It is half term holiday, which must mean a trip to the Harry Potter studios at Leavesden, pictured, which now include a recreation of Platform 9 ¾ and the original Hogwarts Express steam engine.

We took our children (all avid Harry fans) last half term and if you haven’t been already, I recommend it as being worth every penny, even for an old cynic like me.

I didn’t think I would learn anything about Harry Potter that hadn’t been said before, so it was an eye-opener to discover the real magicians are those who worked behind the scenes.

From the moment you arrive and see the plaque dedicated to the 4,000 people of the British film industry who spent ten years working, eating and virtually living on set, you enter a world which not only brings JK Rowling’s books to life, but which also provides a fascinating insight into the attention to detail that went into the eight films.

Whole teams of carpenters, engineers and artists created some 588 individual sets, which range from the magnificent great hall of Hogwarts (where the pewter plates and brass goblets were screwed to the tables to prevent the cast or crew from taking them home as souvenirs), to Dumbledore’s office, full of dusty books, fading manuscripts and huge telescopes and featuring a set of moving stairs, apparently one of the most complicated feats of engineering ever required by a film.

We learned how digital doubles were used to film the sequences of Quidditch (the sky diving broomstick sport) and how each sequence took several weeks to film; and that six artists spent nearly a year developing the skeletal Inferi creatures, working on dozens of 3D models before 25 animators were hired to complete the final shots – all for two minutes of screen time. Do go; it’s absolutely spellbinding.

Arcadia is on at Aylesbury’s Waterside Theatre from March 2 to 7.

Advance booking for Warner Bros. Studios’ Harry Potter tour is essential.