Several years ago, we visited Alnwick, a classic “living castle” situated along England’s Northeast coast. What makes this even more magical is that we took broomstick flying lessons at ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.’
You see, the Alnwick Castle broomstick training is in the same courtyard where Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, and the rest of the Hogwarts first years learned to fly. (These are references to the characters in the Harry Potter books and movies.)
Portions of Alnwick doubled as Hogwarts in a variety of Harry Potter scenes, including broomstick flying lessons. However, it’s more than that. It’s also the current home to the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland.
The castle offers several tours, from gardens to history. We chose the engaging Harry Potter Tour, which was the perfect prelude for our broomstick flying lessons. And was it a success? Well, take a look; both of our girls got off the ground.
“Here we go!”
(We have lift-off, their first flight is a success!)
To this day, people still ask us how our girls rode on flying broomsticks. I just smile and think about the photos.
Can you see it? It looks like they are broomstick flying
I, however, never got off the ground. I guess I am not a natural at broomstick flying.
And that isn’t the only magic we learned while at Alnwick:
“Hey, it works!”
And the illusion is complete.
How to sign up for Alnwick Castle broomstick training
Broomstick flying lessons are open for everyone over the age of six. In fact, I was encouraged by the eccentric professor to join in.
Back when we took the lessons, they were included with the Alnwick castle entrance tickets, but today, they are an extra fee. Just my opinion, but it’s really best suited for kids.
Each class is currently limited to 20 participants and adheres to strict social distancing.
The training includes mounting and dismounting, manoeuvering your broom, and speed control. Learning to fly is a popular activity at Alnwick. Here’s what you need to know:
- Broomstick flying lessons take place on Saturday and Sunday only.
- Tickets are for a specific time and start between 10.30 am and 4.00 pm.
- A ticket tent is located near the Lion Arch.
- Important: Tickets are only released one hour prior to the start of each lesson.
- Our fun and entertaining Alnwick castle broomstick training lasted about 25 minutes, nearly all with laughter.
- For more information, check out their official webpage.
Is Alnwick Castle broomstick training real or an illusion?
If you want to continue to believe in the magic, get yourself a Harry Potter broom replica, perhaps even a Nimbus 2000.
And, stop reading this article now. Instead, head over and join us as we search for other Harry Potter film locations, and don’t lose the magic.
If you want to know the secret to broomstick flying or raising the broomstick, then read on . . .
How do the visitors fly at Alnwick Castle?
The effect is not a secret:
- Body positioning of the single moment in time you wish to portray.
- Fast shutter speed.
- Narrow aperture for a larger depth of field.
- Props – in our case, a real “Harry Potter Broom”
- Backdrop – If you’re not at Alnwick, a castle backdrop will help complete the look.
- Creative captions complete the illusion of a broomstick flying.
How are they broomstick flying?
You see broomstick flying because I told you they were flying on broomsticks.
After all, they are on broomsticks sailing above the ground . . . or are they?
The truth is that they stood still with the broomstick between their legs and jumped while tucking up their legs.
As a photographer, my job was to freeze a moment in time. I used a shutter speed of 1/640 for these photos. Had I used a slower speed, their legs would blur, and it would be obvious that they are jumping.
How are they levitating the broom?
And in the “Up” photo, you see the broom rising for two reasons. First, the caption told you the broom was going up, and second, take a look at her hand position.
In reality, Sarah is dropping the broomstick, being careful to keep her hand in the proper position to appear as if she is retrieving it. Here I also used a fast shutter speed to freeze the action.
Broomstick flying image fails
Give it a try, but be prepared to take lots of photos to get the effect you want. Here are two that just didn’t capture the illusion of broomstick flying:
Photo credit: Gordon Milligan (CC BY 2.0)
More on Harry Potter
At the time we visited, our girls were Harry Potter fans, having read all the Harry Potter books and seen all eight Harry Potter films multiple times. We also celebrated our daughter’s birthday by taking her on a Harry Potter: Warner Brothers Studio Tour just outside of London.
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*Alnwick Castle is located in Northumberland, England. It is one of many Harry Potter sites we visited whilst travelling through the UK. It’s one of my favourite fairytale castles in Europe.
Michele
Super cool post! Looks like so much fun! Photography can be magic : )
Demi
Oh that’s so cool. Love the fun pictures. looks so real great trick.
Shelley
Such a cool blog! I’m so glad I know about increasing my shutter speed for photo magic now. I’m going to play around and see what else I can “fly” doing.
