The famous Yorkshire railway station you should visit even if Harry Potter isn’t your thing Two decades ago I was holidaying on Anglesey and we decided to pay a visit to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch while we were in the area.
It was nothing more than a tourist trap and I’m not sure why I expected anything else. There was a station with an oblong sign, a shop full of Llanfair PG trinkets and little else to pique one’s interest.
The 58-character name was conceived as a publicity stunt during the railway boom of the mid-19th century. Europe’s longest place name put the village, formerly known as Llanfair y Pwllgwyngyll, on the map and brought in much-needed tourism revenue.
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We glanced at the sign for half a moment, went into the shop, bought nothing, and left Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, never to return. Yet this unimpressive tourist attraction attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
I felt a similar sense of indifference when I visited Goathland station. For those who don’t know the bespectacled wizard student, this station in the heart of the North York Moors served as “Hogsmeade Station” in the Harry Potter film series, reports Yorkshire Live.
Nevertheless, Harry Potter fans flocked from all over the world to visit this picturesque station. It is well preserved and nostalgic, and the surroundings are, as you would expect from any place in a national park, simply delightful.
In the end, however, it felt like a station with a souvenir shop. I wouldn’t meet Harry, Hermione or Ron.
The little Harry Potter chocolate frog, complete with a wizard trading card for £5, and a small box of Harry Potter jelly beans for £6.50 didn’t make the experience any more enticing. The £3.50 parking ticket, valid until midnight, was another expense.
I remembered the excitement I felt when I visited Hadfield in Derbyshire, where much of The League of Gentleman was filmed. In 2000, it was an unremarkable Pennine village.
Still, it was exciting to see the main street that appears at the start of each episode of the spooky BBC comedy series, and discovering the lesser-known locations nearby was also a pleasure.
I also thought of the joy Happy Valley fans get from exploring the ordinary and sometimes unsavory back streets of Halifax, where scenes were filmed for Sally Wainwright’s hit crime drama. I was certainly excited to have lunch at the Sheffield cafe, where Catherine (Sarah Lancashire) comes face to face with Clare (Siobhan Finneran).
Harry Potter fans will no doubt feel the same excitement at Goathland Station, especially if they’ve travelled from another continent where a British village station itself seems exotic. If you’re not a particular fan of JK Rowling’s superstar creation but like steam trains and/or stunning scenery, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which stops at Goathland, is definitely worth the ticket price. And if none of the above appeals to you, you’re probably Tom Riddle.
