A cathedral and its ruined bishop's palace sit in a green hollow of stone lanes, the west front standing in for a French village church in Doctor Who.
What Llandaff looks like
Llandaff sits in a green hollow below the rest of Cardiff, a cathedral and a cluster of stone and rendered houses reached down sloping lanes from . and run around the church on three sides, narrow carriageways marked with double yellow lines and bordered by dry stone walls.
The cathedral itself is grey and buff stone, its twin west towers rising well above the rooflines around it, arcaded and pinnacled with tall lancet windows. The west front, its stonework dated to about 1220, still has a carved figure of St Teilo over the doors. South of the church, the roofless walls of the old stand among ivy and mature trees, one round corner turret still holding its shape.
White rendered houses sit behind iron gates and stone gateposts along Cathedral Close, cars parked on gravel drives under plane trees. Further out, Cardiff Road widens into a suburban carriageway lined with red brick and tudor style houses set back behind hedges and low walls.
Below the village, the River Taff runs over a weir at Bridge Road, a white clubhouse and a green boat shed standing on the bank above the white water. 's red brick Victorian sixth form building and Cardiff Metropolitan University's low brick campus sit further along Cardiff Road, both set back behind their own car parks.
Shot in Llandaff
has played more than one screen location across three stories of the BBC series Doctor Who, its own west front and back exterior standing in for other places entirely. Cathedral Green, the open grass beside it, has done the same. It played the fictional village of Leadworth and hosted a war memorial scene.
Doctor Who, The Family of Blood, 2007
Llandaff Cathedral
Played the parish church, Farringham, a fictional English town, 1913
The cathedral gate is where John and Joan marry in The Family of Blood, filmed as a straightforward exterior with the vicar and guests at the door. The same lane and gate return in The Eleventh Hour, for a scene between the Doctor and Amy. Street View
What Llandaff can double for
Auvers-sur-Oise, France
Vincent and the Doctor used Llandaff Cathedral's back exterior and windows to play the small village church at Auvers, where Van Gogh painted it in 1890. In close shots, the buff stone and lancet windows look like a modest rural French parish church. Llandaff's twin towers and larger scale give the substitution away in any wide shot, so keep the church exterior tight and cropped. Try searching small village church exterior now.
Wells, Somerset
Wells, a small cathedral city in Somerset, stood in for the fictional Sandford in Hot Fuzz. Its own Bishop's Palace hosted scenes from the film, and both towns pair a Gothic cathedral or church with a Bishop's Palace close by. Wells Cathedral's twin towers are taller and more ornate than Llandaff's, so match on the Bishop's Palace ruin and stone lanes rather than the church front. Try searching stone bishop's palace ruin now.
Lacock, Wiltshire
Lacock's stone cottages played Meryton in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice and returned for Cranford, kept free of satellite dishes and modern signs by the National Trust. The lanes around Llandaff's close have the same unbroken run of old stone frontages. Lacock has no cathedral or church tower to match, so use it only for close, low rise cottage streets rather than the wider cathedral shots. Try searching old stone cottage lanes now.
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