As the train from Manchester pulls into Holmes Chapel, a crowd of giddy young women pour out onto the platform with huge smiles on their faces, pausing for selfies with the train station sign. These Harry Styles mega-fans then all proceed in one direction (if you'll pardon the pun) into the centre of the pretty Cheshire village.
This has become a familiar scene in Holmes Chapel with each train that rolls into the village twice hourly for the past week - as thousands upon thousands of Harry 's fans have been making an extraordinary pilgrimage to his home town. The pop superstar has just kicked off the UK leg of his Love on Tour, and with it his passionate fans have travelled here from all corners of the globe to watch him perform.
Their aim when they get to Holmes Chapel? To walk in Harry's footsteps and explore the story of his life of course.
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And with two huge gigs in Manchester this week, it has been the perfect opportunity for many of these young women (and the occasional male) to visit Harry's home town in Cheshire. It is 26 miles south of Manchester city centre by road, and around 40 minutes on the train.
Harry, 28, first shot to fame at the tender age of 16 on The X Factor TV talent show when he was still just a Holmes Chapel schoolboy, with a part-time job in the local bakery. Thanks to his appearance on that prime-time show, fans got their first glimpse into his life in the tiny village.
And as his fan-base grew as part of the boyband One Direction, fans would regularly camp outside the house he grew up in on London Road in the hope of seeing their idol. Nowadays Harry is a global solo superstar, and his family have long-since moved from the London Road cottage where he once lived.
But the mere fact that he USED to live there, and that he USED to walk around these leafy streets is enough to make it worth a visit for thousands, and I do mean thousands, of young fans. I'm amazed as I speak to women from America, Australia, Poland and Germany who have all made this trip to South Cheshire.
It's got to fever pitch this week with Harry's stadium tour finally taking place - and many of his fans have spent thousands of pounds to visit the UK for the first time. As I walk around Holmes Chapel on the sunny Tuesday before the gig, the village is packed with groups of women, many wearing Love on Tour tops, taking photos of the famous sites of Harry's early years.
The first stop on the Harry tour is the obvious and most popular one, a trip to W Mandeville's Bakery where Harry used to have a part-time job. It's also the one place in the village that commemorates its most famous son - with a huge life-sized placard of Harry back in his bakery days holding aloft a loaf of bread.
Fans flock here to buy a pastry, cake, and to buy the ubiquitous Mandeville's reusable carrier bag and their bakery wooden spoons as a keepsake of their visit. Staff says it's been non-stop all week as soon as they open their doors in the morning until shutting shop at 5pm.
Needless to say there's a constant queue of fans waiting to get their photo with Harry and his loaf of bread. And funnily enough the loaf he is holding (a white coburg for £1.40) is the bakery's most popular product by far.
The reason why? Well, you get to pose exactly like Harry if you've got the round bloomer in your hand.
The Harry super fans are so excited to be here. Friends Kaylee Abbotts, 21, and Danya D'Souza, 22, are both from Brisbane in Australia and are seeing Harry in concert at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. They saw it as the perfect opportunity to visit Harry's home town too.
Danya says: "We'd seen videos and photos of people coming here so we thought while we were in Manchester we'd come to see Harry's home town. There were hundreds of fans on the train and we've met loads of girls from America and Australia.
"It's just been so nice. We've never been to England before so to explore Manchester and Holmes Chapel has been lovely."
It was a similar story among so many groups of international visitors - fans who have met each other while camping out for previous Harry and One Direction shows and become firm friends even though they live in entirely different continents. That includes Viktoria, 24, from Cologne in Germany, Nicole Kinowski, 24, from Chicago, and Magda J, 21, from Lodz in Poland.
Nicole said: "We met in the queue for other Harry concerts and have just remained friends. We went to the Glasgow show together, and are going to Manchester too. It doesn't feel like the same show every night and it definitely feels like Manchester is going to be extra special as this is Harry's home show."
After fans have picked up some baked goodies at the bakery, it's then a 20 minute walk along Macclesfield Road to find the Harry "holy grail". It's a wall on the iconic Twemlow railway viaduct where Harry famously scrawled his named during the This is Us biopic.
The quickest way to find it is off the main road, although fans need to be extra mindful of the busy traffic on this route. There's a well-hidden pedestrian signpost with a stile to jump over.
It might as well be called the Harry stile - which you soon realise is sending you in the right direction thanks to all the love messages and signatures of Harry fans etched on the wooden stile who have been there before. It's then a short walk over open fields to the famous Grade-II listed railway arches.
Sadly, Harry's own name appears to have been washed away now, but in its place is a jaw-dropping array of signatures and messages of love to the star all over the bricks. Reading a selection of them gives you an idea of just how much this young lad from Holmes Chapel has touched the lives of millions of fans across the globe.
