Pottering Around The Cathedral

The Citizen newspaper reported yesterday that the crew working on the next Harry Potter film had arrived in Gloucester to prepare for filming, and I immediately thought "photo opportunity!". The magnificent Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral double up as the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and are filled with children from the neighbouring King's School. A huge marquee has been erected in the schools grounds to get costume fitting for the 174 pupils taking part underway.

The Cathedral has been used twice before by Warner Brothers, for the filming of The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber Of Secrets. In the past you haven't been able to get near the place, so I didn't know what to expect when I got there - but it was "access all areas"! Above is the garden that is enclosed by the Cloisters, now its turned over to scaffolding and staging.

There wasn't a great deal of activity at the Cathedral, but these guys were working on protecting the stone floor of the Cloisters in readiness for the camera tracks. Outside there was one security guard, from Movie Lot Security, on his mobile phone, stood in front of two vans. I acted all innocently as I walked by him, I got to the back of the vans (and out of his sight) and I pushed my camera through some security fencing without really looking, getting a snap of what I hoped was film cameras...

...but it turned out to be electric cables! When filming of The Half Blood Prince gets under way properly I'm going to head back to the Cathedral and try to at least take a photo of a camera. Maybe even a wizard or two! Watch this space...