A Truly Magical Birthday Outing

My own photography has taken a back seat to other commitments recently, but today was the day of my "mystery" birthday outing: to the Warner Brothers studio where the Harry Potter films were shot.  A wonderful day out, and the whole show has been superbly organised.  Considering how many people were there, the only place which felt at all crowded was the shop, which was full of HP merchandise at inflated prices.  Otherwise it was pretty good value, with the only other rip-off being the "Butterbeer", at £2.95 for a small helping of what was, basically, liquid toffee!

The studio was guarded by three of the giant chess pieces from The Philosopher's Stone.

The three principal characters had all made hand-prints when the studio was opened, and Izzi was pleased to discover that she had exactly the same sized hands as Daniel Radcliffe.

The entrance hall was pretty impressive in itself, with some superb portraits of various members of the cast.  It also had the obligatory Starbucks, who appeared to have the refreshments franchise.

Photography was definitely allowed in the studio, but the light levels were low and the colour was constantly changing.  I suspect that this, along with the ban on flash and tripods, guaranteed that virtually nobody got a shot they could use professionally.  Here are a few pictures I've managed to process since I got back from the outing.  Many are monochrome, as the mixed original colours were otherwise totally horrendous.

Dumbledore's office.

The Potions classroom.

The Potter house, in Godric's Hollow.

Diagon Alley (and, yes, the entrance to Gringotts really is that bent).

 The entrance to Hogwarts Great Hall.

An exhibit from the make-up department, with Timothy Spall on one of the shelves!

The Gryffindor bedroom.  One of the few areas where the colour is anything like accurate.

Finally, the 1:24 scale model of the entire Hogwarts Castle, which is truly astonishing.  There are some people visible in the first picture, which gives some sense of the size of the model.

Definitely a Grand Day Out, and thoroughly recommended for anyone who likes Harry Potter or who is interested in the minutiae of film making.

Things on and in the Water

Returning to our so-called holiday on the Norfolk Broads, here are a few from Salhouse Broad between Wroxham and Horning.  A beautiful spot which also happens to be within easy walking distance of the restaurant at the Woodforde's Brewery in Woodbastwick.  Yum...

Izzi and Harriet decided to explore the Broad by kayak while I stayed back at base to photograph the "wildlife".  There was the occasional Great Crested Grebe and Egyptian Goose, but mainly they were kept at bay by a chap a couple of boats over who insisted on playing his accordion.

The Egyptian Goose is, of course, a duck (if it looks like a goose and quacks like a goose, etc.).

Unusually for the holiday, we were then treated to a beautiful sunny evening.  As a result we decided to let Amber have a swim in the Broad before going off for a slap-up dinner at the aforementioned restaurant.

Did I mention that the dinner was yummy?

Tyntesfield

While staying in Bristol we had a Grand Day Out to Tyntesfield, a National Trust property in North Somerset.  It was raining (well, tipping down actually) when we arrived, and did so for most of the day.  We discovered later that there had been flash floods, landslides (and, for all I know, plagues of frogs) in the vicinity, but we managed to get away with a light drenching.

The house is a Victorian Gothic pile, set in large grounds, which was bought by The Trust about 10 years ago.  One of the conditions of sale was that all the paraphernalia (i.e. crap), acquired by the family over the last four generations, were left as is rather than being discarded.  The house is, therefore, rather cluttered and not exactly pristine.  A poor cousin to Cragside in Northumberland, as far as I'm concerned, but interesting nevertheless. 

Needless to say I took advantage of the National Trust's new "camera friendly" policy...

The Billiard Room (actually an English Pool room) was something to behold.  It had a heated table, and a comprehensive array of antlered heads mounted on the wall.  The ceiling was quite impressive too.

As can be seen below, much of the furniture has that "lived in" quality, and many of the carpets are threadbare.  Rather refreshing compared to the "pickled in aspic" sense one normally gets from a National Trust house.

The hallway and staircase were suitably imposing.

A selection of some of the priceless "valuables" acquired by The Trust as part of the house sale.

A chapel was added to the house at some point, presumably when the family was more affluent than it later became.

By the time we'd finished going around the house it had almost stopped raining.  Within 30 minutes the sun had come out, and the whole place started steaming as a result.

To finish off, a couple of pictures taken in the gardens.