Hogsmeade Village

This is my LEGO creation of Hogsmeade Village, where Hogwarts students of years three and upwards visit on school trips!

First seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hogsmeade Village is the only settlement in Britain solely inhabited by witches, wizards and other magical beings.  Seen mostly during the winter, I chose to model this set upon the design of Hogsmeade Village recreated at Universal Studios in Florida. 

The set I have built is compromised of three main parts; the Shrieking Shack, Honeydukes sweetshop and a small stall selling Butterbeer.  

The first model pictured is that of Honeydukes joke shop, a brightly coloured establishment packed with sweets.  The flooring on both floors of the sweetshop is in a classic, black and white checkerboard pattern, the same as is seen in the film and the Universal Studios recreation.  In the left front window of the shop, there are sticks of bright pink candyfloss, and in the right front window of the shop, there are lollipops (the circular plates on these would be printed with the red swirl design seen in many of the LEGO Winter Village sets).  The displays inside the shops house many goodies; from chocolate frogs to pumpkin juice, jars of Honeydukes produce to bars of Honeydukes chocolate.  The plain pink tiles, along with the plain pink and transparent jars, would be printed with the Honeydukes logo on.  Again, the circular plates in white would have the red swirl design, and those in light brown would have the cookie design printed on.  There is a desk in the centre of the shop, with two ink bottles on.  The second floor of the shop houses yet more confectionery; again, the plain tiles would have the Honeydukes logo printed on.  Although I am aware that LEGO have already made a version of Honeydukes, I felt that there was definitely room to improve upon this model, and make a magical sweetshop that every child would dream of visiting.

The next part of the set is a model of the supposedly "haunted" Shrieking Shack.  A dilapidated and worn building, I hoped to reflect the building's decaying state through the mismatched bricks I have used, and the planks covering the windows and doors.  For the interior, I needed to create a space where the Marauders would have spent their days of mischief.  The bottom floor houses a desk, a large chest and a teetering stack of old issues of The Daily Prophet, as well as an empty glass bottle.  The second floor houses a large double bed, as seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, as well as two wooden chairs, a bedside table and lamp.  For the top floor, I wanted to create a space in which I felt the Marauders may have sat to compile the Marauders' Map; there is a fireplace on the right, a stack of logs for the fire on the wall on the left, and a wooden table between these two, with some chairs, a quill and another empty glass bottle.  Again, I felt as if there was some room for improvement on the previous LEGO model of the Shrieking Shack, with some updated figures and designs involved.  

The final part of the set is a small stall selling bottles and mugs of Butterbeer, as well as a pair of lampposts, similar to those seen in the Diagon Alley set, but decorated with wreaths to reflect the festive season.  I have built the village as it would appear in the winter; so there is a layer of snow covering the roofs of the buildings.  

The minifigures included with this set are Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, along with the animagus forms of Peter and Sirius (the dog and Scabbers the rat).  (The figures pictured are just illustrations of who they would represent.)  The set contains 1,141 pieces, and I would estimate this as costing around £100.00 - £110.00, based off the last wave of Harry Potter sets, though of course, I'm not entirely sure how LEGO figure out their costings!

With the upcoming release of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, I thought that LEGO revamping and bringing back the Harry Potter theme would give younger fans who may have missed out on the latest wave of sets, a chance to get into this magical theme.

Thanks so much for viewing my project!  If you like my idea, please support this to help bring back the wonderful Harry Potter theme.  Any comments or improvements you have, I would love to hear.  Thank you!