I know many of you have been waiting for
this... my report on the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour. It wasn’t that
great actually.
AS IF!!
It was pretty much one of the best things
ever!!
We caught the train to Watford Junction to
get the Harry Potter shuttle bus to the studios in Leavesden., where filming
took place over ten years. Even before going in we saw Harry’s cupboard under
the stairs and one of his pairs of glasses, which got us super excited!After
seeing an introduction video in a cinema, the screen was raised in front of us
and there they were, the doors to the Great Hall, which we entered to see two
of the long tables set for dinner, the teachers’ head table, the tally of house
points, Dumbledore’s lectern and a few cosutmes! It was so exciting actually
being there! The detail in all the
sets, the props, the costumes, is incredible. We saw the Gryffindor common room
and boys dormitory, Dumbledore’s office (my personal fave), the Potions
classroom, the kitchen from the Burrow (a close second), the Ministry of Magic
(absolutely massive), Umbridge’s office in the Ministry, Hagrid’s hut, and the
Green Screen including broomstick, Sirius’s motorbike and the cart on which
Harry, Hermione and Ron rode through Gringotts. Not to mention all the amazing
props and costumes!! Ugh, too much to include here!!
The Hogwarts Great Hall, ready for dinner
Gryffindor costumes, including Harry's first year uniform on the left and Neville's cardi second from the right.
Wands - Harry, Hermione and Ron included
The Mirror of Erised - apparently I desire a bunch of strangers...
Gryffindor common room
The Crystal Goblet from Half Blood Prince and the Philosopher's Stone from Philosopher's Stone
Various fun props including a snitch, the time turner, the deluminator and Rita Skeeter's Quick Quotes Quill
Dumbledore's office. I totally want this room!
Potions dungeon classroom
The door to the Chamber of Secrets
One of my favourites: The Burrow
What remains of the Ministry of Magic.
Umbridge's Ministry office
And that was only the first part! The
backlot was next, but we took a few minutes out to sample some Butterbeer – the
verdict: delicious! Almost sickly sweet, with a really creamy, marshmallowy
vanilla-tasting head on it. My only complaint about the butterbeer was that it
was cold, where I had always imagined it being warm, but maybe that’s just me!
The backlot was also very cool, and had the Knight Bus, two of the houses from
Privet Drive (including number 4, of course), the Potter’s House from Godric’s
Hollow, the wooden bridge to Hogwarts and some of the giant Wizard’s Chess
pieces.
Mads with her Butterbeer
Privet Drive
The Knight Bus
Me paying my respects at the Potter's House at Godric's Hollow
Next we went to the Creature Shop, where
they had prosthetics, robots and dummies of the cast – the best to see was poor
little Dobby and Buckbeak the hippogriff, which moves so smoothly it’s like a
real animal. We got to walk up Diagon Alley and finally see the huge model of
Hogwarts, which they used for filming external shots of the castle. It was
incredible. It was absolutely massive, and so incredibly detailed: I wanted to
cry!!
Buckbeak!
Ollivander's on Diagon Alley
Hogwarts!! Amazing!!
Hogwarts at daytime
The detail on this enormous model is absolutely incredible!
Out via a massive giftshop, trying to
resist as much temptation as possible (although I did get a gift or two and
maybe a couple of books). Then it
was back to the flat to pack up and clean, ready to leave on Friday!
Yesterday morning I caught the train to
Kings Cross to pick up a very nice Audi A4 which will be mine for the next 2
weeks! It is a very sweet ride and very fancy, with no handbrake (it’s
automatic with the gears) and a key that doesn’t turn, you stick it in the
dashboard and it becomes a button that you push to start the car. And the
engine shuts off whenever you stop at lights, then turns on again when you
release the brake. AND it has GPS which may be the coolest thing ever! I made
it all the way back to Walthamstow not knowing where the heck I was the entire
time and I didn’t get lost!
The Audi. Sweet as. Only problem is they don't seem to like telling you what the speed limit is in England. Problematic when there is a speed camera on the road to our hotel. I suppose it's like a guessing game...
Driving in London is actually not as bad as
driving in Sydney – it feels like there are less cars, and other drivers are
extremely polite and accommodating. Except that you can drive for over an hour
and still be in the city, the place is so huge! After packing the car we drove
to Bermondsey to drop some stuff off at Mads’ locker and we were on our way to
Stratford-Upon-Avon, our new home for the next two days!
