On a glorious summer’s day, we braved the crowds on York’s busiest street to find The Potions Cauldron shop at number 9¾, the Shambles, which of course, is a most magical address.
I was expecting the experience to be somewhere behind the shop but no, it took place at a secret (but close) location nearby.
We were greeted by a magical helper who chatted to us, setting the stage and entertaining the children before leading us into an enchanted room where we were welcomed by a friendly wizard.
The room itself was fabulously styled! In front of me was a cauldron bubbling away, while a glass dome held lots of swirling smoke. It was definitely a multi-sensory experience with lots of clever tech as well as good old-fashioned interaction and engaging storytelling.
Early on in our visit, the wizard gave us our own potions to drink, before teaching us how to mix our own potions. We also got to wave our wands around, while casting a spell, which the kids all loved. I won’t give any more secrets away, but there was drama, fun and laughter involved.
At the end of our visit we each given a bottle of potion to take home. Make sure you shake your potion as this is when the magic happens!
There are different packages to the experience we chose the premium package which gave the children a phial of jelly beans and the adults a choice of alcoholic shot to take home. Tickets start at £5.99 for kids and £6.49 for adults. I think this represents excellent value for money. Your kids don’t need to be obsessed Harry Potter fans to remember it for a long time.
We visited The Potions Cauldron as part of a press day. As always, all opinions are very much my own!
