TUICKED away in Whitby is a quaint English village that was once a filming location for Harry Potter.
Goathland, or Hogsmeade for wizarding fans, is an open moorland where sheep wander freely through the common, and it’s also a popular movie spot.
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Eagle-eyed fans of the movie franchise will remember a scene from the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, where the Hogwart’s Express pulls up outside Hogsmeade.
As Harry jumps off the train, the platform is where he spots Hagrid again before they take the boats across the water to Hogwarts.
It was also used at the very end of the first film when Harry returns home and waves to Hagrid who stands on the platform.
Unlike some scenes, these were filmed on Goathland’s actual working train station, but it was only used in the first movie, and not the ones that followed.
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Goathland station first opened in 1865 and was originally part of the North East Railway before it closed down in 1965.
The train station has since re-opened as part of the North York Moors Railway that is a charity organisation.
As for Goathland, the town was founded in 1109 by King Henry I.
In the 19th century, Goathland became a spa town in the 19th century with lots of visitors heading there for the waterfall.
Called Mallyan Spout, the waterfall is 70 feet high, and is the tallest in the North York Moors.
It still attracts lots of visitors today, but for anyone taking a trek there, be warned it has been described as a “steep climb”.
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But one visitor on TripAdvisor added it was “breathtaking, and worth the walk”.
Harry Potter is not the only series that filmed in Goathland – the village was also used as a location for the ITV police drama, Heartbeat.
The series that was set in the 1960s and filmed between 1992 to 2010 used Goathland as their fictional village, Aidensfield.
Across the town they used the train station as well as The Goathland Hotel which became The Aidensfield Arms.
For fans, there’s even a souvenir shop which you’ll find at Goathland Garage Gifts.
The shop is family-owned and has been open since the 1970s, any fan of the show can pick up a tea towel, calendar or mug from the official site of Heartbeat.
Plus, the place you can stay inside the real Hogwarts in Oxford.
And what we thought when we took a tour of the Harry Potter studios in Leavesden.
Here Are Most Filming Locations You Can Visit In The UK
For any film buffs, add these filming locations to you list…
Found in Cheshire, Lyme offers some of most iconic scenes in film history. If I say Pride and Prejudice, you probably know already. Starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, the 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice was filmed in various locations across the UK. But for that very famous moment where Lizzie Bennet sees Mr Darcy emerge from the lake in what became a very see-through shirt.
The Eden Project is home to one of the biggest indoor rainforests and is known for its tropical climates – but not when it transformed into an ice palace. For Pierce Brosnan‘s Die Another Day in 2002, the Eden Project became a frozen landscape. Pierce and Halle Berry‘s characters raced to defeat Gustav Graves in his ice palace. Halle’s stunt double even climbed down the side of the Eden Project for the movie.
For any fan of the classic movies, Saltram House in Plymouth is like stepping into a Jane Austen story. And it was in fact used to film the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet. Saltram House in Devon became Norland Park, the estate that must be given up by the Dashwood family.
One trip to save for a sunny day is to the Glencoe National Nature reserve in Scotland – especially for Harry Potter fans. Not only is the landscape beautiful, but it was also transformed to be part of the wizarding world for almost all of the Harry Potter films. Most famously, it was the location for Hagrid’s hut which was specially built for filming. Sadly, since the end of the franchise, the hut is no longer there, but you can easily find where it used to be if you pull into the Clachaig Inn in Glencoe.
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