Lucy goes around the World in 88 days: Day 51, 52 & 53

Day 51: Sunday 17th August
After all the travelling around England during the last few days, Miss Hannaford and I decided to spend the day resting at the hotel and catching up on these blog posts. It is also very cold at the moment in England. The English summertime is very different to Australian summer in that it rains nearly every day and the temperature can be very cold with daytime maximums reaching 20 degrees unlike Australia where the summer temperature reaches 40!

Day 52 & 53: Monday and Tuesday 18/19th August.
Miss Hannaford spent more time working on her research at the Wedgwood Museum Archives. She was really excited to find a new piece of Egyptian Style Wedgwood from 1930 that she had never heard of before and better still, she was allowed to touch a piece of it before it was put safely away in the museum!

Miss Hannaford tells me we are doing something different tomorrow so I can’t wait!

– Lucy

Lucy goes around the world in 88 days: Day 50

Day 50: Saturday 16th August
Today Miss Hannaford and I travelled by train to Warner Bros Film Studios in Leavesden where all of the Harry Potter films were made. From the train station you travel on special Harry Potter double decker buses that look similar to the purple Knight Bus and when you get off the bus, the first thing from the film you see are the giant chess pieces from the first film!

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Something you need to know is that the buildings (called Stages) that you see in the pictures are not the sound stages used for shooting the eight films. The Warner Bros studio is still a fully function film studio and so new buildings have been built and the sets, costumes and props have been moved here. When we walked into J Stage- you have to line up so you get to see all the great photos on the wall as well as one of the flying Ford Anglia cars used in the second film!

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After a short film- they reveal the spectacular doors to the Great Hall which then people are invited to push open to reveal the real Great Hall (minus the magical ceiling)!

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You get to see lots of props, sets and costumes from every film throughout Stage J. I really liked the Griffyndor Common Room, Dumbledore’s Office and the area where you get to see broom sticks being made by the actual people who made all the broomsticks for the films!

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The next set we got to see was the kitchen of The Burrow where you can see self chopping knifes, pans that was themselves and knitting needles doing their own knitting!

The last thing you see before you leave Studio J are some of the sets from the Ministry of Magic for films 5,6,7. Only some of them are here because they are enormous! They go from the floor to the ceiling which is 5 storeys high!

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When you leave Studio J, you walk into the outdoor backlot area where you can see 4 Privet Drive, the actual Knight Bus, the wonky Hogwarts Bridge and more of the chess pieces!

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The next studio is Studio K and you start by seeing all the amazing makeup and animatronic creatures including Buckbeak the Hippogriff, Mandrakes, Monster Book of Monsters. You can see them in this video.

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The next space you walk into is the actual set of Diagon Alley! This space is different from the Diagon Alley we experienced in Orlando, Florida USA. Here you are not allowed to go into the shops like Ollivanders or Flourish & Blotts but it is nice to compare the two versions of the Alley and how accurate the Florida attraction really is!

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The last room is a room full of wandboxes that looks like Ollivander’s wand shop. Each box has the name of someone who worked on the films either behind the camera or in front of the camera.

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It was a really exciting day and we had so much fun!
– Lucy

Lucy goes around the world in 88 days: Day 48 & 49

Today we went on a great adventure! Miss Hannaford and I visited Hill Top Farm, the home of Beatrix Potter, the author of the Tale of Peter Rabbit, as well as the other 26 children’s books including the Tale of Jemima Puddleduck. The books by Beatrix Potter is Miss Hannaford’s favourite childhood stories.

To get to Hill Top farm involved using several trains as it is very far away in the north of England in an area called the Lake District. Miss Hannaford organised for us to go on a professional tour so we could see all the important Beatrix Potter sights without having to worry about transport in such an unfamiliar area.

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The first stop of the tour was a place called Kaiser’s lookout. Even though it was raining, the view was amazing!

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The big difference about the country here from Stoke on Trent is that the farmers use ancient dry stone walls to keep their sheep in rather than hedges. The weather is very serious here as the mountains are quite high so dry stone walls give better protection to the sheep from the gale force winds than hedges plus hedges don’t grow as well in the extreme cold here during winter. Dry stone walls refer to the fact that the walls have no mortar holding them together. The stones are stacked on top of each other and are built quite thickly so they can stand up.

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The next stop on the tour was Wray Castle. This looks like a real castle but it was actually built in the 19th century as a country home for a rich family who ended up never living here because they did not like what the architect had done with the towers. The parents of Beatrix Potter, who were very wealthy, rented the castle for summer holidays and Beatrix came to the castle as a child with her younger brother. It is believed that her first few books are inspired by her childhood holidays at Wray Castle.

