Celebrating our Sweet Sixteen

On Friday 22nd June Tom and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary (and also the 18th anniversary of our first official date). Those years seem to have flown by and at times our big day feels like it was a million years ago yet there are so many parts of the day I clearly remember and that makes it feel like it was only yesterday. I had a days annual leave so we spent the morning relaxing at home and exchanging gifts and cards. I bought Tom a day at Discovery Cove for when we are in Florida and Tom bought me a Mickey Mouse shaped locket from Pandora.

To celebrate we took a trip over to Watford to do the Harry Potter/Warner Bros studio tour. Now this is something that we have wanted to do for a very long time but we just never got around to it until now. We watched a few You Tube vlogs before we went and these made us even more excited to see it all for ourselves. We took the train from London Euston to Watford Junction and then hopped on the shuttle bus that takes you to the studios. After a quick security and bag check we were in and ready to start the tour. At this point there is a coffee shop, cloakroom and toilets and access to the gift shop.

The tour starts with a couple of short film clips and some details on what to expect and then the doors open and you are in the great hall. Its a pretty amazing sight to see, there are tables laid up down the side with all the Hogwarts House uniforms and at the front are some of the main characters.

After this you are free to wander around and look at all the different mock-ups of various scenes, there are also hundreds of props and costumes on display. You can also walk through the Forbidden Forest, just look out for the hippogriff and spiders!! You then come to Kings Cross where you can see the Hogwarts Express in all its shiny and pristine glory. You can even try your hand at pushing your trolley through the platform wall!!

About halfway or so through the tour there is a café where you can get drinks and something to eat, you can even try a butter beer if you want to. Tom bought one and really liked it, for me it was a little too sweet but I didn't mind it (we both thought it tasted like cream soda though!). The next part of the tour is outside and there is where you will find the night bus, Privet Drive, the wooden Hogwarts bridge and a few vehicle's from the films.

For us the highlights of the tour come towards the end when you get to walk along Diagon Alley and see the amazing model of Hogwarts. The amount of detail on it is truly spectacular and I could have spent hours wandering round taking it all it.

We had a fantastic time and really enjoyed the tour, I am so glad that we finally got around to doing it. Its also made us even more excited for our trip to Universal Studios in Orlando and the whole Harry Potter world that is there.

FYI, I bought our tickets online from the official website which you can find by clicking here. All the photos on this post are my own and were taken on my Canon 750D.

We continued our anniversary celebrations after with a meal at one of our favourite restaurants, I am going to do a separate post on that so keep your eyes open. If you dont already please feel free to subscribe to my blog, that way you wont miss any posts.

Jane