diff --git a/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/thymeleaf/ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.java b/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/thymeleaf/ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.java
index eebc88153a..d7a0fc5c4f 100644
--- a/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/thymeleaf/ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.java
+++ b/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/thymeleaf/ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.thymeleaf;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 
+import javax.annotation.PostConstruct;
 import javax.servlet.Servlet;
 
 import nz.net.ultraq.thymeleaf.LayoutDialect;
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
 import org.springframework.core.Ordered;
 import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;
 import org.springframework.core.io.DefaultResourceLoader;
+import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.core.io.ResourceLoader;
 import org.thymeleaf.dialect.IDialect;
 import org.thymeleaf.extras.springsecurity3.dialect.SpringSecurityDialect;
@@ -74,6 +76,19 @@ public class ThymeleafAutoConfiguration {
 					"spring.thymeleaf.");
 		}
 
+		@PostConstruct
+		public void checkTemplateLocationExists() {
+			if (this.environment
+					.getProperty("checkTemplateLocation", Boolean.class, true)) {
+				Resource resource = this.resourceLoader.getResource(this.environment
+						.getProperty("prefix", DEFAULT_PREFIX));
+				if (!resource.exists()) {
+					throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot find template location: "
+							+ resource + " (are you really using Thymeleaf?)");
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
 		@Bean
 		public ITemplateResolver defaultTemplateResolver() {
 			TemplateResolver resolver = new TemplateResolver();
diff --git a/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/thymeleaf/ThymeleafAutoConfigurationTests.java b/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/thymeleaf/ThymeleafAutoConfigurationTests.java
index e5684b76ae..373635f999 100644
--- a/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/thymeleaf/ThymeleafAutoConfigurationTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/thymeleaf/ThymeleafAutoConfigurationTests.java
@@ -17,14 +17,14 @@
 package org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.thymeleaf;
 
 import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Locale;
-import java.util.Map;
 
+import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException;
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.PropertyPlaceholderAutoConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.boot.test.EnvironmentTestUtils;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext;
-import org.springframework.core.env.MapPropertySource;
 import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletRequest;
 import org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletResponse;
 import org.springframework.mock.web.MockServletContext;
@@ -47,41 +47,50 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
  */
 public class ThymeleafAutoConfigurationTests {
 
+	private AnnotationConfigApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext();
+
+	@After
+	public void close() {
+		if (this.context != null) {
+			this.context.close();
+		}
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void createFromConfigClass() throws Exception {
-		AnnotationConfigApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext();
-		context.register(ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.class,
+		EnvironmentTestUtils.addEnvironment(this.context, "spring.thymeleaf.mode:XHTML",
+				"spring.thymeleaf.suffix:");
+		this.context.register(ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.class,
 				PropertyPlaceholderAutoConfiguration.class);
-		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
-		map.put("spring.thymeleaf.mode", "XHTML");
-		map.put("spring.thymeleaf.suffix", "");
-		context.getEnvironment().getPropertySources()
-				.addFirst(new MapPropertySource("test", map));
-		context.refresh();
-		TemplateEngine engine = context.getBean(TemplateEngine.class);
+		this.context.refresh();
+		TemplateEngine engine = this.context.getBean(TemplateEngine.class);
 		Context attrs = new Context(Locale.UK, Collections.singletonMap("foo", "bar"));
 		String result = engine.process("template.txt", attrs);
 		assertEquals("<html>bar</html>", result);
-		context.close();
 	}
 
 	@Test
 	public void overrideCharacterEncoding() throws Exception {
-		AnnotationConfigApplicationContext context = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext();
-		context.register(ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.class,
+		EnvironmentTestUtils.addEnvironment(this.context,
+				"spring.thymeleaf.encoding:UTF-16");
+		this.context.register(ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.class,
 				PropertyPlaceholderAutoConfiguration.class);
-		Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();
-		map.put("spring.thymeleaf.encoding", "UTF-16");
-		context.getEnvironment().getPropertySources()
-				.addFirst(new MapPropertySource("test", map));
-		context.refresh();
-		context.getBean(TemplateEngine.class).initialize();
-		ITemplateResolver resolver = context.getBean(ITemplateResolver.class);
+		this.context.refresh();
+		this.context.getBean(TemplateEngine.class).initialize();
+		ITemplateResolver resolver = this.context.getBean(ITemplateResolver.class);
 		assertTrue(resolver instanceof TemplateResolver);
 		assertEquals("UTF-16", ((TemplateResolver) resolver).getCharacterEncoding());
-		ThymeleafViewResolver views = context.getBean(ThymeleafViewResolver.class);
+		ThymeleafViewResolver views = this.context.getBean(ThymeleafViewResolver.class);
 		assertEquals("UTF-16", views.getCharacterEncoding());
-		context.close();
+	}
+
+	@Test(expected = BeanCreationException.class)
+	public void templateLocationDoesNotExist() throws Exception {
+		EnvironmentTestUtils.addEnvironment(this.context,
+				"spring.thymeleaf.prefix:classpath:/no-such-directory/");
+		this.context.register(ThymeleafAutoConfiguration.class,
+				PropertyPlaceholderAutoConfiguration.class);
+		this.context.refresh();
 	}
 
 	@Test