Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Monday 23 September 2013

A Glimpse into the World of Harry Potter - Part 1

We had a family day out last Friday at Warner Bros Studio Tour, London, "The Making of Harry Potter".

Sorry rather a lot of photos and so I've decided to split it into two posts especially as Blogger is playing up tonight and its taken me 90 minutes just to upload the first lot of photos - they keep disappearing, re-appearing and going out of order! The post is really meant for any of you that are Harry Potter fans as its a slight departure from some of my usual posts. Also, if you are planning to visit yourselves you may prefer not to read the posts in case it spoils any surprises!!




Leavesden aerodrome and factory closed in 1994 and the site was transformed into a new home for England's film production from 1995. The studio was home to Harry Potter films for 10 years.





Waiting to enter the Great Hall



Unfortunately not too many pictures of this set. Regular readers will know I have problems with flash photography and the camera just hates low light. I eventually discovered on this tour that by increasing flash intensity to 3 and using the auto, rather than aperture setting, together with the flash improved the photos somewhat but not until after I had left the Great Hall :(



The Yule Ball


Gryffindor Common Room




Griffin Stairwell which led to Dumbledore's Office


Dumbledore's Office


The Memory Cabinet




The Potions Classroom where Professor Snape and later Professor Slughorn took potions classes



The Vault Cart


Chamber of Secret's Door


Hagrid's Hut. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts and later care of Magical Creatures Teacher


Model for Hagrid's Hut


The Ministry of Magic

The Towers


Umbridge's Ministry of Magic Office




The Burrow - the Weasley's Home



A magic scarf that knits itself :) Just the thing for CT, Lou Mary, Me and anyone else who is knitting/crocheting scarves et al :)


A Death Eater


Weasley's Wizard Wheezes





Coming up in Part 2 (if I can get photos to upload!!) - The Backlot (an outdoor set), The Creature's Shop, Diagon Alley (superb) and a huge model of Hogwarts Castle





























10 comments:

Em Parkinson said...

I will show OB these when he gets home!

Ragged Robin said...

Em Parkinson - Hope OB enjoys - great place for children :)

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! So much work goes into these sets doesn't it? It's great they are open to the public to enjoy them. Would love to go :-)

Ragged Robin said...

Countryside Tales - Thanks - amount of detail is unbelievable :) Well worth a visit about £29 for adults but you can spend as long as you like on the tour - we spent about 4 hours. Very busy though - packed even on Friday termtime!! Despite timed tickets 35 minute wait to get in too. But we all really enjoyed it. Will post more pics probably tomorrow as out tonight.

Wendy said...

I've heard this is good. My friend went twice - second time without her children! It must be fun to wander around such a fantasy world and see all the small details.

Ragged Robin said...

Wendy - Yes, it is very good. Luckily my two are in early twenties now but they "grew up" with Harry Potter and I read all the books too and we've seen all the films. Probably worth going twice as there is too much to take in on one visit!

Rohrerbot said...

Creepy and cool all at the same time. I think so many people would love to visit this place:) It really got a lot of teenagers reading....and that's a good thing.

Ragged Robin said...

Chris Rohrer - Thanks Chris - to be honest I'd never heard of it until son and daughter on about wanting to visit but so glad we went :) Anything that encourages youngsters to read is great news :)

Have you read the books? I really enjoyed them :)

SeagullSuzie said...

I'm a real Harry Potter fan, so many thanks for posting these photos. That's another thing to add to my to do list!

Ragged Robin said...

SeagullSuzie - Many thanks. So glad you enjoyed. Do hope you get to visit - a real treat for Harry Potter fans :)