What Sophie Said

J. K. Rowling. I wonder if she ever realised what a phenomenon that little boy with the lightening scar and his stories would become.  The first book came out when I was about 6 or 7, so I’m of the generation who well and truly grew up with the Harry Potter books and then the films. But what is it about the wizarding world of Hogwarts and Harry Potter that still keeps us so captivated? I don’t have the answer, but I felt the need to put down here just how much I love the books and (although to a lesser extent) the films. They formed such a huge part of my fictional world as I grew up, and the anticipation for each new book was huge. I have all the books sitting on a shelf back at my parents’ house, the final few particularly special due to the little birthday messages from my lovely grandad in the front who always used to encourage my love of reading. I guess the point of this post was that I realised over the last few months that none of my love for the Ha...

Where do I even start? This visit really was one of the most magical ways to spend a Friday evening. I've been meaning to visit the Happy Potter Studio Tour for years, and my excitement levels leading up to the day were huge. The first book came out when I was about 7, so I well and truly grew up with the world of the Harry Potter books and then films. The ticket was £35, which is more than reasonable when the average visit takes about 3 hours... When we were told people tended to take 3 or more hours to look round I was a little dubious, but I had no idea quite how much was actually there! The tour begins with a short film about the making of Harry Potter, after which the doors to the Great Hall at Hogwarts are revealed. Walking through the Great Hall was just incredible, and the Studio Tour houses lots of sets just like this one. There's the Gryffindor dormitory, the potions classroom, the Weasleys' house, and many more. Costumes were displayed through...