Chinese tourists wooed by 'quiet houses' in English village

Bus loads of Chinese tourists are descending on a quiet English village in search of "the true sense" of the UK, the British media reported today.

Residents were baffled by coaches of sightseers arriving in Kidlington, Oxfordshire and posing for photos in front gardens and against parked cars.

But a tour guide has now confirmed the tourists are attracted by the quiet houses and gardens.

Anne Clifton, who lives in the Moors, handed a question sheet prepared by the BBC to a member of the Chinese tour party when they reappeared in the road on October 23.

She said: "I asked a woman standing at the door of the coach if she would be good enough to complete the form.
 

"She was not actually one of the tourists, but was leading the party," Clifton said.

"Because we don't have [these] in China. Here, we are looking for the true sense of this country," the Chinese woman said, adding that they liked the the houses and gardens.

The tourists took a short walk from thatched cottages and a church but preferred to take photos outside modern houses.

Previous theories for the cause of the Chinese influx included mistaken identity, a covert social experiment or possibly Oxfordshire's connection to Inspector Morse.

Baz Daniels, who has lived in Kidlington for more than 20 years, said he had been in touch with a friend in China to try to get to the bottom of the tourist influx.

"Kidlington is apparently being marketed by Chinese tourist agencies as a beautiful English village on the way to Bicester Village shopping centre," he said.

"Many of the visitors live in cities and love to see things like the hanging baskets and little flowers in people's gardens," he added.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting the UK soared 37 per cent in the first nine months of last year, taking the total to more than 200,000 in 2015.

Chinese visitors collectively spent 435 million pounds in the UK, according to the tourism body VisitBritain.