Village residents who are followers of Harry Styles formed a plan to protect themselves.

Fans of Harry Styles faced danger in their community. This is how they responded.

Teenager Harry Styles, with a charming smile and curly hair, worked at a local bakery, and one day he set off to audition for the "X Factor" TV show in London. This young man eventually became part of the famous boy band One Direction and later made a name for himself in his solo career.

Holmes Chapel became well-known after it appeared in the 2013 documentary about One Direction "This Is Us." The fans of Harry Styles—nicknamed "Harries"—dotted this small town with 6,700 people on their list of places to visit, which was now seen as a destination for a pilgrimage of sorts.

The top attraction for tourists is the viaduct, where Styles had his first kiss and wrote his name on the wall using chalk in the mentioned documentary. However, locals expressed concern about the safety of the visitors, as there were an estimated 5,000 fans from around the world visiting the town each year.

A year after launching a free map with safe walking routes, Holmes Chapel Partnership has introduced the Harry's Home Village Tour. The gentle stroll lasts between 2.5 and 3 hours, allowing time for taking pictures and sharing content on social media. Tour guides, who are experts in the area and its popular resident, share their personal stories about their interactions with Styles.

Tour guide Jill Booth remembers how the future pop star once helped her rescue a baby mole her cats had brought in the house, and the mole made its way under the carpet. Booth has known Styles since he was a little kid, as she shared a neighborhood with him.

From the 150 people who aspired to be tour guides, many were from distant lands. An interview process consisted of a 80-question quiz on both Styles and his hometown, as well as a presentation task at the viaduct.

Another tour guide, Isabella Boughey, aged 21, hails from the fanbase and has held a special place for Styles in her heart since childhood. She recalls watching "The X Factor" with her mother. "He embodies happiness and positivity," she tells CNN Travel.

Graham Blake, the station master at Holmes Chapel Train Station, has greeted fans who've traveled from as far as Australia and Mexico. He remembers Styles, who used to visit the station on his trips to London for the reality show auditions. "He was a lovely lad," and he would wear unique outfits like denim jeans with Calvin Klein boxers and a little hat. At that time, he was always one step ahead of the trends in fashion.

The visitor book at the station has drawn heartfelt messages from fans, and Harry Styles' father, Des, regularly collects them. According to Blake, his job has become much more fascinating since he started interacting with Styles' enthusiastic fans.

Harry Styles memorabilia graces the decorations at the train station's ticket office, and W. Mandeville bakery showcases a life-sized cutout of Styles and another 2D figure. Even the employees at the bakery and the customers are used to the attention Styles has brought to the village.

You can also find coloring books and cocktails named after "Watermelon Sugar" around the town. It must be a difficult place for people with Styles fatigue.

Navigating the English countryside can be a challenge, and visitors are advised to adhere to the Countryside Code of England and Wales. The route to the viaduct is marked by green fields and a river, which is the safe route both the young hero and other local children would have used. However, many tourists repeat the dangerous act of trying to walk along a busy road with a lack of sidewalks, where they may encounter vehicles traveling at up to 50 miles per hour.

On the tour, visitors receive slate hearts to write messages upon rather than adding to the graffiti on the viaduct's brickwork. As Styles' fans reveal their feelings and express their admiration, a herd of cattle comes close and risks trampling them.

Two Australian friends, Phoebe Hodges and Mia Tesolin, traveling together, are delighted by the serene beauty of the village: "I like all the greenery and all the houses," says Hodges, while Tesolin concurs, "The scenery is definitely really beautiful."

The tour has yet to receive an endorsement from Styles himself, but the chair of the Holmes Chapel Partnership, Peter Whiers, indicates attempts have been made to contact his management team via his mother. (CNN also reached out to his music label for a response.)

Remark:

A unique opportunity awaits you in Holmes Chapel. Embark on a journey filled with stories, trivia, and up-close encounters with tweets, potato peelings, chalk wall messages, and the village where the One Direction member came from. The tour guides, who are well-versed in local history and lore, unravel captivating tales from Harry Styles' past:

Tour Experience

Begin your adventure at the Holmes Chapel Train Station platform, where you'll find Graham Blake, the station master, eager to share his experiences of meeting Harry Styles when he was auditioning for “The X Factor.”
Walk through the village, like locals did, through lush green fields and along the river—the safest way to the iconic viaduct.
Visit the W. Mandeville bakery, where you can find the famous man's life-size cutout and intermingle with Harry-inspired coloring books and "Watermelon Sugar" cocktails.
After tasting the renowned doughy treats of the village, you'll eventually reach the viaduct with your slate hearts in hand, with chalk to write your messages instead of adding to the graffiti.

For the first time, Whiers has been connected to Styles in the context of road safety. "I believe I evaluated his biking skills when he was roughly 10," he says, having been in charge of getting pupils from his school ready for the cycling proficiency test, a nationwide bike safety program.

'Messages of Love'

A location the tour skips over is the recently reopened Fortune City Chinese restaurant, which, on a Friday afternoon, appears to be no different from any other small-town dining place.

However, this is the spot where 18-year-old Harry Styles took his ex-girlfriend, 23-year-old Taylor Swift, on a date in 2012. A photo from that moment was disseminated on Twitter, with Styles exhibiting considerably more excitement about the evening out than Swift.

Whiers informs CNN that the fan base consists mostly of young girls and females, and they're typically quite respectful. "When you read the remarks written in Graham's book at the station or on the wall, they're all messages of love," he says.

The Harry Styles tune "Treat People with Kindness" has gained popularity among fans, and the tour around Holmes Chapel has been incredibly wholesome.

The £20 ($25) price of the tour may appear steep, but the partnership only began offering it after initially producing free walking maps. The tour maps contain discounts to local businesses, and they're hoping for a significant boost in sales of tour T-shirts.

In Japan, Austria, and the Balearics, there are communities struggling against their communities being taken over by tourists. When life offers lemons, make lemonade. In Holmes Chapel, when life offered watermelons, they produced watermelon sugar.

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Tourists flocking to Holmes Chapel for a Harry Styles pilgrimage contribute to an influx of visitors, leading to concerns about their safety. To address this issue, Holmes Chapel Partnership introduced the Harry's Home Village Tour, a gentle walk that allows fans to safely explore the town and learn about Styles' life there.

Traveling fans from around the world visit Holmes Chapel to immerse themselves in the culture that has been shaped by Styles' success. His impact on the town is evident in the dedicated Harry Styles memorabilia found at the train station and bakery, and even in items like watermelon sugar-themed cocktails.