Potter gold for 2022

There’s a Potter gold for 2022 with a New Year’s Day reunion on TV to mark 20 years of the Boy Wizard films, and a road trip in my inbox.

And our friends at Family Money have outlined a route and what I’ll call a Muggles Budget.

And now with a flick of a Harry Potter wand I’ll now share.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the two cities that inspired JK Rowling the most are the most represented.

London and Edinburgh, of course, feature most heavily in the author’s life.

With the Scottish capital where JK has set up her demesne.

The two major capitals in the UK are also, because of their history and their architecture, among the most used sets.

The journey starts, obvs at King’s Cross Station at Platform 9 and three-quarters.

Your Potter planner

And this is how Family Money lay out your Potter planner for you, the cost, and how much time you will need. 

Platform for success

Your journey will take you more than 70 hours to enjoy if you are driving (not including sleep or food time) and could cost you up to £2714 if you are taking part in the full trip.

Explore the different bridges that were used as filming locations in The Big Smoke and enjoy walking the corridors at Gloucester Cathedral.

And relax with a drink in one of the many Harry Potter themed bars or stay in the J.K.Rowling suite for just £2370 a night!

As well as London and Edinburgh, you will also be traveling to Watford where you can look at the Great Hall and go behind the scenes of the filming.

Other essentially English sets include Oxford, Chippenham, Gloucester, Northwich, and Alnwick. 

Buckle up

And to reiterate your journey (and I always need telling once, twice, thrice).

You’ll start in King’s Cross Station, venture to Leadenhall Market, Millennium Bridge, Tower Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, The Harry Potter Photo Exhibition, The Potion Room Tea at Cutter & Squidge, House of Mina Lima and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

That Warner Brother Studio Tour in Watford, north of London, is a must for families.

So next one will be Warner Brother Studio Tour before going all academic in Oxford at The Dining Hall at Oxford’s Christ Church College, Duke Humfrey’s Library at Bodleian Library, New Colleges Cloisters & Courtyard and The Divinity School at Bodleian Library.

Now I confess the next bit of geography and Potterology gets sketchy for me but you’ll know where to go.

So it’s Bodley Tower Staircase and Cloisters, Lacock Abbey, Harry Potter’s Parents’ House and Horace Slughorn’s Hideaway.

I know that Gloucester Cathedral is in the West, then there’s Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience before you hit the north and Alnwick Castle.

Welcome to Edinburgh

And seeing that I’m in the second chapter of my Scottish capital life let me take you around.

The Balmoreal Hotel  where the clock is always set three minutes late to allow rail passengers at Waverley some extra time to catch their train.

But that trip up to the Highlands can wait.

First we have to take in The Elephant House where JK wrote the early Potter.

Greyfriars Kirkyard where she took the names for characters such as McGonnigal.