Travel Diaries

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek of the new attraction that will make all Harry Potter fans very excited. The Warner Brothers tour in Leavesden is a little out of the way, it’s not in the centre of London but you can access it by train. We travelled up there with Golden Tours who were fantastic, unfortunately we weren’t able to ride the Harry Potter buses as they were still being painted at the time but the coach we took was perfect.

As a huge Harry Potter fan I got really excited as we rolled up to the front of the studios. After some lunch we jumped into the Harry Potter tour, where we were greeted by the video versions of Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint which was a great way to set off the tour.

So I don’t ruin the attraction for people I’ve picked out some of my own favourite bits from the day:

• The Great Hall – The great hall was one of the most iconic scenes in the movie and the set proves just why, everything in the room was real (apart from the ceiling of course). The stone floors, the dining tables and the fireplace were all beautifully made and you could picture Harry, Ron and Hermione walking down the rows to be sorted!

• The pre-filming drawings – Towards the end of the tour we got a look at some of the artwork that was done before the films took shape, I though the Fawkes artwork was especially cool. The sheer amount of work that went into the films was enormous (each piece of artwork seen on the walls in the movies were painted in oil by hand, many of them portraits of the crew members!)

• The Potions Room  - The potions room was another of the full scale rooms that were built on the plot. Each of the pots surrounding the walls had something different in them and it looked just as dark as it was depicted in the books and movies. 

• The Chess Pieces – This one was a really tiny bit of the tour but the chess pieces were beautifully crafted and I felt they deserved a mention!

Other than those small pieces there was another two and a half hours of great entertainment, the staff leading us through the tour were fantastic and had loads of interesting bits to tell you about each of the sections.

This is a must see for Harry Potter fans!

Today was my first real journey into the wonders of what Northern England has to offer. For someone who enjoys travelling I’m ashamed to say that I have fairly limited knowledge and experience of the UK as a whole and feel it’s something I need to pursue.

So, my first venture into the unknown was York. York is a city in the county of Yorkshire, the only thing that I really knew about  Yorkshire is a years worth of Emmerdale that I watched a few years back, so basically nothing at all. When I stepped out onto the platform at the station this morning my first thought, okay, second thought was about how stunning the city looked (My first thought was about the abysmal weather which seemed to descend upon my train the minute we pulled into the station…).

I guess I was expecting another load of high rise buildings with no culture or special feeling but York was completely opposite. The walls, daffodils and buildings were stunning and just seemed to ooze a certain Britishness.

After walking a little way down the road (Rain steadily getting heavier) I caught my first glimpse of the Ceder Court Hotel, UKinbound were holding an event (in conjunction with Welcome to Yorkshire) at the hotel and I really don’t think there could have been a better venue. The hotel was chic and modern but at the same time had an ‘old school’ feel to it which was perfect for the setting of the workshop as well as being somewhere I’d love to stay, the food we tasted for lunch was delicious and the smell of flowers was amazing through the building.

Once the meeting started wrapping up the networking, we all jumped onto a coach to take us to Chocolate. It was still raining outside but I managed to see a little bit of the city centre, much like the hotel there seemed to be a real mix of old and new. On one side there was a Pizza Hut and a Chinese restaurant/shop that were build in modern buildings and opposite stood a church, somehow it all seemed to blend together perfectly. We walked through The Shambles to get to Chocolate, which were just as quaint and cute as I thought they would be, if you’ve ever been to The Lanes in Brighton it’s very similar with cobbled streets and small shops selling goodies.

Chocolate itself is difficult to describe, on the one hand it was a lot of fun, the tasting and interactive parts were great (as were the friendly staff), and on the other hand I came away knowing quite a bit about the history of chocolate. Out of everything there I think the chocolate tasting was my favourite part… Got to love a bit of chocolate eh. If I were to guess I would describe it as a  mix between an attraction and a museum, either way a lot of effort has been put into Chocolate and it would definitely be worth a visit if you’re ever in York!

I think the first day of visiting more of the UK went great and I really can’t wait to see what the rest of Yorkshire has to offer.

All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Where?

The Cruise show is being held at Olympia - http://www.eco.co.uk/p/how-to-get-here/94

When?

24- 25^th March 2012

What is it all about?

The Cruise show is a travel show that focuses mainly on the cruise side of travelling, if you are thinking about making your first adventure on board a cruise ship then this one is a must for you. Also for the seasoned cruiser you can have a poke around some of the exhibitor’s stalls and scope out your next cruise holiday!

If you fancy it you’ll also be able to attend some talks from travel industry’s leading cruise companies, experts from the industry, smaller cruise lines and some of the companies who offer excursions and trips before and after your cruise.

Who are some of the exhibitors that will be there?

• The Telegraph
• Shearings Holidays
• Royal Caribbean International
• Rocky Mountaineer
• Discover Egypt
• Holland America Line

If you would like some more information on the event itself have a look at the website:

http://www.cruisingshow.co.uk/london/visitor_information_about.php

The best part?

You could get some free tickets to the event; I have 5 pairs of tickets that are up for grabs. To get your tickets all you have to do is enter this competition..

What we need:

• You need to post a picture that has a story to go with it (can be funny, sad, inspirational, anything at all)
• Post the picture to the Travel Diaries Facebook page (link here)

I will then choose the top five favourite picture/story and then you’ll be off to the Cruise show free of charge!

The closing date for all pictures will be on the 15th March 2012 at 12:00pm GMT!

We are also able to offer travel diaries readers a discount (of £6, making your tickets only £4) on tickets to the event, all you need to do is quote ‘TRAVELDIARIES’ when booking on-line or by phone: 0871 620 4024.