20 Jul 2011 01:37:33
Harry Potter fans have read the books, seen the films and could now – if they have the funds and inclination – even own the childhood home that may well have inspired JK Rowling to create the magical world of Hogwarts.
Church Cottage in Tutshill, near Chepstow, a former schoolhouse built in the gothic style in the mid-19th century, is on the market for around £400,000.
Its attractive features would appeal to many buyers, and include a pretty garden, flagstone and stripped wood floors and what the estate agent calls "part estuary views" from a bedroom.
But Potter enthusiasts will be more taken by a message scrawled in "bedroom 3": "a small inscription on the window frame reading: 'Joanne Rowling slept here circa 1982'."
As well as the gothic style, beams and vaulted ceilings, another feature that might have stuck in Rowling's mind as she sat down to write Harry Potter is a boy-wizard-sized cupboard under the stairs. Potter, of course, was forced to live in such a cupboard by his unpleasant aunt and uncle. The house also has a trapdoor leading to a cellar not dissimilar to the one guarded by the fearsome three-headed dog in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
The name of the village will also resonate with those who know their Harry Potter as Rowling uses it for Tutshill Tornadoes, one of the teams that plays Quidditch.
The current owner of Church Cottage, Julian Mercer, a BBC producer, bought the cottage from the Rowling family in 1995.
He said: "It is a lovely cottage. It is quite small but has wonderful architecture and a gorgeous garden surrounding it.
"JK Rowling would have been here in her formative years and could have taken inspiration from the cottage. The architecture is very Hogwarts-like. It has vaulted ceilings, stone windows and oozes gothic spirit."
"When we first moved in JK Rowling was not a known name and it was a couple of years later that the Philosopher's Stone came out.
"It was then that we knew the significance of the name written on the windowsill. We have redecorated the house completely since moving in but we always painted around it."
After attending nearby Wyedean comprehensive, Rowling left the Chepstow area to attend Exeter University. She moved to London and began to write the Harry Potter series during a delayed train journey between Manchester and King's Cross station in London. The first book was completed while she lived in Edinburgh.
