Nearly three decades after Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman charmed audiences as the Owens sisters, Practical Magic 2 has landed — and this time the action crosses the Atlantic. The original 1998 film, adapted from Alice Hoffman's novel, was shot in Coupeville on Washington State's Whidbey Island as a stand-in for Massachusetts. For the sequel, directed by Susanne Bier, production moved to the UK, with about half of the 55 shooting days spent at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire and the rest scattered around London and the Home Counties.

The biggest build was the Owens family house, that Victorian cottagecore beauty which has become a cult icon in its own right. The original exterior — built on San Juan Island — no longer exists, so production designer Tom Burton reconstructed the whole thing from scratch on the Leavesden back lot, even matching the sun's position so sunsets align with the first film. The greens team then planted more than 4,000 plants to recreate the famous garden.

Away from the studio, the village of Hambleden, west of London, plays the town of Thornfield, its brick-and-flint cottages and dormer windows doing what they did for countless period dramas. Nearby, the Royal Standard of England in Beaconsfield stands in for the fictional Thornfield Inn. This pub claims to be the oldest in Great Britain — over 900 years — and has already appeared in Hot Fuzz and The Theory of Everything. It serves oysters, fish and chips and a solid beer list, with quiz night on Tuesdays.

Other locations double for American scenes: Langleybury Mansion in Hertfordshire, previously used for Downton Abbey and The Crown, plays Harvard interiors; the Royal Hospital Chelsea, founded by Charles II in 1692, doubles for Harvard exteriors and hosts a flower-market scene. The private 2,700-acre Wormsley Estate in Buckinghamshire, with its opera pavilion and walled garden, provides the cottage of Tom Lockland, while Black Park Country Park supplies the woodland and rolling hills around Thornfield. Even Lee Pace's tattooed professor calls a real place home — the Victorian Cromwell Buildings flats.

Story-wise, the sequel jumps forward a generation: Sally's daughters Antonia (Maisie Williams) and Kylie (Joey King), now in their twenties and unaware of their powers, get swept in when Kylie's boyfriend falls into a coma. Following clues in the Book of the Raven, Kylie travels to England — which is what pulls the story across the pond.

For travellers, this is a ready-made itinerary of genuinely visitable spots. The pub you can drink in, the park you can walk, the village you can wander — all within an hour or so of London, and many already familiar from other screen favourites. Fans of the original film, plus anyone who enjoys a screen-location day trip from the capital, will find plenty to work with.