Once Upon A Tilly: harry potter studio tour

As promised, I've decided to write about my trip to London early in the year. Anyone who knows me will know that I am an absolutely huge Harry Potter fan, so as soon as the Studio Tour was opened, I was desperate to go. Even though my Mum isn't a fan at all, she agreed to incorporate it into our trip, which was part of my 21st birthday celebrations.

Day One

Actually getting there was a huge issue, as we travelled in late January when all of the snow hit. My fellow Brits will know that the slightest bit of snowfall and the entire country comes to a standstill, especially public transport. Because of this I didn't allow myself to get excited about the trip until we were actually sat in our hotel room in London.

The first day was mostly travelling, but we also went for a quick wander around some of the shops down Oxford Street, especially the huge Primark which was just opposite our hotel, the St. Giles. On the night, we headed down to the Novello Theatre to see Mamma Mia! It was absolutely amazing and I would definitely go again. The cast was wonderful, and if you're a fan of the film, you'll like the show. Although I'm a huge film fan, there's nothing quite like experiencing it in the theatre, listening to the music live with a huge audience. The theatre itself was gorgeous and the layout of the seats meant that even five rows back we had a fabulous view.

Day Two

This was the day we'd booked our tickets to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, and foolishly, we thought we'd easily have time to get there for 10:30am. Normally that would be fine, but because of the bad weather, train after train was cancelled, we ended up getting a slow train that took 45 minutes for a 15 minute journey, causing us to miss the bus to the tour. Long story short, we arrived late, but because so many people were missing their slots and there was generally poor attendance, we were allowed in, phew.

Now this was definitely the thing I was most looking forward to, and although I knew it would be brilliant, nothing quite prepared me for how truly magical it was. From the point of view of a film student, it was fascinating to see how everything was made, and to see the actual sets from the films! But most of all, from the point of view of a lifelong Harry Potter fan, it was the most amazing experience, the pictures can't capture how beautiful and amazing the whole place is. If you're undecided about going, hopefully reading about my trip will sway you to visit. There were several points that made me cry because it was so overwhelming and that's something that no words or pictures can capture, you really have to go yourself.

The actual layout of the place is brilliant, and you can walk around in your own time and spend as long as you want at every given point. One of the main things I regret is not spending a lot of time at certain points, mainly because I was so excited to get round it, I could have easily finished the tour and gone straight back around again! You're not rushed along at all so make sure you take your time and take plenty of snaps, but make sure you don't just view it all through your camera; one of the most amazing points of the tour I didn't take pictures of because I was so in awe, but I have memories that outweigh any photograph.

Another top tip; if possible, go during the school term time! The combination of the bad weather and visiting on a weekday during term time meant that it was pretty empty, which allowed us to really have a proper look at everything and take some good photographs.

I took over 500 photos, so to pick just a few was incredibly difficult! And without further ado, here are some of my favourite pictures...

Whether you come back by page or by screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home

Day Three

Again, we really didn't consider the weather when we booked this trip, as our plans were to spend the morning at London Zoo, then go shopping in the afternoon. I have honestly never been so cold in my entire life, I thought I was going to die (maybe a little dramatic, but I was freezing!). The Zoo itself was great, and you can actually get pretty close to some of the animals, and if I do say so myself, I managed to get a few pretty good photos.