Locals in a postcard-perfect Cotswolds village have resorted to putting up ‘no drone zone’ signs to stop tourists from flying them over their homes. Tourists capturing videos on drones have reportedly become an increasing problem in Castle Combe which is often hailed as the ‘prettiest village in England’.
The pretty village in Wiltshire only has a population of around 400 and a number of have complained about the drone issue. There are even reports of angry confrontations and the police being called. Residents have been sharing their experiences of the drones and how they have been videoed as they go about their daily routines.
“You feel like you’re being spied on, like you’re living in North Korea,” resident Hilary Baker told the MailOnline.
She said tourists have also begun using suction-cups to attach their phones to property windows so they can get photos of themselves against the backdrop of the street.
“A lot of these houses have antique windows and that could easily damage them,” she explained. “That’s part and parcel of living in the village.
“But the problem with the drones comes when they start impinging on your private space and getting closer and closer as you try to gesture them away.”
The retired police officer said she has also regularly been called on by neighbours for help in dealing with tourists, including the time a visitor’s drone had gone over a back garden where children were playing.
She said: “The father went out and said: ‘Please stop filming us,’ and he got a mouthful of abuse, so I went over and tried – and I got a barrage, too. He was so threatening that two total strangers who were sitting outside the pub came up to support me. Eventually, I called the police and, fair play to them, they came out and deleted most of what he’d filmed.”
Another person told the MailOnline they get “as many as two or three drones” over their home a day.
“We had one hovering at our back door and trying to film inside the house,” they said.
“About six months ago I was doing the garden and this drone came down inches from my face, buzzing me really aggressively. I rushed out of the house and found the guy operating it out in the marketplace.”
The man added: “We can lock our front doors to block out all the other things the visitors do but the drones are a whole other element that you just can’t escape.”
Meanwhile, Fred Winup, chair of Castle Combe Parish Council, recalled being followed by a drone overhead.
He told the MailOnline: “A lot of the people with drones are very nice, when you approach them they apologise and stop immediately.
‘Often they’ll say they didn’t realise they were doing anything wrong, though the guy who was filming me said that and I did think it was surely pretty obvious that he was.’