Exploring Harry Potter's London

Landing at Gatwick airport and collecting my rental car, a new very nice BMS 1 series, I drove into Esher as evening drew in and my first glimpse was of the village Christmas lights dancing across the High St. Their lights like blue and silver icicles spanning the road and swaying slightly in the wind.

Esher, in one of the prettiest UK counties of Surrey, feels very much like home to me. I have now a familiarity with the stores in the High St, the train station to Waterloo, the local Waitrose supermarket; all which leads me to feel instantly comfortable upon arrival. Over the years my relationship with Esher has changed. It is where I once lived with my ex-husband and, now in more recent times, it is a familiar and enjoyable travel destination for me.

At Garson’s Farm, I visited the local produce store and came home to my Airbnb laden with goodies – tiny carrots, flowers and fudge. A quick visit to the reindeer visiting Garson’s from Lapland and my Christmas cup runneth over!

At Waitrose, a trolley full of Duchy of Cornwall shortbreads, wine from France, English berries and crisps. I should admit to also buying ‘real food’ that rounded out the bill to nearly 100 GBP! The High St Post Office provided the Surrey Life and English Vogue magazines for my evening review. For a coffee I enjoyed the ambiance of G!RO one of the newer coffee houses in the High St.

“Is it possible for us to visit Harry Potter at Warner Brothers Studios?” asked my adult daughter some weeks earlier. Looking online we discovered that all the tickets were sold out, so we devised our own Harry Potter themed day instead. Our first full day in the UK saw us on the train and heading into Waterloo station. It’s an easy trip at under half an hour in duration from Esher and from our arrival at Waterloo, an easy link onto the underground.

Our Harry Potter itinerary was this:

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child theatre for a photo opportunity. To our delight the show is opening in Melbourne, so we are purchasing tickets for then, but we stood longingly though watching the queue form for the production at the Palace Theatre. Around the corner is The Phantom of the Opera on at Her Majesty’s Theatre, my favorite musical, and the other wonderful theatres, The Garrick and Wyndham’s. Nearby at Leicester Square is the site for buying from discount theatre ticket booths.

1. Kings Cross Station of course! We caught the underground and came up close to the Harry Potter store and where you can push your trolley onto platform 9 ¾! Both places were extraordinarily busy! There was a queue from the trolley across the concourse to outside the station for having your photo taken. Given the wintry weather we decided against the queue and wait! We did queue for entry into the store though and came home with our Slytherin and Harry items. We had done our homework online and knew exactly what we wanted – a real timesaver and highly recommended.

2. The British Library's exhibition of The Magic of Harry Potter. The library is just a 5-minute walk from Kings Cross Station and easily accessible. The exhibition itself was a wonderful combination of Harry Potter artefacts including original drafts of the novels and movie scripts from JK Rowling as well as the ‘historic’ and literary inspiration she drew upon. All artfully exhibited and interactive. My favourite was the turning of the tarot cards – and lo! It predicted I would travel in the near future!

1. St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Located between the library and St Pancras station, the hotel was offering Harry Potter themed “Elixirs and Potions” cocktails. After our visit to the library we made our way to the Booking Office bar. My daughter ordered the Butterbeer Brew (rum, salted caramel syrup and butter), while I had the Camouflage Coupette (gin, Cointreau, absinthe and lemon). My order appeared as a glass of fairy floss over which I poured my alcohol from a small glass jug and we were both amused as the floss disappeared and I was left with a lemony glass of potent alcohol. We sat at our table at the base of a large Christmas tree drinking our cocktails and feeling not like a muggle at all.