Harry Potter Adventure 2023 - Driving down south (Day 1)

Over the past few years, Nicole has been invited to guest lecture at the University of Reading. This year the lecture was face-to-face for the first time since COVID. This meant that we made it into a mini holiday break. Why not when it is such a long way to drive! We set off as soon as we could on Saturday morning as we were hoping to stop off at Henley for some lunch and a wander before we set off to our AirBnB for the weekend.

The drive down felt very long! I don’t know if this was due to setting off earlier, so we didn’t have lunch halfway down, or maybe I am just getting a bit more impatient with long journeys. We made it down with few issues and hit Henley at just the right time for lunch. However, during the last few minutes of the car journey, I spotted a bird I had not seen before and soon became fixated on finding out what the mystery bird was. I didn’t think I would need to bring the binoculars and bird identifier book so had left it at home. I had it in my head it was a big black bird of prey, but none of the pictures matched as it had a v-shaped tail. The more and more I couldn’t identify the bird, the more it irritated me! I soon realised that, as it was a very sunny day, the colours of the bird underneath were deceiving me! Still none the wiser, we headed off into The Catherine Wheel. It was quite a nice pub, it was very large and busy, but we managed to grab a table. Instead of opting for a full meal, we chose to make the most of the small plates. We both chose the bao buns, I had the spicy crunchy chicken and Nicole had the BBQ jackfruit. We both thoroughly enjoyed these, especially with the side of chips! After lunch, we went for a wander down the River Thames. It was very picturesque, although a little bit posher than we’re used to up north! We had a lovely stroll and had a much-needed stretch of the legs. Some of the houses you could see were just out of this world!

We then headed off to the AirBnB, it was a lovely little garden annexe in the east side of Reading. Our main aim of finding accommodation in Reading was to find somewhere with parking. There wasn’t much available when we looked, but we were very pleased with what we found. It had everything you needed for a short stay, and it was very cosy with its underfloor heating. We spent a couple of hours getting settled in before we headed out for the evening to meet Nicole’s friend for tea. As Nicole has lived in Reading throughout her university life, she knew of some places she wanted to visit again. She chose Cozze in Pangbourne. It was a lovely Italian. I opted for the chicken risotto which was lovely and creamy and I would definitely opt for again. Nicole has the vegetarian calzone. It was a very large calzone, but it went down a treat. The desserts were equally as tasty, as you can probably guess I had a sticky toffee pudding, and Nicole had tiramisu.

Day 2 - Harry Potter Studios

Today is the day. Harry Potter Studios here we come! We had to book the tickets way in advance to ensure that we could go whilst we were down. We looked around December and there was plenty of time slots, but by the time we came to book it there were very limited times available! Our advice would be to definitely plan ahead. We had a nice morning just relaxing before heading off to the studio for 2pm. It was my first experience on the M25, and all I can say is that I am glad I do not have to take that commute regularly. Even when we headed off back in the evening it was still extremely busy. We wanted to get there early to allow us to have a snack before heading around on the studio tour. We had a quick look around the shop before we headed in the cafeteria. I think this was a mistake as we (or more so I) found a lot of things I wanted to buy before I had even been on the tour and I did purchase a baseball cap for my Hogwarts house - Hufflepuff. I have done the Pottermore test at least 10 times and only once has it come out with something other than Hufflepuff. We then had a quick snack in The Chocolate Frog Café. I wanted to try everything that they had to offer, but unfortunately, I was not allowed, so instead I had a strawberry ice cream, which was delicious; Nicole had a chocolate frog brownie which was equally as delicious. We then headed around the tour which was spectacular. There are so many details about the filming of each of the films, and everything that went into creating the films.  The only grumble I have is that it was very crowed as they let a new group in the exhibition every 10 minutes. This was not enough time to read the exhibitions and more around before the next influx of people. Although it was expensive, I am glad that we made the time to go and visit the studio, it is just really hard to put into words the whole experience. We spent a lot more money in the shop – I can only imagine how much money they take per day! As time was getting on after spending almost 4 hours in the studio, we decided to have our tea in the food hall. It was a Magical Mischief menu, based on Fred and George. I had a Whizz Banger hot dog, it was a typical hot dog with a twist - purple ketchup and orange mustard. It was delicious if not a little messy! Nicole had a cheesy vegetable pie which she thoroughly enjoyed. For dessert, we both had sundaes. Mine was the one based on the magical mischief theme and had purple and orange curds and lots of hidden sweets which added to the enjoyment. This all made up for the time it took for them to be made as we did wait a while for our pudding.

We definitely ended up spending a lot during our time at the studios but had a memorable time. It’s probably a good thing we don’t live too near by as I think we’d be back far too often!

Day 3 - Lecture and heading home

Nicole took me back to her old stomping ground at the University. It is a very scenic campus and, after I spent time proudly sitting in on her lecture and learning a bit more about Eating Disorders, we had a wander around the lake. We also took a look in the Cole Museum of Zoology before commencing on the long drive back up north.