Oxford - The Harry Potter Tour with Jon & Netty

 

At the Warner Brother studios we were so excited to step into Harry Potter world. We were totally mesmerised by the props, films and shear size of the studios.

We visited Dumbledore's office and Severus Snape class room. We saw the mannequins of both characters and all the decor with shelves of books, potions as well as old magical artefacts, such as the mysterious pensieve.

We entered a blue lit room which was a very wonderful scene, it was the Hogwarts Castle, the original large castle used for the films, resplendent on its mountain side, with pine forests surrounding.

The team members were very enthusiastic and engage to show us the wand choreography, featuring a video demonstrating correct wand moves. This was a very popular activity amongst the group. We all performed in front of two mirrors, much like the mirror of ‘Erised.’

 At the Platform 9¾  we posed for photos, of our self, pushing the model luggage trolley ‘through’ the wall, just like in the films. The Hogwarts Express is a beautiful red steam engine, the original used in the films and we had the chance to board it! 

The Diagon Alley set constantly changed throughout the film series. Since its construction, walls have shifted, shop fronts have moved and entire buildings have been carefully tweaked, leaning just slightly, to create the street that is seen in the films.

We experienced flying on a broomstick on a green screen, which allows them to replace the green colours with a completely different background or computer-generated set. 

We stepped into the Great Hall where some of the most iconic scenes were filmed such as the Yule Ball and the Battle of Hogwarts.

In Oxford we took in the pure wonder of the architecture and the magnificent buildings. We toured round many film sets of Harry Potter where the great room was filmed and where Harry Potter was in hospital in the films and the grounds of the university’s where many shots were filmed. We were also shown where inspector Morse was filmed and where Mores filmed his final scenes. We then moved onto the film sets of Narnia, The lord of the Rings, Alice in wonderland and most haunted.

We also visited the exciting museum of Roald Dahl which featured galleries, is home and archives. Roald Dahl was a spy, an ace fighter pilot, a chocolate historian and a medical inventor. He was also the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, the BFG and many more fantastic stories. He remains for many the world’s No. 1 storyteller.