A Magical Mystery Tour

Harry Potter is a very British Wizard. With all the talk of his new book Britannia Bear thought we really ought to go in search of the series of letterboxes which was named after him and had been hidden here on the moors. If she was to return to America with tales of Britain to tell her future hosts, then she must certainly know all about those British magical places.

The village railway station had been used in the film as Hogsmeade Station, and the surrounding countryside for scenes of The Hogwarts Express travelling along the railway. As Hogsmeade Station is the closest stop to Hogwarts then it stands to reason we must be letterboxing in Hogwarts countryside!!! After all letterboxes can't be seen they just appear, like magic — if you have a clue :-)

Britannia was very excited to be visiting the station. First we took a photo of the station itself, then we walked into the ticket office to buy a platform ticket. We loved the sign over the door out to the platform. It was from a time much more innocent than ours, when people making signs just spelt words how they pronounced them, and there were no spelling police to point their mistakes out to them.

Whilst out on the platform Britannia would not let me put the camera away and wanted her photo taking everywhere. She sat on the platform bench for one photo, as the name of the station was on the back of it. Then she insisted on sitting precariously above the railway line because the bridge was the one which could be seen in the film, a photo of which can be found by clicking here

Finally I persuaded Britannia to come and look for the letterboxes. These are not placed near the station as the area is much too touristy and the boxes would be muggled in a second. First we went to find the letterbox that is named after the station. It took some looking for but eventually Britannia spied it and had a terrific struggle to pull it out.

After stamping into Hogsmeade Station, the next one we looked for was 'Post Office'. Whilst up in the village Britannia had her photo taken in front of the Village Post Office, — yes there she is — tucked into the postcards to one side of the red letterbox! She thought it was wonderful that the window should be so full of bears, even though the inside of the post office was full of Owls.

Britannia was running out of the correct coloured inks for the stamps and the last thing she wanted to do was use the wrong colour. Sometimes you don't have exactly the colour that is needed, but when that happens you can always huff on the stamp. It will usually have enough ink left from the last person to make an impression. Of course it is also OK to use a similar colour, but never black or dark colours that are nothing like the right colour. This makes it so hard for the next person to get rid of and is very inconsiderate, unless of course you clean it up thoroughly afterwards. Britannia thought they would have just what she needed at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, which is the stationary shop in the High Street.

Inside Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop Britannia found there were ink pads and pens in every colour you could think of, and they had just the colour she needed. The inside of our own Webfoot's Stampeaz , which is a letterboxers paradise, must be a bit like Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop.

Next Britannia had to fight her way through heather, which was almost taller than herself, to reach the last letterbox. If you look hard enough - or click on the photo to enlarge it - you will eventually find Britannia ploughing through the heather (this weeks Where's Wally photo) This letterbox is about Honeyduke's Sweet Shop

Looking in the window of the shop in the High Street is quite a mouthwatering experience. There is everything anyone could possibly want here, including Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

That was the last of the boxes to be found, but what we haven't told you is that Britannia found a clue to a Bonus Box in the back of one of the letterboxes. This Bonus Box can be found in a Dragons cave, and Britannia was very brave looking for it. Once she found it she had to make an enormous effort to lift the pen in order to colour it in properly. Then she had to pluck up her courage once more, to replace it back in the dragons lair. Her fur did get a little singed as she insisted on tucking the box it right away out of sight, under the dragons mouth!