JK Rowling

Harry Potter books

Magical worlds are all very well, but you need to get there in the first place. Harry Potter’s first year at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was also our introduction to Platform 9¾ at London’s King’s Cross Station, a setting dear to Rowling’s heart (her parents met there). Muggles, you won’t be disappointed if you turn up either (with or without a caged owl): it’s clearly marked between platforms 9 and 10, and there’s even a luggage trolley disappearing into the brickwork. If you fancy getting to know some real owls then take a peek into the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary or the Screech Owl Sanctuary in Cornwall. But careful, you just never know how things might turn out …. And tread warily down London’s Charing Cross Road; it’s full of secondhand bookshops and little alleyways that just might lead to from the Leaky Cauldron to Diagon Alley.

Back to the trains! Trains from King’s Cross can whisk you to NewcastleGateshead in around three hours, where you can see (until early October, check www.sevenstories.org.uk) one of Rowling’s original Harry Potter manuscripts at Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books. Now that’s magic.