At the weekend we finally got to take our oldest to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London. We'd said he could go once he finished reading (and watching) all the books, but of course we finished reading them together during lockdown last year so we only just got to doing it! He's a huge Potter fan so it was a big deal for him.

Our youngest is now asking when he can go too (same answer - once he's read all the books) - which is a way off as we haven't started them with him yet, he's not quite at the point where we are reading more complex chapter books yet but he does know lots of Potter characters thanks to his older brother!

It was a brilliant day out, the sets we truly spectacular and it was amazing to see how the books were bought to life on the screen. The level of detail was phenomenal and I think my jaw literally dropped when we walked in to Gringotts (one of my favourite bits of the tour). Seeing it all laid out in front of you really makes you marvel at the skill of the set builders and the huge imagination of JK Rowling in giving us this world in the first place.

The shop at the end of the tour was almost as jaw dropping as the rest of it and it would have been very easy to spend a huge amount of money there! We did leave with some souvenirs (which still made my bank account wince) a couple of wands for oldest and husband and a chocolate frog necklace for me (plus a small bowtruckle for Small who was spending the day happily with Grandparents)

In no particular order are some of my favourite photo's I took on our visit.

Wall of Proclamations from Order of the Phoenix - I loved reading as many of these as I could see!
The door to the Chamber of Secrets
Gringotts Bank with Goblins - one of my favourite bits of the tour
A Destroyed Gringott's bank from Deathly Hallows. The Dragon is coming!
Gringott's with the Dragon breathing fire - this was so well done you really believed it
It's Ollivander's shop!
How could I resist taking a picture of the bookshop window - Gilderoy Lockhart's adventures anyone?
The model of Hogwarts was breathtaking - we spent ages here looking at this
Buckbeak! He was in the forbidden forest set which was a little creepy (as it should be!)
Potions class with the Advanced Potions Making book belonging to the Half Blood Prince
The front room of No.4 Privet Drive was filled with Hogwarts letters
Inside the Lestrange Vault from Deathly Hallows
The iconic Hogwarts Express
My Chocolate Frog necklace, isn't it cute!

We had an amazing day - I'm already looking forward to visiting again in a few years when Small is ready to visit with us too.

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