Cantax House in Lacock is derelict and deteriorating
Cantax House has not been maintained for years
The Sun reports that locals in Lacock are fed up with the National Trust’s neglect of Cantax House.
Disgruntled locals in Lacock, in the Cotswolds, have been left fuming at the state of a number of picturesque properties.
The idyllic village is often used by TV and film crews as a location for blockbuster Hollywood films and UK television series.
More than 90 per cent of the properties there are owned by the National Trust and leased to tenants, with some complaining to The Sun that many houses are currently standing empty because the charity is slow to carry out repair work.
Cantax House, a stunning Queen Anne property in the heart of Lacock was famously used as a hideout by Horace Slughorn in 2009 film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
But the once-immaculate house has been allowed to fall into disrepair.
The charity has been accused of “dereliction of duty” after leaving the historic mansion empty and rotting for three years.
Crumbling stonework, rotting timber window frames and broken panes of glass at the Grade ll-listed property have accelerated its demise in recent months.
Its once-glorious gardens are now overgrown strewn with brambles.
However, a family of Potter fanatics who had travelled 170 miles from Battle, East Sussex, to see the village said they were “appalled” by the building’s neglect.
As they posed for photographs at the house’s wonky garden gate, father Kevin McSweeney, a 61-year-old gardener and handyman, told The Sun: “It’s in a terrible state, isn’t it?
“It’s been left to rot and if the National Trust don’t start fixing it soon, it will get much worse very quickly.
“It’s in an appalling state and I really am very surprised.
“Aside from the Harry Potter filing, this property is an important building and part of our national heritage. It can’t be left to fall into ruin like this.
"The National Trust need to pull their finger out and get it back in shape.”
Mr McSweeney, his wife Paula, also 61, and 27-year-old twin sons Jack, a classical musician, and Ben, a student, are all National Trust members and plan to write to the charity to express their disgust.
Paula said: “The National Trust get plenty of money from members’ subscriptions, donations and legacies, so it concerns me greatly when I see something like this.
“They have a duty to maintain the properties they own. This isn’t good enough.”
Builders’ tools and equipment can be seen piled up inside the property through the front windows, offering hope the building will be repaired soon.
But workmen at a neighbouring house told us the tools were theirs and the National Trust was allowing them to store them inside Cantax House for safe-keeping.
No repair work appears to be scheduled for the house. It is understood it has been empty for three years after long-term tenants moved out.
Another visitor to the village, who asked not to be identified, said her mother, a lifelong National Trust member, would have been “disgusted” at the state of the property.
She said: “This is dereliction of the trust’s duty. It’s an important house for the village. To be honest I’m not surprised.
The shocking state of Cantax House made the headlines already in June 2023, when the Daily Mail reported,
A grand home famous to Harry Potter fans for being where Harry and Dumbledore discover Horace Slughorn hiding from Death Eaters has been allowed to 'fall into ruin'.
Grade II listed Cantax House has allegedly been 'completely neglected' by its owners - the National Trust.
The property, which is in Wiltshire and dates back to the 1700s, has lain empty since its previous tenants, who redesigned its beautiful gardens, moved out in May last year.
It is also claimed the trust has failed to maintain 12 other vacant properties under its ownership.
Deborah van der Beek, a sculptor who previously used Cantax House as a studio, told The Telegraph she had 'repeatedly warned the National Trust' that outhouses there needed repair.