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We live on picturesque hill where famous advert was filmed – tourists peer into our windows & homes are left empty
'It is an iconic spot and as soon as I walked up the hill I imagined owning a home here'
A PICTURESQUE hill where a famous advert was once filmed is filled with tourists and empty homes.
Residents along Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset, have become used to the sight of visitors taking pictures of their 17th-century terraced cottages.
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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.
The Gold Hill shot to fame when it was used by Ridley Scott as the location for his 1973 TV ad for Hovis bread.
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.
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.
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The 63-year-old moved from the East End of London to Shaftesbury two years ago.
And since he is around the same age as the bakery boy would be now, he has even been mistaken for him.
Nick said: "It is an iconic spot and as soon as I walked up the hill I imagined owning a home here.
"You do get a lot of tourists from all over the world - Singapore, Hong Kong, America, Australia.
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"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.
"But I love going out and speaking to the tourists. I put a bike outside for them to use because of the advert.
";I think I’m a similar age to the boy in the advert but it’s not me!"
Retired couple Owen and Lynne Sekree bought their cottage on Gold Hill 20 years ago.
They said the iconic hill is so popular because visitors have seen it on boxes of chocolate and jigsaw puzzles.
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.
"I couldn’t 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.
"It’s a magical spot and we have never regretted that decision.
"On one side you have the cobbles through the windows and on the other side is beautiful green countryside."
Owen continued: "There are a lot of international tourists but it doesn’t bother us.
"I think they must have seen pictures of Gold Hill on chocolate boxes and jigsaws.
"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."
One resident who has recently moved on to the street is engineer James Bux.
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.
He said: "I’m from here and I can remember riding up the hill as a 10-year-old on my mountain bike, although I don’t think there was a load of bread in the basket!
"It is an iconic spot so I couldn’t say no to this great opportunity (to live on Gold Hill).
"The place was an absolute mess so it will be a big project to get it into a liveable condition."
Only 10 homes line Gold Hill with the wall of Shaftesbury Abbey on the opposite side.
Several of the cottages now lie empty, while the two at the top of the hill are Airbnbs.
There is also the Gold Hill Museum at the top.
Elaine Barratt, chair of trustees at the museum, said they attract up to 30,000 visitors a year.
But she thinks the appeal of the spot pre-dates the Hovis advert.
She said: "I started working here in 1972, a year before the Hovis advert. Even then tourists came to see it.
"A lot of people didn’t realise the advert was filmed here - they thought it was filmed in the north of England.
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"I think that’s because it was part of a series of adverts ‘extolling northern values’."
Gold Hill hosts several quirky events, including an annual cheese race.
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