As autumn approaches, we’d love to be somewhere as snug and cosy as Rubeus Hagrid’s hut in Harry Potter. The always-burning fire; the thick, medieval walls; the time-worn wooden furnishings: right now, it sounds like pretty much the ideal place to hole up and forget about the dark forest outside.
Well, in actual fact, it’s not just the stuff of Potter-fandom fantasy. A cute cottage inspired by the Keeper of Keys and Grounds’s home has opened in the UK’s North York Moors National Park – and is still taking bookings through the rest of the year. That’s right: your Harry Potter location bucket list just got a brand new stop.
Photograph: North Shire
The cottage comprises three circular rooms: a well-equipped kitchen and living-room area with a fireplace, a huge bedroom, and a bathroom with a dazzling freestanding copper bath. Potter mega-fans, clock the wizardly details like the lantern-lit doorway and the ornamental ink bottle and quill in the living room.
Prices start from £495 ($636, A$892) for two nights. Once you’ve round up five of the biggest Potter heads you know, that begins to sound like a relatively affordable (and really rather magical) weekend getaway. Make sure you take our Sorting Hat quiz before you go, though – you know how Hagrid feels about Slytherins…
You can find out more about the Groundskeeper’s Cottage here.
Photograph: North Shire
Did you know London now has a Harry Potter statue?