The messages are filled with love and positivity - much like Harry's own ethos that is so adored by fans the world over. Messages like: "Give love, choose love, love everyone always," and "I love you, thank you for being you, I'm so proud of you Harry" are scrawled across the bricks.
Among fans making the pilgrimage here is Annalese Gammell, 19, from Melbourne and her mum Paula Gammell, 45. They've spent a staggering $20,000 dollars on a three week trip which includes watching Harry on ALL of his UK dates while they're here.
Heading to Holmes Chapel while they're booked in a hotel in Manchester was high on Annalese's list to tick off on her once-in-a-lifetime journey. Annalese says: "I’ve been a fan since One Direction, I just love Harry. He is... everything.
Mum Paula said: "Yes it's cost a lot of money but she missed her 18th and 19th birthdays because of lockdowns in Australia. We had originally booked tickets to all of his gigs in Australia but when they cancelled we thought well let's make it up and got to the UK instead."
They purchased pickled onions and the famous Mandeville's bag at the bakery, after heading down to the viaduct to visit the sort of fan memorial to Harry. This trip has clearly meant a lot to Annalese, who is passionate about Harry's music.
She says: "I can relate to his music so much. Just listening to him helps my anxiety, his songs really just do that. Matilda is the best I cry lots when I hear him sing that."
Annalese's boyfriend is back home in Australia - but is always supportive of her Harry trips she says. She beams: "He is also called Harry. He just says whatever makes you happy you should go and do it."
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Mandeville's Bakery
When Harry himself gave fans a peek into his life in the One Direction biopic This is Us, it gave fans another glimpse into his life in Holmes Chapel, when he went back to the Mandeville's bakery where he used to work. It has made it a huge hotspot for visiting fans.
In the biopic he said: "I always kind of pop in when I go home. I worked at the bakery for 2 and a half years." He would brush up, do the dishes, and loved it when they asked him to work weekends he memorably recalled.
It all makes it an exciting place to visit for fans, with one gasping: "I actually felt nervous walking inside."
As well as the famous Harry cutout, there's also a photo of the One Direction lads back when they all popped in to visit the bakery some ten years ago when they were still a fivesome.
W Mandeville, 2 Macclesfield Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 7NE is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, but with an early finish on Wednesdays at 1pm. Saturdays the shop is open 8am to 2pm and it is CLOSED on Sundays.
The Twemlow Viaduct
The viaduct, an impressive feat of engineering and local landmark in itself, can be accessed by public footpaths, with a longer route across the fields accessed via Hermitage Drive. Or there is a shorter route via a stile off the busy main A535 Macclesfield Road towards Chelford.
The famous column where Harry scrawled his name is just over the River Dane side of the viaduct. It has become such a popular fan site that now FOUR of the columns are covered in fan names and love messages to the pop idol.
Twemlow Viaduct, Macclesfield Road, Holmes Chapel, CW4 8AL
Harry's House
Harry grew up in a terraced cottage on the main London Road through the village. His family no longer live there and this is a private residence, but fans still like to walk past and wistfully think of his formative years spent there.
It's close to the village cricket club and just a couple of doors down is the Fortune City Chinese restaurant that Harry has said in previous interviews it was his "favourite Chinese" he liked to go to.
Harry's old house is on London Road but is not open to the public
Harry's School
Again, thanks to the This is Us film, fans love to venture down to see where Harry went to school here in Holmes Chapel. Naturally, this is a working school so it is not open to the public and fans need to be respectful of that.
There's a large sign outside the front of the school though where fans like to pose, as Harry has done, underneath it.
Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School is on Selkirk Drive, Holmes Chapel - but is not open to the public
Other things to do in Holmes Chapel
The pretty village centre has lots of independent cafes, restaurants and historic pubs including the Red Lion right next to the church. The village is currently looking particularly pretty thanks to all the Queen's Jubilee decorations created by the village yarn bomber groups.
The centrepiece is a life-sized knitted Queen Elizabeth - with a little corgi dog right next to her - where you can go and take your picture. You'll also find colourful red white and blue bunting and bollard cosies all through the village.
Harry fans have been enjoying the sunshine in the village with the huge outdoor terrace at the Miola cafe on London Road, and also the beer garden at the George and Dragon pub. A couple of miles out of the village centre you'll also find the popular Bidlea Dairy ice cream farm, where you can get lovely views out to one of Cheshire's most famous landmarks of Jodrell Bank.
How to get there
Holmes Chapel is around 26 miles from Manchester, and is just off Junction 18 of the M6 motorway so is very easily accessed by car.
It is also very handily on the main train line route from Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe. Trains arrive and depart at the station twice hourly which is on Station Road, and around a five minute walk from the village centre.
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