Harry Potter Studio Tour

Sherbert lemon

When: Saturday 13^th April

Where: Levesdon

Why: POTTER POTTER POTTER

  

I firmly hold that I am exactly the right age to be heading to Warner Brothers’ Harry Potter studios. I am of the true Potter generation, and all these bloody four year olds running around have no idea how important all this stuff is – they just want a wand and a chocolate frog and then they can be on their way. This was nowhere more obvious than during the quiz which we took part in on Diagon Alley (YEAH WE DID), where my friend and I basically knew the answers to all the questions but had to refrain from tearing down all the kids present by beating them to each one. Still though, we both won a box of Bertie Botts’ beans so children, know your place.

Anyway, tickets are around £29 if you don't get all the extra guidebooks and audio tours (don't think you need them really), which sounds a lot but it's really an experience you need to have if you in any way love Harry Potter or film-making or looking at prosthetic elf heads.

Getting there was super easy, just a train from Paddington (where we spotted Gary Linekar going into Caffe Nero- I know right?) to Watford Junction, then a clearly signed bus from the station to the studios, about a 10 min journey. Sorted.

The start of the tour consists of queuing up past the cupboard under the stairs, being welcomed in a cheese-fest of a holding area (“Scream if you're a Slytherin!” ... Oh, just me then), then a short film by the main three kids about how immense HP is. The best thing about the film is the end, when Harry goes through the doors into the great hall, then the screen rolls up and the doors to the ACTUAL great hall are there. Whoever thought of that was some kind of genius. We had a little guided tour round the great hall ("Here are some Ravenclaw uniforms. Here is the fireplace. There is no roof" etc) then were left to our own devices (thankfully).

Basically, the place is amazing. Just very cool. All the sets are together in a huge hanger – everything you could imagine from the film is there and more. You realise how much massive detail went into these films when you see the shelves of ancient potions books or all the artefacts in Dumbledore's office. All the treasures are kept too, like the philosopher's stone and Harry's golden snitch. It's sad but it reminds you how much the films permeate your life when you see so many little familiar objects and they make you grin with pleasure. I know the books will always be the winners for me (obv) but I do have love for most of the films (especially the first one).

The outdoor sets were the highlight for me – maybe because I'd had a Butterbeer (not as rank as I'd been led to expect) and got over-excited. Number 4 Privet Drive, the Hogwarts bridge, the Knight Bus, the Riddle grave, Harry's Godric's Hollow house and all the chess pieces and Hagrid's motorbike and the Weasleys' flying car... It's all there baby. So impressive and like stepping into another world.

The second half of the experience contains all the animatronics (including a moving Buckbeak – he's so lush!) and models, which are very impressive. Diagon Alley was suitably cool and the wand shop at the end had the name of everyone who'd worked on the films on a wand box which was sweet.

Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

The best thing by FAR though was the huge model of Hogwarts at the end of the tour. It appears round a corner with beautiful music from the soundtrack playing, and it made me genuinely emotional. My friends were waiting for me to come in to see my reaction, which was obviously one of WONDER and expletives. It’s the actual model they used to film all the outdoor scenes of the school in the first seven films, until they scanned in all in digitally so they could explode it in the last one. It was just amazing and so detailed. The (lovely) guide told us that there were even tiny owls in the owlery building and little people in all the windows. It is just astonishing and I can't imagine just how much work went into making it. That model above all of the props and sets there really made me realise how powerful the whole world is that J K Rowling created. I know this sounds ridiculously cheesy but I don't care. It means so much to so many people and that's what every writer must want. That made Rowling feel a bit more present, as up til then it had been all about the films and their creation rather than the books or stories themselves.

GO if you can, you won't regret it.

Brixpig x