Britons on Cro road
BOOKINGS from the UK for self-catering holidays in Croatia are up almost a half. Novasol also says the Mediterranean country is only behind France and Spain in our favourite destinations for booking holiday homes. Denmark is the fourth most popular with a 26 per cent year-on-year increase in sales. Italy is in fifth place. IT is 20 years since Harry Potter first cast his spell over fans. Those books have encouraged a generation to read – and the films have been a phenomenal success. There are also holiday spots celebrating the boy wizard… Scotland’s Fort William to Mallaig railway line starts in the shadow of Ben Nevis and runs into a glorious succession of loch-filled and mountain-walled glens.
In the winter the service is barely used but from April to October it is flooded with visitors because of the steam-hauled Jacobite Express, which was the Hogwarts Express on screen.
This is the only scheduled steam service on the national railway network. And the curving 21-arched Glenfinnan Viaduct where Harry pursued the train in his flying Ford Anglia is an essential highlight. STAY: Down the road from Glenfinnan is Arienskill Cottage, on the shores of Lochailort. Sleeps six, from £180 per night, see holidaylettings.co.uk. Goathland station, aka Hogsmeade, is on the 24-mile North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which runs on the once-disused track from Whitby to Pickering. The NYMR carries more passengers than any other heritage railway in Britain and is loved by filmmakers and train-fanciers for its rugged moorland landscape, period stations and big steam locomotives.
Whitby itself combines the flavour of a traditional seaside resort with the slightly spooky ruin looming over it, Whitby Abbey, made famous by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. STAY: Snowy Owl Lodge is a barn conversion in Hartoft, near Pickering. Sleeps two, from £534 a week. See yorkshire-cottages.info. This classic castle on the Northumberland coast was Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films, as well as appearing in Downton Abbey and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
The castle is where Potter fans saw quidditch for the first time. Now it hosts 20-minute broomstick lessons, free with admission. The castle is also home to a new Dragon Quest attraction, for an extra fee. The coast around Alnwick has some of the best beaches in the country. If you get the right weather. STAY: The Old Newsagent’s is a Georgian townhouse a short walk from the castle. Sleeps eight, from £639 a week. See sykescottages.co.uk. Potter pilgrims will want to visit Edinburgh’s Elephant House cafe, where JK Rowling wrote much of the first novel.
There’s a free Potter trail around the Old Town, led by a robed guide through the narrow, moody and magical alleyways and stairs which influenced the series. The trail includes the location where he-who-must-not-be-named is buried. Do not disturb. TOUR: The Potter trail is free, donations welcome, and daily in season. There are extra departures this summer with added magic for anyone who wants to scratch that wizarding itch. See pottertrail.com. OxfordO supplied many of the films’ locations.s. TheTh Bodleian Library was used as the Hogwarts arts librarylib and infirmary.
In the New College cloisters Malfoy was tu turned into a ferret and the Christchurch Greateat H Hall was used as the model for the Hogwarts s di dining hall. TOUR:TO Sundays and some Saturdays, dependingding on location availability. Adults £18, child £17,7, se see experienceoxfordshire.org. AtA Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden, near Watford, the Harry Potter Studios Tour allows ws visitorsi to enter Rowling’s enchanted world,