like to think is typically English?
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Probably something like this, I bet. The impression I've drawn of Oxfordshire from the media is a place of quaint villages full of rich people. Thatched roofs and such. Don't know if that's accurate, but that's how it seems from afar.

This is a different scenario, but a couple of years ago, we had an influx of tourists that didn't seem like ordinary tourists. For one thing, it wasn't tourist season, so all these people turning up was a bit odd. For another they all looked a certain type - photogenic hipsters with perfectly tousled hair and expensive bohemian clothes. They didn't look natural, is what I'm saying.

There was one of our small street fairs happening that weekend, but it wasn't the sort of thing that would have brought in out-of-state tourists beforehand, especially not this type. I suspect they were sent by an ad agency, probably to provide "flair" for the street fair. No doubt a plot by the Chamber of Commerce. :p

I didn't quiz any of these tourists because it seemed too nosy. Perhaps the residents in this village feel the same.
 
A few years ago I noticed a group of Chinese people walking down my street all taking photos of everything. And I mean everything, like the pavements, kerbs and streetlights as well as all the buildings. Believe me, it's not that interesting or picturesque. They weren't students either, being too old and dressed in a business fashion. I thought that some unscrupulous property dealer might have sold them all of our houses for a scam.
 
davidplankton said:
A few years ago I noticed a group of Chinese people walking down my street all taking photos of everything. And I mean everything, like the pavements, kerbs and streetlights as well as all the buildings. Believe me, it's not that interesting or picturesque. They weren't students either, being too old and dressed in a business fashion. I thought that some unscrupulous property dealer might have sold them all of our houses for a scam.
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Maybe they've been told to take photos and observe stuff so they can build an English village back home in China (for whatever reason)?
Chinese have done this before...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ets-red-telephone-boxes-remains-deserted.html
 
Mythopoeika said:
Maybe they've been told to take photos and observe stuff so they can build an English village back home in China (for whatever reason)?
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This ain't no English village! No, it's a road with some houses but the other side is gradually being taken over by an open air shopping centre. B+Q, Boots, PC World kind of thing, with added KFC and Pizza Hut. Basically a dump out the front but still lovely, peaceful and green out back.

Wait a minute - maybe a Chinese cartel has bought all of this area and they are just waiting for us residents to die off so they can expand and destroy our houses to make room for more shops.

If people in my street start dying mysteriously then I might be able to start a new conspiracy theory.
 
Mystery (kind of) solved. Featured today on BBC Radio 2 news & in the afternoon show (one of the presenters is a Kidlington resident).

They are being dropped off in Kidlington to see, experience and photograph how 'ordinary' British people live outside of the big historic cities. I would surmise that this is an extra bit on a tour of grand old Oxford & the dreaming spires etc etc.

I guess it's akin to us snapping what we see as beautiful or interesting on our hols, but to locals is just common-or-garden. I remember the lady who lives in this house in Nepal being highly amused when I wanted to take this photo of her house & buffalo in the garden! :)
qsrxg6.jpg
 
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AnonyJoolz said:
They are being dropped off in Kidlington to see, experience and photograph how 'ordinary' British people live outside of the big historic cities. I would surmise that this is an extra bit on a tour of grand old Oxford & the dreaming spires etc etc.
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Pity they're not dropped off in inner city Birmingham, Liverpool or Manchester - they'd get a different idea of 'ordinary' then.
 
The Sun has an update: Riddle of why Chinese tourists visit Kiddleton SOLVED!

Apparently they're stopping off on their way to the Bicester Village Shopping centre to look for "the true sense of this country".

Residents' reactions seem mixed, as the tourists are tramping through front gardens and peering through windows. They even asked to have a go on a lawnmower, but were sadly rebuffed.

Personally I'd be setting up a tea stand or flogging postcards or something.
 
graylien said:
The Sun has an update: Riddle of why Chinese tourists visit Kiddleton SOLVED!

Apparently they're stopping off on their way to the Bicester Village Shopping centre to look for "the true sense of this country".

Residents' reactions seem mixed, as the tourists are tramping through front gardens and peering through windows. They even asked to have a go on a lawnmower, but were sadly rebuffed.

Personally I'd be setting up a tea stand or flogging postcards or something.
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Monetise it!
 
Belshazzar said:
In today's Mail:

Riddle of the 'dull' Oxfordshire village and the Chinese tourists solved: Bus tour guides took them there to PUNISH THEM after they figured out how to pay less if they walked to a real attraction
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The locals missed a trick there by not selling 'Kiddlington' T Shirts :rofl:

I was walking into town the other day when a couple of Argentinian pensioner age tourists asked me to take picture of them standing in front of a normal street sign. They weren't interested in me including the large Georgian building in the background of the picture, just the street sign ? .. fair enough if that's what they wanted .. they were thrilled.
 
Taken to Kidlington - a sort of modern version of being sent to Coventry. They could use this in their tourist promotion.

Odd that a small village that has only "seven pubs, a couple of cafes, a library, four restaurants", should have an immigration detention centre.
 
On a serious note, how unethical is it from the company running the tours?
 
Swifty said:
The locals missed a trick there by not selling 'Kiddlington' T Shirts :rofl:

I was walking into town the other day when a couple of Argentinian pensioner age tourists asked me to take picture of them standing in front of a normal street sign. They weren't interested in me including the large Georgian building in the background of the picture, just the street sign ? .. fair enough if that's what they wanted .. they were thrilled.
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What did the street sign say?
Maybe in Argentinian, it's funny?
 
Mythopoeika said:
What did the street sign say?
Maybe in Argentinian, it's funny?
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'CLIFF DRIVE'

Perhaps they were Cliff Richard fans ?

(you can just about make out the road sign in this pic. Again, they weren't remotely interested in having anything except them and this road sign photographed) ..

http://street360.net/uk/cromer.php
 

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Swifty said:
'CLIFF DRIVE'

Perhaps they were Cliff Richard fans ?

(you can just about make out the road sign in this pic. Again, they weren't remotely interested in having anything except them and this road sign photographed) ..

http://street360.net/uk/cromer.php
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Aww, t looks so English! Like you're your living in one of those twee biscuit tins! :D
Lucky!
 
And in other news...

A fish and chip shop in North Yorkshire has translated its menu for Mandarin and Cantonese speakers to cope with an influx of Chinese tourists.

Scotts Fish and Chips near York has seen coachloads of visitors wanting to try the traditional dish.

The passion for the chippy has been put down to the fish and chips Chinese president Xi Jinping shared with then Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015.

Manager Roxy Vasai said more than 100 Chinese tourists were visiting a week.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-45273575
 
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