Muggles, witches and wizards rejoice because now you can spend the night in a place that is entirely Harry Potter themed at Canongate Luxury Apartment. Making your way to the birthplace of Harry Potter in Edinburgh where J.K Rowling spent her time creating this magical world, guests can tour Edinburgh’s Harry Potter visiting sites before heading back to their own Potter inspired dorm.
We spoke to owner Yue about how she went about creating her own luxury Harry Potter apartment.
Can you tell us more about the apartment and what surprises can visitors expect to find?
There are a lot of nice features of the flat like a real wood burner, a train compartment bedroom from Hogwarts Express, a Gryffindor common room and a Gryffindor dormitory. There is also a desk which actually belonged to J.K. Rowling! I managed to acquire it as the furniture restorer’s son went to the same school and was in the same class as J.K. Rowling’s daughter, so he fixed this antique desk for her, and when she moved house, she left the desk at the furniture fitter’s place. So that gave me the opportunity to have it. The mirror in the apartment was once J.K Rowling’s, she wanted to recycle her old hand railings so they cut them into a mirror frame. I asked my blacksmith to remold an antique styled key into the kitchen cupboard handles, and have each door painted in each house’s signature colour with their crest. And the breakfast bar is made of a whole piece of maple wood that I carried all the way back from South Lancashire.
Why did you choose the Harry potter theme?
I chose the Harry Potter theme because originally I want to give each one of my flats a movie theme connected to Edinburgh. I picked Braveheart, Harry Potter, Anne Hathaway’s One day. I wanted a Harry Potter theme because I am a huge fan and it’s so resourceful and fun. Also like on a iron plate in my flat ‘Edinburgh, the birthplace of Harry Potter,’ I think this is a fantastic and ever-lasting theme.
How did you go about designing the apartment?
During the design process we had a lot of ideas and struggled slightly as the second bedroom is really long and narrow – it’s an awkward room. I thought how about putting the traditional Scottish box bed inside it, and eventually I decided to convert that into the Hogwarts train compartment. You can see Calton Hill in an enclosed train compartment with someone you love, isn’t that romantic? The building was B listed which was built in the year of 1700, and the stone walls are from 1700 of course. You can find the building in Edinburgh’s council website, it’s called Morocco’s land. And in the Gryffindor dormitory, the ceiling wall makes a beautiful illusion of floating candles. I didn’t want to have a cheap copy of the Warner Bros. Studio tour, so it’s more like an homage from a huge fan rather than the copy of the movie scene.
What Harry Potter themed things can guests do nearby?
There are so many Harry Potter inspires places to visit in Edinburgh. For example you can go to The Elephant House Cafe where J K Rowling sat writing many of her early novels. Greyfriars Kirkyark, a cemetery where she admitted to collecting many weird and wonderful names from the headstones. Or even the City Chambers where her hand prints are immortalised in stone as she was awarded the second ever Edinburgh award. There are so many places to visit.
Are muggles allowed to stay or just witches and wizards? Will they be safe from dementors?
I might do another one in 2018, this one would be more Slytherin and more witchery. The flat is just receiving the last finishing touches and I do hope people will show up in Harry Potter costumes. I have ordered a sign saying ‘Wizards welcome (Muggles Tolerated).’ They will be safe from dementors, because J. K. Rowling will cast a spell from Cramond to protect them.
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