We went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in November 2012 as part of my birthday weekend. We had originally planned to go on a Sunday but when we went to book it in late October it turned out that all the weekends in November were already full so we ended up going on a Friday instead. Based on advice from friends who had already been, we booked a 2pm tour so we had plenty of time to get to the studios from Nottingham and also so we could have a good lunch before we went in for our actual tour. It only took us a couple of hours to drive down so we went straight to the studios to pick up our tickets and souvenir guide and look round the shop. As others have said, the shop has lots of fantastic things in but we felt that everything was vastly overpriced so we didn’t buy anything.

For lunch we headed to the nearby Unicorn pub in Abbots Langley, which was only a few minutes away. We arrived there as it opened at midday so were some of the first customers in there. When we arrived, it was very quiet but by the time we left it was full to the brim with workers from the studios so I’m glad we got there early. The food was good and the staff were friendly so we felt we had made a good choice. I’m not sure if they allow children in or not though so probably worth ringing to check.

We had booked the ‘Complete Studio Tour Package’ so, when we arrived back at the studios, we went to pick up our audio guides. I really can’t say enough good things about the guides – they were absolutely brilliant and really enhanced our visit. Be warned though, they can really lengthen your visit – we ended up spending 5 ½ hrs on the tour itself and were the last visitors of the day on Diagon Alley. I just wish we could have taken the audio guides home with us! We felt that the tour itself was really well planned and laid out and the only bad bit was the cold and horrendously expensive Starbucks which is by the outdoor sets. We were really glad we had eaten well beforehand but we did succumb to some watery hot chocolate (too cold for butter beer!). There are toilets in both of the indoor sets so no need to worry about getting caught short!

Overall, we had an excellent day and I would highly recommend this to any Harry Potter fan – but make sure you’ve seen the films beforehand! Afterwards, we went to stay at the Hemel Hempstead Central Premier Inn for the night – this was ideal as it was only a short drive from the Studios and had free parking. The staff were really helpful and it would have been the perfect stay if it hadn’t been so hot in there. The window restrictor meant that we could only open the window about an inch and, despite leaving the window open all night, it was still so hot in the morning that we had to put the air conditioning on. Not really what you expect in November so I dread to think what it might be like in summer!

The following day, we moved on to Oxford, staying at Tilbury Lodge B&B. I had looked in vain for an available reasonably priced central hotel/B&B with free parking and come up with nothing so we had decided to look for something a bit further out. We chose Tilbury Lodge because of the reviews and are happy to confirm that it far exceeded our expectations. Often, it’s the little details that make for a great stay, and Stefan certainly has this sorted with things like an in-room honesty mini-bar, homemade fudge and cupcakes and even a foot spa. The taxi he had ordered for us didn’t turn up that evening and he very kindly volunteered to take us to the pub himself! Breakfast was also excellent so we would definitely stay there again if we were to go back to Oxford.

We only had a short time in Oxford itself but managed to fit in visits to the Ashmolean, Natural History and Pitt Rivers museums, all of which were very interesting (and free!). We also visited the Botanical Gardens and spent a lovely sunny autumn morning wandering around by the river. All in all, a nice little trip! The only problem we had was booking a table for dinner on the Saturday night – after finding lots of the central restaurants were booked out weeks in advance, we ended up going to the Bear and Ragged Staff at Cumnor as it had lots of good reviews already. My husband absolutely loved his main course of sausage and mash and his dessert of mulled cherry crumble. My venison main was ok, but my syrup sponge pudding was absolutely amazing – probably the best I’d ever had. The service was pretty good but it was very cold where we were sitting and, despite mentioning this to the waitress twice, nothing was done. I would definitely go again – but in the summer!