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After Wray Castle we finally came to the place Miss. Hannaford’s has always wanted to visit since she was a small child- Hill Top Farm, the first home Beatrix Potter bought for herself and where many of her books were written. Unfortunately it was raining so we did not get to explore the garden other than to take a quick photo but Miss Hannaford was thrilled to see where Mr Samuel Whiskers tried to push Tom a Kitten down the stairs and the original dolls that were the models for Lucinda and Jane in the Tale of Two Bad Mice. she even found Wedgwood that belonged to Beatrix Potter in one of the upstairs rooms!

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The next stop on the tour was Hawkeshead village where Beatrix Potter’s husband William Heelis had his law office- it is now a gallery with many original paintings by Beatrix Potter on display including many of the original paintings from her books. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the gallery but here is the outside of the building.

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After Hawkeshead village we travelled to Coniston Water but on the way we got a high up glimpse of Yew Tree Farm. Yew Tree was also owned by Beatrix Potter but it was used as a double for Hill Top farm in the movie Miss Potter because the film makers were not allowed to change anything at Hill Top as it is a heritage listed building. You can see how high some of the hills are in the Lake District!

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We then travelled down the hills and arrived at Coniston Water for a boat cruise. Coniston Water is famous as it where the water speed records were set in the 1960’s because the lake is 5km long and 800 metres wide at its largest point. The lake also gives wonderful views of the mountains including a mountain range called Old Man Coniston.

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When we got off the boat, we walked through a very old garden and I got to see a real Scottish Thistle. The Thistle is the floral symbol of Scotland.

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The last stop of the day was to drive past Yew Tree Farm at ground level so we could see how similar to Hill Top it is. Both Yew Tree and Hill Top are still working sheep farms and we got to see sheep being herded across the road we were driving on!

We both really enjoyed the day despite the rain! Miss Hannaford was even able to buy some Beatrix Potter books that were not in her collection and best of all they have a special sticker inside to show that they come from Hill Top! So it is another long train trip back to Stoke on Trent but it has been a great adventure!

Day 49: Friday 15th August
After all that travelling yesterday to the Lake District and back, and tomorrow being another really long day with another exciting adventure, today was a rest day so Miss Hannaford and I travelled into the nearby town to the bakery we found last week and bought ourselves some traditional English pies for our lunch.

– Lucy

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Lucy goes around the world in 88 days: Days 45, 46 & 47

Day 45: Monday 11th August
Miss Hannaford had spotted on a local tourist map a different reference to Wedgwood so we used the local buses to get to the location. It turns out the building is a Factory Outlet which made Miss Hannaford really happy because she was able to buy a new piece of Egyptian style Wedgwood for her collection!

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On the way to the outlet, we passed a really interesting site- a summer ski slope! You can actually go downhill skiing in the middle of summer in England! The slope has a special matting that simulates snow and you can ski all day and all year round!

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Day 46: Tuesday 12th August
Today was Miss Hannaford’s first full day inside the Wedgwood archive! She was allowed to touch the original documents- some of which are more than 250 years old so they had to be handled with extreme care. You are not allowed to bring pens into the room to write with- only pencils in case you accidentally put any marks on the paper. Miss Hannaford discovered the answer to some of her questions but she also uncovered a big mystery. Two of the special pieces in her collection could have been made in different colours but they have never been seen by anyone! Miss Hannaford asked for other documents to see if they were officially made or were just planned!

Miss Hannaford and I also got to meet a member of the Wedgwood staff who was working at Wedgwood when the Egyptian pieces were being made in the 1970’s. He was able to answer some of Miss Hannaford’s questions including telling Miss Hannaford about how some of her pieces were made.

At the end of the day, Miss Hannaford collected the pot she made last week as it has now been fired to make it as hard as stone. The firing changed the colour of the picture and border she had put on the vase to white. It was really wonderful to see how excited Miss Hannaford was about the discoveries she has made today.
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Day 47: Wednesday 13th August
Today was another research day in the Wedgwood Archive for Miss Hannaford. She was really excited to browse through the 1802 book of shapes- the book where all the Wedgwood shapes are drawn for the factory records. She saw the original drawings of many of the pieces of Wedgwood she owns and because the book is 212 years old again it was really important to turn the pages very carefully and to rest the book on a special cushion so the cover doesn’t break off.

Here is an example of the 250 year old letters, Miss Hannaford has been reading. You can see how challenging it can be to read this very old style of writing.

