Oxford - The Harry Potter Tour with Jamie & Marguerite

 Oxford - The Harry Potter Tour 

Our group of excited Harry Potter fans couldn't wait to start their magical adventure at the world famous studios. With our Gryffindor hoodies, t-shirts and scarves we entered the spell binging world. Norbert the dragon greeted us as we made our way into the Great Hall where the Yule Ball and the Battle of Hogwarts took place. This spectacular hall holds costumes of students from each Hogwarts house, large tables which are set for dinner and the teachers table where the Hogwarts Professors sat.

Platform 9 ¾ was a highlight of the day. We had photos taken next to Hogwarts Express and posed with our luggage trollies whilst secretly hoping to be magically transported to Hogwarts. 

We continued into Privet Drive, home to Harry with the Dursley’s, pulled up potted Mandrakes inside Professor Sprouts Greenhouse and posed for photos astride the Triumph motorcycle and inside the Ford Anglia car that was once owned by Arthur Weasley. 

Experiencing the green screen technology was amazing! Here we had a chance to become Harry and ride a broomstick over London!

We wandered amongst sets, props and costumes and couldn't believe the detail that goes into everything. 

Diagon Alley and Gringotts Wizarding Bank were amazing, the latter was breathtaking with 3 magnificent crystal chandeliers hanging above us with real brass leaf. We then experienced the fire breathing Dragon escaping from Gringotts Bank heading towards us.

Our tour ended at the huge model of Hogwarts Castle, intricately detailed, built for the first film The Philosophers Stone. It was absolutely stunning 

We made our way to Oxford to embark on a Walking Tour lead by a local guide- Ben. Oxford is where numerous Harry Potter scenes were filmed taking inspiration from magical Gothic buildings. Ben led us around the university sites pointing out the grand colleges and libraries providing the ideal backdrop to bring the magical world of Hogwarts to life. We stood in front of the Divinity school which served as Hogwarts infirmary and noted the resemblance of the statue of the Earl of Pembroke to ‘Nearly Headless Nick’. We ventured into Bodleian Library- Duke Humfrey’s library used as Hogwarts library where Hermione spent countless hours researching spells. We stood in front of the ‘Bridge of Sighs’ which looks almost magical and just across the street is a red telephone box that looks very similar to the one Harry uses to get into the Ministry of Magic. 

Our next stop was The Natural History Museum, home to earth, science and nature. We began in the centre court marvelling at the new displays which use hundreds of specimens to show diversity in the natural world. The parade of skeletons is awesome especially the huge Asian and African elephants towering above us all. The most iconic piece held is the only surviving remains of the Oxford Dodo soft tissue that exists anywhere in the world

Another great find was at the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden. We entered through the Wonka gates and immersed ourselves into Dahls childhood experiences which inspired many of his books. 

Gemma and James dressed up in his uniform and posed for pictures, Steven entered the cockpit of an aeroplane as did James, sporting goggles and flight jacket. We viewed Roald Dahls Writing hut and had a go on the Spark-o-meter, so many interactive areas to enjoy. Out in the courtyard, we had to spot 17 Quentin Blake illustrations and guess what book they were from, and the statue of Matilda made a great phot opportunity.