Old to new

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Geo: 51.836, -0.629815

First thing in the morning, we headed over to Westminster Abbey. At my insistence, we joined the next verger-led tour. Your entry fee gets you the audio tour, which is nice enough, but you get a whole different experience by paying the £3 extra to have one of the abbey staff show you around. We were seated in the Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor (not accessible to the general public) while the verger pointed out the folks laid to rest around the area: Edward I, Richard II, Henry V.....nobody special. You also get to sit in the choir stalls while you learn some more of the history of the abbey. Oh, so much history there! Though we were sorry to cut things short, we needed to get rolling, in order to get checked out of the flat and on the road toward the Harry Potter studio in Leavesden.

The drive out of London was slow, but once we got on the motorway, we had a chance to open things up a bit. Dejo navigated expertly, and I just followed directions. That morning, I had grabbed sandwiches, crisps & drinks at Tesco, which we ate on the road. We had tickets for the 3:00 Harry Potter studio tour at Leavesden studios. I had been prepared to spend about 3 hours in there, and though I could have spent about 6, we made it through in about 3 ½ hours. Even Jerome & Andrew, who aren't enormous fans of the movies, seemed to enjoy themselves. I, on the other hand, found myself getting teary-eyed when they let us into the Great Hall. They've left many of the set pieces used in the Harry Potter film series, along with costumes and props galore. I'll put lots of pictures below, for my fellow HP geeks.

We drove up towards Ivinghoe, and checked into our B&B, The Brownlow. It's an adorable renovated stables, and in a beautiful, peaceful setting. Sue, our hostess, had a lovely dry Irish sense of humor, andmade us feel quite welcome. On her recommendation, we went into "town" (Cheddington), and had a lovely dinner at The Old Swan. This is an adorable 600-year-old inn, with a really great gastropub. I would happily go back there, if I'm in the area again.

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Photos

The Great Hall
This is where they filmed the Great Hall scenes. The floors are made of stone, to give that "feel".

Above the fireplace in the great Hall
The crest is even placed inside the fireplace, where you'd never see it on film. The details in this place are amazing!

Invisibility cloak
Check the detail in the velvet! And it was lined with green screen material, to help with the CG invisibility