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Why hordes of Chinese tourists are flocking to this sleepy British village

Residents of Kidlington finally know why their town has become an international tourism destination.

Residents of Kidlington finally know why their town has become an international tourism destination. Source: Twitter

Residents of a nondescript village in Britain finally have the answer to why Chinese tourists have been visiting in huge numbers.

Kidlington locals have been at a complete loss as to why busloads of tourists are pulling up to take photos of simple family homes, rose bushes and even garbage bins.

Tourists have been seen traipsing through flower gardens and jumping on trampolines.

One visitor to the English town, located west of London near Oxford, reportedly asked if he could help mow a woman’s lawn.

Locals took to social media to try and figure out what was going on, but no solid explanation was immediately forthcoming.

A number of wild conspiracy theories attempted to explain the phenomenon.

“They are time travellers, something terrible must happen to your village when we finally exit the EU, they just want to see Kidlington before the event,” suggested one Facebook user.

Another theory was that the town was being falsely touted as a shooting location for the Harry Potter films.

The answer

Despite the creative speculation, it turns out the town of 13,723 people may actually just be a pit stop for stingy tourists.

Tour guides are reportedly stopping at Kidlington en route to Blenheim Palace, once the home of Winston Churchill, and depositing tourists who do not want to pay the $68 fee for a Chinese-language tour of the palace.

Kidlington was nominated as the drop-off spot for those without Blenheim tickets because it’s far enough from the palace that walking is not an option.

https://twitter.com/ShaunWatchorn/status/754251364566441984

While there are reports that some locals have called the police to deter trespassers, British media reports that many have embraced the sudden influx of people and believe it’s good for the local economy.

Just 8km north of Oxford, Kidlington is regarded as one of the region’s largest villages. It has four restaurants and seven pubs. For some time, there have been efforts to officially redefine the community as a town due to its size and economy, but the proposal has been resisted by 98 per cent of the electorate.

The village also has its own band, the Kidlington Concert Brass, and has always had an official village brass band since 1892.

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