Cathy
This is so fun!! What a cool weekend idea! Is there a photographer with the program in case I go by myself? Or hopefully someone in the group could take my photo ;). Thank you so much!
Charlotte
This gave me a good laugh, thank you. It was a fun read!
Indah Nuria Savitri
supeeer coool :). I really like to try the tricks and it seems managable 🙂
Rhonda Albom
It’s actually easy. Give it a try.
Sally@Toddlers on Tour
Very clever with the trick photography. I bet the girls had loads of fun while you were getting your shots.
Rhonda Albom
I think they were getting frustrated when I was trying to get them both in the air at the same time.
Suze The Luxury Columnist
You certainly fooled me Rhonda, these photos look very convincing!
Rhonda Albom
That’s the idea 🙂
Zee
That looks like a world of fun, and as an avid Harry Potter fan I’m just a little bit jealous (in a good way). Kudos to your photography skills, I’m sure your girls enjoyed showing their friends photos from their broomstick flying class 😉
Rhonda Albom
One of my teens is a huge Harry Potter fan. We visited so many of the film sites when we were in the UK. They had a blast.
Karen
That is really cool. I still feel out of my depth with shutter speed settings and tend to rely a lot on aperture mode, but I understood exactly what you were explaining. Thanks!
Michele {Malaysian Meanders}
That’s a fun photo trick. I wonder if my point-and-shoot camera is up to the task. I guess I’ll have to grab a broomstick and the kids to try it out.
Rhonda Albom
If you point and shoot has any options, put it on sports and it will automatically do the things I described. (Sports is usually an icon of a running man).
Ruth
This is so cool! They really look like they are flying. And before, you explained it, I thought there was some sort of trick involved in the photos where your daughters are kind of holding the brooms in the air.
stevebethere
What brilliantly fun photos heheh! I just couldn’t help humming the Bewitched theme tune while looking at these 🙂
Have a hogwarttastic day 🙂
Lyn (aka) The Travelling Lindfields
I am so going to try this. Now all I need is a broomstick, a daughter (Ooopps sons only) and a castle – oh well.
Corinne
Hilarious Rhonda! I love it. We visited the Harry Potter Studios this summer and had a blast.
Happy Weekend Travel Inspiration!
Paula McInerney
Great job and very helpful hints. Despite being Muggles. you are all lovely.
Rhonda Albom
I don’t remember admitting to being muggles. Maybe I am just sharing for the muggles and my girls can fly . . .
Lydia C. Lee
I love this – hilarious…I love the number of ‘takes’ you have to do to get it right…
Rhonda Albom
Oh, there are way more takes than that. For a while I really tried to have both girls legs tucked up and flying at the same time. It’s a split second in time, and it just wasn’t going to happen.
kelsey bang
oh my goodness this is the best post ever!! you really do look like you are flying on broomsticks! what a blast!
Travelera
I love to do Jumpingg/flying pictures! So much fun!! 🙂
Comedy Plus
How cool. I thought it was for real until you explained the process on getting these photos. Cool.
Have a fabulous day. Big hugs. ♥♥♥
Rhonda Albom
I guess the technique works really well. It interesting how strong the power of suggestion can be. Now that you know what they are really doing, you probably don’t see flying anymore.
Lexa Cain
I love this! It’s amazing that it looks so real but is really such a simple technique. (I must say the short narrow brooms look like they’d be awfully uncomfortable if one were really riding them! lol)
Rhonda Albom
Those were the brooms the provided, If I were really flying on my broomstick I would have a larger one 🙂
Susan
What a fun article! Always love to see your family in action.
Now, I need a much better camera!
Rhonda Albom
If you just have a point and shoot, you can put it in the sports mode, it will basically do the same thing automatically for you.
Hilary
Hi Rhonda .. love the photos and the way you’ve used them as an example for your photographic skills.
I’ve been to Alnwick years and years ago … but I’d love to see what they’ve done to the garden now, and to see the Poison garden … I love the beach at Alnmouth, which is where my father and I stayed … a trip to remember and a nostalgia time to revisit.
Cheers Hilary
Rhonda Albom
Being that I was with my Harry Potter fans, we didn’t spend much time in the gardens, we were too focused on every corner used for Hogwarts – and of course, our broomstick flying lessons. We missed the beach 🙁
Yolanda Renee
That was wonderful, and what fun. Memories forever captured, a day in time your girls and you will always treasure. I am not that deft at photography or magic. Thanks for sharing your tricks and the treats!