Harry Potter's England
 

Taking our 8-year old daughter to England in October. Appreciative of any suggestions on sites, tours or other points of interest related to the Harry Potter stories. Thank-you.

I beleive the castle used in many of the shots is called Alnsworth or Ainsworth and I think its in East Anglia-either way you can look it up on Google

If you're traveling to the north, Alnwick Castle (pronounced "annick") in Northumberland was used in the film. Take the train from London to Durham, visit the cathedral and old town, then pick up a car and do a driving tour of Northumberland and the Scottish borders, ending in Edinburgh. As a bonus, note that you'll leave from Kings Cross Station, although not from Platform 9 3/4.

There is a whole Harry Potter tour guide that is put out by the British tourist board. If you do a search, I'm sure you'll find it. Alnwick Castle is very lovely and fun to tour, but it's quite a bit away from the normal tourist things---up in Northumberland near the border with Scotland. Do a search, I'm sure you'll find the map site.

Just found it---email the British Tourist Agency at [email protected] Have fun!

2 locations I've been to:<BR><BR>Goathland train station, Yorkshire (about 1/2 hr from Whitby). This station was used as the Hogsmede station in the movie. (However, the reason *I* was there was because the village is also used as the set for the TV series Heartbeat). You can take an old steam train journey from Goathland to Pickering as a fun little side trip.<BR><BR>The hall of Christchurch College, Oxford--used as the Hogwarts great hall. Won't look anything like it, though--no magical ceilings or ghosts to be seen!

If you go to the British Tourist Authority web site at this URL, it will pull up a page on Harry Potter. Click on the button that says "Locations" on the right for the film locations.<BR><BR>On our recent trip we accidentally did a Harry Potter tour, because we visited Oxford and Gloucester. We thought Gloucester Cathedral was breathtaking, especially the cloisters. Oxford University has two lovely HP film locations as well, the Divinity School and the Duke Humfry's Library (where Hermione finds a book in the movie). Gloucester and Oxford are about an hour apart by train, and Oxford is only an hour from London, so they would make very good Harry Potter stops if you're flying into London.<BR><BR>Julie

Sorry, this URL:<BR><BR>http://www.visitbritain.com/harry_potter/index1.htm

topping

Mike,<BR><BR>The exhibition hall in Australia House--the Australian embassy in London--was used as the basic model for the bank. Of course, the real building is a lot less spooky than the Gringott's. Australia House is located on the Strand (road) near the Temple Underground station. <BR><BR>Don't expect any snakes to escape while you are there, but the reptile house of the London Zoo was featured in the movie. <BR><BR>Of course, there is no Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station, and you'll hurt yourselves trying to find it using the "wizard's method" of charging headlong into a wall. The film actually used other platforms (1 and 2, I think). <BR><BR>Enjoy!<BR><BR>David White<BR>http://www.KidsToLondon.com