JK Rowling to build ‘Hagrid Hut’ on estate grounds

JK Rowling conjured up Hogwarts with an imaginative flick of the pen but creating “Hagrid’s Hut’ on her real-life country estate required successfully circumnavigating the “muggles” in the planning department.
Hagrid's Hut, as seen in the Harry Potter films. Picture: HemediaHagrid's Hut, as seen in the Harry Potter films. Picture: Hemedia
Hagrid's Hut, as seen in the Harry Potter films. Picture: Hemedia

The bestselling author of the Harry Potter novels is to build a replica of Hagrid’s domain in the grounds of her home in Perthshire. The author wants to install the stone-built summerhouse on the edge of the 19th-century, 162-acre Killiechassie Estate, near Aberfeldy.

Ms Rowling bought the house and grounds for £1.9 million in 2001 and married her husband, doctor Neil Murray, in the library of the home in December of that year. The application was approved by planning officials last week.

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Planning papers present the author’s vision of the structure, which bears a resemblance to the home of one of her most well-loved characters, Hagrid the giant.

Design plans show a circular structure, open to the front, containing a stone bench and featuring a slate roof. Like her fictional character’s home, the structure is set on the edge of a forest.

A report states that the condition of the application’s approval is that no trees must be damaged or cut down during the construction.

Rowling has previously built similar structures in the grounds of her mansion in the affluent Edinburgh suburb of Barnton.

The interconnected treehouses are thought to have been constructed for her two youngest children. Built on wooden stilts, the treehouses feature lanterns above the doors, balconies, carvings, a spiral staircase and a trapdoor.

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Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay, is just a few miles from Castle Menzies, which has been likened to Hogwarts, the wizards’ school attended by Harry Potter. The author’s rural retreat has its own small loch, which according to local legend is said to contain a murderous water sprite.

Last month it was revealed that the author had made a “generous” donation to help turn Aberfeldy Town Hall in Perthshire into a music and drama venue.

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The local community spent five years fighting for the right of ownership over the B-listed building and now plans to turn it into a 182-seat venue.

Ian Menzies of Locus Breadalbane, which manages the town hall, said: “The refurbishment will cost £1.5m but we had a generous donation from JK Rowling. We are not allowed to say how much it is.”

The author was among the highest-profile supporters of Better Together and donated £1m to their campaign to save the union, for which she received abuse on Twitter.

However focus on the author has also intensified after she tweeted a cryptic message last week which read: “Cry, foe! Run amok! Fa awry! My want won’t tolerate this nonsense.”

In the past Rowling has used anagrams and fans spotted that the tweet could be rearranged to read: “Harry Returns! Won’t say any details now! A week off! No comment.”

This may refer to a series of spin-off movies set 80 years before Harry Potter’s birth and involving the “magizoologist” Newt Scamander, author of one of Harry’s textbooks, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

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