Use Your Accent

Back in the spring we visited Hedingham Castle for a day of jousting! Well…when I received an email about a School of Magic at the same castle, I was like, ‘sign me up for that right now!’. Admittedly, I never anticipated being such a Harry Potter fan. But sometimes things just happen! I also used to hate Halloween…but look at us now!

So we headed off to the castle for a day of magic!

When we arrived, we had to wait a bit before Assembly began. They were blowing bubbles about for the kids, except they weren’t those icky soap bubbles. They were filled with smoke and when they popped it was really cool!

Let the School of Magic commence!

Spells Class – First the kids were divided into houses and given their timetables. For the non-Brit readers, house = homeroom and timetable = schedule! Then, off to Spells Class. This was everyone’s favorite! It was so cool to see our big guy reading it all for himself!

Potion Class – As we were watching the potions teacher, I said to Joe and my girlfriend, “How cool is this?! The kids are going to Magic School in a castle. This is something we would never be able to do in the States.” My girlfriend is a local, so she has grown up like this. But she acknowledged that this was, indeed, a special experience. That’s why I love her! And her kids are jems!

Wand Making – Next on the agenda was turning the children’s sticks into proper wands! They even got to dip the tips in “dragon boogies” and then coat them with a magical power of their choosing.

Magical Animals – Last class was all about magical animals! The kids were so brave! Shockingly, T1 was the first volunteer and he got to hold a beautiful owl.

Once T2 saw the action, she literally couldn’t wait. She had her antsy hand in the air before she even knew was she was volunteering for! It was a snake!

This was such a special day! Watching the kids run around the grounds of a bona fide castle, reading their spell books, casting spells on each other. What more could an American Potterhead in England dream of?!

Thank you, Hedingham. I think I love you.