In search of the Harry Potter Tree at Blenheim Palace

Our annual pass to Blenheim Palace was expiring, and we still hadn't found the Harry Potter Tree.  So we roused up the kids on Sunday November 7th and went in search of the tree.  This is not the Whomping Willow, this is the tree by the lake where Snape gets bullied by James Potter and his pack of hooligans.

Here's a shot of the film crew surrounding Harry and Young Severus for the scene:

Then I found this angle of Severus reading by the tree:

 

And the film clip that resulted (it seems to me there was more, where Lily rushes up to stop them, but it's been awhile since I saw the whole movie):

Armed with these photos and this film clip in our minds, we drove over to the Palace grounds and started hiking counter clockwise around the lake.  This was our last chance to find it, unless we paid for another year!

 Our first big tree find - by the lake, but not quite right.  

Scott and Cambria walking along the lake - Cambria's jeans legs were soaked up about 4 inches by the end of the day!

We took a detour through a sheep filled field, to a monument that we had seen from afar, but never up close.

 Top of the monument

Inscription - "f" was sometimes used for "s" back then.  Nifty.

 See, sheep filled field.  :)

 The actual palace, across the lake behind the girls.

WE FOUND IT!!  For anyone else looking for it, it's a lot easier to find if you start from the Palace and walk toward the monument.  It's just across the bridge on the left.

 Scott and the girls in the tree.  Irreverent, I know.   :)

 Meridian imitating Snape, at my request.  

 Scott and Cambria, in the tree

 Meridian climbing into the tree

 All of us, in the tree!

 Meridian, standing where Harry was. 

 Meridian hanging upside down near the tree, like Snape.  LOL

 Back closer to the Palace, Cambria posed on a high wall in the garden.  

We had stopped for a snack and some hot chocolate and wine in the Palace cafe, but we still had one more goal for the day.  Scott hadn't yet seen the Cascades, so we set off to show him after our break.

 There are many statues in the garden, I found this one striking.  There is no inscription, so I don't know whom it depicts.  But I think his face is really striking.

 Cambria digs finding "forts" in natural places. 

 Scott at the Cascades, finally!  The water feature was designed by Capability Brown, who was a famous landscape architect. 

 The view downriver from the Cascades.  

Cambria back at the Palace garden, with her second bamboo stick from the Blenheim property. 

 OK, so Meridian had my camera in the car, and I found this when I downloaded the pictures.  Ha!

 We finished our afternoon with dinner at the Crown and Tuns in Deddington.  Yum!

The kids had been tired from Bonfire Night the night before this excursion, so they weren't as amiable as they could have been.  But we saw the last few things we needed to before our passes expired, and we had a lovely dinner too.  All in all a pleasant, productive day!