Elvis Presley had Graceland. Dolly Parton owns Dollywood. Harry Styles has a railway viaduct on the mud flats of the Cheshire countryside.
It may not compare to the grand estates of some megastars, but fans around the world are flocking to the sleepy village of Holmes Chapel to pay tribute to its most famous former resident.
More than 5,000 Styles fans – or Harries as he is known – visited the chapel last year; which was almost equal to the entire population; This spurred community organizers to launch a recruitment campaign for superfans to lead official tours.
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Retired nuclear engineer Peter Whiers, who is overseeing the search, said backers from as far away as Argentina, the United States and Spain applied for the coveted job after it was advertised this week.
But he added that unless those living abroad “don’t have a great-aunt they can live with”, they’re looking for someone a little closer to home.
Whiers, chairman of the Holmes Chapel Partnership, said Styles fans had flocked to the village since the Grammy-winning singer rose to fame on The X Factor in 2010, but this had turned into a deluge in the last two years.
A father and daughter flew nearly 6,000 miles from Japan for just one day trip before returning immediately, he said: “I don’t think it’s unusual. It’s almost like a religion now,” Whiers said.
The site of this popular pilgrimage is the 180-year-old Twemlow Viaduct on the banks of the River Dane, where Styles reportedly had his first kiss. The massive railway bridge was a headline-grabbing success when it was built in 1841. Now the bridge has its own hashtag on TikTok, thanks to Styles’ signature on the historic arches.
“It’s very impressive,” said Alyssa Fleming, 17, who named her after World War II, now known as Harry’s Wall. He added it to the list of thousands of other structures.
The Belfast teenager had traveled by ferry with her family just to visit the mural and pick up some Styles products at Camden Market in London.
But visiting the viaduct is not for the faint of heart. Last year the Holmes Chapel Partnership warned fans were “risking life and limb” by crossing a notoriously risky A-road to reach the site.
Whiers said some tourists were unsure which way to look on British roads. Others are confused by the kissing doors. A free map was released last March (currently available for £5 on eBay) to guide Harries through country fields to avoid the main road at 50mph.
But the new route has its own dangers: Britain’s weather. The half-mile-long riverside walk is a mud bath most of the year and is home to some very enthusiastic cows in the spring.
“We’ve got a few issues to work out, like moving cows,” said Whiers, 67, who was on the safe side of a barbed wire fence after a small herd chased Guardian on Thursday.
Mud is another problem, he added: “The question is: If you’re coming from Peru, are you really going to bring boots, because the only time you’ll need them is on the mud flats of Holmes Chapel.”
Many fans describe visiting the railroad mural as an emotional experience. Fleming, who lives about 200 miles away, described it as “a home away from home.” His mother Anne Fleming, 45, said: “It was very emotional knowing everyone else did the camel walk to get there too. It’s very muddy.”
Tours will start in June at a cost of £20 per person. The town’s residents think they will sell out instantly and hope they will help businesses recover from the recession.
They’ll start at the Holmes Chapel train station, where cheerful inspector Graham Blake, who knows the Styles family, is on duty.
Blake, 62, sold Harry the train tickets that launched his journey to fame and pictures of the couple adorn the small ticket office. It is the first port of call for international visitors, who often arrive a little lost directly from Manchester airport.
“This is our little temple,” he says, pointing to a table with Styles’ artwork and guestbooks for fans to leave messages; five of which were given to the former One Direction frontman for his 30th birthday in February.
Harries often say they are impressed by the star’s down-to-earth nature, but for some, his hometown is a little too down-to-earth.
On his 18th birthday, a fan burst into tears after falling down a muddy slope. Two Danish teenagers wearing tight white jeans had to seek help from a hardware store after suffering the same fate.
Others take their fandom a little too far: “A girl asked me what Harry smelled like,” says Blake. “I actually said I don’t go around sniffing my passengers.”
But in the warmth of W Mandeville, a fourth-generation family bakery where Styles works part-time as a cleaner, 18-year-old Laura Mulry explains why she and her friend headed to this sleepy village 50 miles from Walsall.
“A lot of celebrities walk around and you don’t feel close to them because they’re so uninteresting,” he said. “Harry looks so human.”