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We did take some photos of the very narrow country lanes the bus to and from Wedgwood has to take. Farmers use hedges around their fields in this part of England to protect their crops from high winds.

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It has been wonderful helping Miss Hannaford with her research the last few days but she tells me that there is a special adventure to go tomorrow!

– Lucy

Lucy goes around the world in 88 days: Day 43 & 44

Day 43: Saturday 9th August
Today we went to a local county fair. This fair is similar to carnivals in Australia in that they have rides, parades and displays by the police and fire fighters. The difference is that the animals on display were English Birds of Prey including owls. We do not have native owls in Australia- the closest bird we have to an owl is a Tawny Frogmouth. The theme of the carnival was the commemoration of the commencement of World War 1 so the special attraction of the carnival was ‘Old Bill’ a replica model of a WW1 tank that travelled through Staffordshire during the war raising money and recruiting men. Another feature of the carnival was the release of carrier pigeons which were used during world war 1 to transport messages around.

The carnival began with a parade of cadets being led by a bagpipe followed by former and current army vehicles including a small tank.

During the middle of the day there was a Battle of Britain flyover of a Lancaster Bomber and a Spitfire plane that both flew during World War 2.

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Here are some of the larger birds of Prey

Day 44: Sunday 10th August
Miss Hannaford spent today doing more work on her research at the hotel while I spent the day resting and working on trying to catch up on blogposts.

It also the official halfway point of our journey! 44 days of amazing adventures and there are 44 days of hopefully interesting adventures to come!

– Lucy

Lucy goes around the World in 88 days: Day 41 & 42

Day 41: Thursday 7th August
Today was a quiet day after all the excitement yesterday. Miss Hannaford and I caught the bus into Hanley- the nearest small town to the hotel and we looked at some local shops and found a bakery to buy some English pastries for our lunch and afternoon tea. The rest of the day, Miss Hannaford spent working on her research, looking at all the online catalogues for the Wedgwood archive, working out which documents she wanted to see first at the Wedgwood archive next week.

Day 42: Friday 8th August
We didn’t have time last Monday to go into the actual Wedgwood Museum so we caught the bus back to Wedgwood and spent most of the day in the museum. Miss Hannaford was really excited in that she saw several pieces of Egyptian style Wedgwood that she had only ever seen in books. She was surprised at either how small they were or that they were much bigger than she ever thought. She even found pieces in the museum that she never knew existed which was really exciting for Miss Hannaford.

We did enjoy a very nice afternoon tea in the restaurant at Wedgwood. You get to drink Wedgwood tea using real Wedgwood China!

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Lucy goes around the world in 88 days: Day 40

Today Miss Hannaford and I went on a day trip back to London to visit the British Museum again. This time Miss Hannaford wanted to see the Egyptian and Ancient Greece sections of the museum. Miss Hannaford loves everything to do with Ancient Egypt!

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The Egyptian Halls are always really busy with lots of people so Miss Hannaford decided to start by visiting the Ancient Greek starting with the Parthenon Marbles. The Parthenon is the famous Greek temple of Athena in Athens, Greece. Lord Elgin had the marble decorations on the Parthenon cut off by using hand tools and he took them out of Greece to the British Museum. Greece at the time had been invaded by the Turks and they gave Elgin permission to remove the marble sculpture but now the people of Greece want their sculptures back so the ‘marbles’ have become a serious argument for many decades between the British and Greek governments. The sculptures on display came from the ends of the roof of the Parthenon and from one side just below the roof line.

The room in which the marbles are kept is exactly the same size as the real Parthenon and the marbles are arranged as they would have appeared on the Parthenon but at eye level rather than at the top of the temple.

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The next place Miss Hannaford visited was the Egyptian Hall where all the big stone sculptures are kept. Miss Hannaford’s favourite sculpture was a huge stone scarab made of granite and a piece of the beard from the Great Sphinx of Giza!

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On the upper levels of the British Museum is where all the famous Mummy’s are kept as well as their grave goods including the very famous papyrus of the book of the dead. This was the first 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle Miss Hannaford completed as a young girl. Miss Hannaford also wanted to see the famous wall painting “Hunting in the Marshes”.

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The last thing Miss Hannaford wanted to see was a bronze statue of a youth known at the museum by the nickname ‘Charlie’. When he was first discovered, archaeologists thought he was a statue of a god but later they found out that he held a room lamp off his missing arm so the poor statue started out as being treated as a god then he got demoted to furniture!