The drive was pretty nice, a lot of Canola
fields and sheep and small towns: basically England looks just the way you
would imagine And so, so, so green!
It feels like you’re wearing green coloured glasses or something, even
the air seems to be green – actually rather funny as there have been water-wise
signs all over the place and we were told the other day that England is in the
middle of a very bad drought, I had to try very hard indeed not to laugh out loud.
Canola fields across from our hotel. Stunning, makes me think of Bathurst...
Sheep and lambies next door! So adorable!!
We got to our hotel and were completely
blown away! It’s in an old manor house on the site of a medieval town which was
abandoned a long time ago and is now a sheep paddock. The hotel itself is so
beautiful, with a topiary garden, a big fountain, and a wooded duck pond. There
is a huge canola field across the road, and one of my favourite things, a
little church which dates back to the 11th Century. The church yard is completely overgrown
with graves hidden all over the place: apparently Shakespeare’s grand-daughter
was married there, and there is a claim that Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway
there as well (mind you, this is a claim made by just about every church in the
area. Maybe they just had lots of weddings...). After a stroll around the
grounds we drove in to the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon. Everything was closed,
pretty much, but we had a look at Shakespeare’s birthplace, and found a
laundrette so we did our washing. At one point a bunch of hard-ass fifteen year
old boys came in to eat their fish and chips and listen to S Club 7. They make
‘em tough in Stratford! Back to the hotel for dinner in the fancy pants dining
room, where I spotted a secret door in the panelling – apparently there are a
lot of secret passageways in the hotel!
Billesley Manor Hotel
The main entrance
Mads in the Topiary Garden
The beautiful All Saints Church, originally part of the medieval town that once stood in the (now) paddock next door.
Washing!!
Mads looks for some reading material
We slept in (again) this morning, and then
Shakespeare Saturday started in earnest! First we went to Anne Hathaway’s
cottage, which is a couple of miles out of town and is where she grew up,
before getting knocked up and marrying Will. We had chocolate cake for breakfast
at the cafe across the road and headed in to the house which was stunningly
beautiful! It has a thatched roof, beautiful gardens (I am obsessed with bulbs
after this trip. I just want a yard full of bulbs!) and the whole place is
delightfully crooked. There is not a level floor in the place, it looks like
it’s going to fall down at any moment and I love it! Move over Hampton Court, I
think I will live here instead! We went for a walk along the Wooded Walk which
was so fun and, again, so green. Then we drove back to Stratford to see
Shakespeare’s Birthplace. The town is so lovely, there are so many old, crooked
16th and 17th Century buildings. We also checked out
Nash’s House and New Place, which is where Shakespeare died but was knocked
down a long time ago, so now there is a big archaeological dig going on where
the house used to be. We then walked along to Trinity Church, which is where
he, Anne Hathaway and other family members including his daughter are buried. The interesting thing about Shakespeare
is that despite the fact he was so famous even in his day, there is very little
that survives that we know definitely belonged to him. Compare this with the
Dickens exhibition we were at the other day, there is even a shopping list that
Dickens wrote that survives.
Anne Hathaway's Cottage.
Anne Hathaway's garden
The Woodland Walk
Mads with her new best friend, the rubber William Shakespeare duck.
Me outside Shakespeare's Birthplace
The best bed in the Shakespeare's living room.
Shakespeare's stairs
What light from yonder window breaks? Why it's Juliet! Performance at Shakespeare's birthplace.
A street in Stratford-Upon-Avon
Archaeological dig at New Place.
Trinity church, where Shakespeare was both baptised and buried.
Anne Hathaway and William Shakespeare's graves. His reads 'Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my bones.' Fair enough.
Mads chillin by the River Avon in the churchyard at Trinity.
Another cool building in Stratford-Upon-Avon
Mads outside the Madeleine Ann shop. Even though our Mads is Anne with an 'e', it's pretty dang close!
We walked back to the town centre along the
River Avon, and had dinner at a pub established in 1450, which was pretty cool
too. Despite almost having a panic attack when I nearly lost one of my gloves
in one of the gift shops, all in all it was a very pleasant day in a very
historical and beautiful town: I highly recommend a visit!
Also, they sell Wonka Bars here, just like
the ones in the Willy Wonka movie! Forget seeing Shakespeare’s first folio, probably
the most exciting point of the day was seeing Wonka bars in a shop’s cabinet!!
Yaaaaay Wonka bar!
Golden ticket???
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