Alnwick Castle

The Podlings are all Harry Potter obsessed (even Alex!), so during a recent weekend away in Northumberland we decided to take them to Alnwick Castle. Alnwick Castle was used to film parts of Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films, so we thought they would be excited to visit it. Unfortunately, they were expecting something rather closer to the CGI version of Hogwarts that you see in the movies, so to be honest they were rather underwhelmed with the real thing! We still had a lovely day out though. Tom, who has a very good memory for such things, was able to point out various parts that had been in the films. "This is where the flying car lands in The Chamber of Secrets and that's the arch it drove off through" were amongst his helpful observations as I didn't really have a clue! I would like to do the tour next time which tells you where different scenes were filmed. I am rather a fan of Harry Potter myself!

We all enjoyed the falconry display and were astonished at the size of the golden eagle. The state rooms were naturally very impressive and the girls enjoyed looking wistfully around the gift shop. We were able to upgrade our ticket (at no extra cost) to give us a yearly pass to the Castle, so we will definitely visit again. Emma was particularly keen to have a go at the broomstick lessons, which take place at the exact spot that Harry has his first flying lesson in the first film, so hopefully she will get an opportunity next time.