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The last poto of the day was this panorama of the Great Court of the British Museum. Miss Hannaford hopes to come back here one day on her next trip to England!

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– Lucy

Lucy goes around the world in 88 days: Day 38 & 39

Day 38: Monday 4th August
Today Miss Hannaford and I travelled from Stoke on Trent to Barlaston which is 90 minutes away by bus. Barlaston is where the Wedgwood factory and museum is located. Miss Hannaford collects a very special egyptian style Wedgwood that she is writing a book about so she needs to spend lots of time here at the factory and museum researching Wedgwood and hopefully talking to the people who made the Wedgwood she collects.

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While she was at the factory part of the site, Miss Hannaford got to make her own special piece of Wedgwood. The staff give you a blank pot and show you how to put on raised decorations around the pot. The pot will then be fired in a kiln to make it as hard as stone. Miss Hannaford applied a special border around her pot and on each side a little raised picture of Peter Rabbit from her favourite children’s book the Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

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The rest of the time we were at the factory, Miss Hannaford and I went on the factory tour and we got to see how the real Wedgwood is made including the very expensive Wedgwood that is covered in lots of real gold!

Day 39: Tuesday 5th August
Today we travelled into Stoke on Trent to the local historical museum. The museum is made up of 3 parts- A pottery museum, A local history museum and a museum for the Staffordshire Hoard- the largest discovery of Anglo- Saxon gold ever found!

The dark ages in England is called the Dark Ages as there is very little written evidence to tell us how people lived. The hoard shows how people made beautiful objects and some of the objects have pictures on them. We know that England was broken up into little kingdoms each with their own chief or King and they lived in wooden buildings. The museum recreated one of the King’s great halls to show visitors how people lived.

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In another part of the museum, there is a display of all the local animals of Staffordshire, the county (not country) that Stoke on Trent is part of. The display reminded us of the exhibits we saw at the Natural History Museum in New York.

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In the ceramics section of the museum, Miss Hannaford did find some wonderful examples of the Egyptian Style Wedgwood she is researching.

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So it has been a really interesting few days!
– Lucy

Lucy goes around the world in 88 days: Day 36 & 37

Day 36: Saturday 2nd August
Today was another travelling day except this time we were not travelling by plane. Today we caught the train to Stoke on Trent in the Midlands of England. It took 90 minutes to travel from London to Stoke on Trent.

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The best thing about long distance trains in England is that many seats have a really good table in front of them with power points so you can recharge your phone and in our case- Miss Hannaford’s ipad so we could keep writing our blog posts!

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Day 37: Sunday 3rd of August
Since Miss Hannaford is visiting Stoke on Trent to do research starting tomorrow at the Wedgwood Ceramic factory, it was important that she spent the day, re-reading the research she has done so far so she could ask for documents that related to her research. I spent the day quietly resting after all the excitement of the past week!

– Lucy

Lucy goes around the world in 88 days: Day 35

Day 35: Friday 1st August
Miss Hannaford has really been looking forward to today. Today we went on a walking tour of all the Harry Potter film locations in London!

The tour started at the ticket turnstiles at Westminster station. This is where Mr Weasley couldn’t work out how the ticket barrier worked and Harry had to show him.
In the upcoming photos- I am going to show you the photo I took with a screen shot of the film so you know where we are.

Westminster Underground station- Order of the Phoenix

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Entrance to the toilets to access the Ministry of Magic- Deathly Hallows Part 1- the toilet entrance is just an archway on the road.

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Visitors entrance to the Ministry of Magic/ Place where Harry, Ron and Hermione hid the people they impersonated in the Ministry- Order of the Phoenix/ Deathly Hallows part 1

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The red telephone box was actually a prop and the film makers changed the metal door you can see in my photo for a wooden one because it looks better and changed it back after filming was finished!

The next location we walked to was the River Thames where the flight of the Order of the Phoenix was filmed.

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The next location we visited was the Millennium Bridge- the newest bridge over the River Thames. In the 6th film- Half Blood Prince, the Deatheaters cause the bridge to collapse!

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After the Millenium Bridge, we walked to Southwark Borough Market where the Knight Bus was filmed arriving at the Leaky Cauldron in Prisoner of Azkaban.

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Our last few stops of the day was in London’s Leadenhall Market. Here is where Harry and Hagrid are filmed talking about his list of school supplies as they are going into the Leaky Cauldron during Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.

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It has been a wonderful walk around London following the steps of the Harry Potter film makers! It is also sad that it is our official last day in London but hopefully we will make short day visits in the coming few weeks!
– Lucy

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