A Harry Potter superfan who begged her dad to build her a Hogwarts when she was nine still has the castle in the garden - 14 years later.
Megan Mackin, 23, reread the books about the boy wizard over and over again as a child and was desperate for her own piece of the magic.
Her dad Sean Mackin, 54, spent a whole year recreating the iconic wizarding school in their garden in Belfast, Northern Ireland – complete with a two-floor tower.
“I drew a tower and a square coming off it and showed it to my dad, and he made it work!” said Megan
Over a decade later, the now-abandoned playhouse acts as a chill-out space for the family with a sofa bed, cushions and TV.
Despite blocking sunlight from the kitchen, Megan doesn’t think the castle will ever be dismantled.
She said: “It’s actually kind of funny too because you can see it from the street - the tower roof kind of pokes out over our sun room.
“Plus it’s a castle in your own garden, even now it’s kind of amazing!”
The student even plans to redecorate the interiors when she has finished her degree.
“I just really want to do a fun project before I graduate and there’s nothing like renovating a castle playhouse!” she said
Megan was an avid bookworm as a child and was obsessed with all things Enid Blyton and Lemony Snicket before a friend recommended the Harry Potter series.
She said: “I was about seven or eight at the time, it started there.
“I read all the books...it just became the one series I would read over and over again until I was at least 14.”
The architecture student became a superfan, collecting a Gryffindor cloak and tie, a Harry Potter wand, Hogwarts train tickets, and of course all the books and DVDs of the films.
She took her paperbacks everywhere with her and reread them over and over again, and even dressed up as Hermione for Halloween.
Megan said: “There’s a photo somewhere of me as a wee child, maybe at ten years old, reading the Half-Blood Prince and it’s just kind of funny because it’s a huge book and I look so small.
“I would even try and bring the entire series on holiday to read again, probably took up half the luggage space!
“My paperbacks are so worn down from reading and the spine is all wrinkled from use.”
In 2009, when she was nine, she begged her father to build her her very own Hogwarts in their back garden.
“As a child, my imagination was definitely a bit wild so I guess there were no limits to what I thought could be done,” she recalled.
“My dad had previously built my sister and me a playhouse when we were two and five so it didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility, but we didn’t think it would be as big as it ended up being. “
Sean, who works in construction, spent the best part of a year building Megan and her sister the playhouse in his free time.
He used timber studs and curved laminated plywood to create the structure, insulated it with foil, and then covered it in roof tiles to emulate the effect of old stones.
The dad used equipment and materials from his work to keep the costs down, and his colleagues were always on hand to lend an idea if needed a bit of inspiration.
The final structure had a two-story tower for the kids to play in.
Megan said: “I was just speechless.
“I had seen the first stages of it being built, so the flooring and the rectangle part of it because it’s just outside our kitchen window.
“But for the summer that year I went to visit my mum’s extended family, and when I came back, the tower was up and all that was missing was a few bits and pieces.”
Megan played in her private Hogwarts every day for years, storing her toys in there and watching Disney films.
She said: “The top tower room was great too because you can look out over the countryside and next door’s field would also have a cow or sheep in it.
During the lockdown Megan was living at home while doing a placement, she would venture out to the den to watch TV or play on her Nintendo Switch as a nice escape.
The family never plan on taking it down.
Megan said: “I think it was just kind of such an unreal type thing to have in your garden, they just left it up.
“My dad also thought that it would have fallen apart long ago because it wasn’t built to last - there was no weather-proofing and no water-proofing along the windows - so it’s kind of a feat that it is still up almost twelve years later!
“I am hopefully going to redo the inside and fix the outside whilst on my summer break from university.
“I’m hoping to do some fun things on the interior because there is potential in the tower rooms. “
Stories and infographics by ‘Talker Research’ are available to download & ready to use. Stories and videos by ‘Talker News’ are managed by SWNS. To license content for editorial or commercial use and to see the full scope of SWNS content, please email [email protected] or submit an inquiry via our contact form.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__hssc
1 hour
HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of sessions and to determine if HubSpot should increment the session number and timestamps in the __hstc cookie.
__hssrc
session
This cookie is set by Hubspot whenever it changes the session cookie. The __hssrc cookie set to 1 indicates that the user has restarted the browser, and if the cookie does not exist, it is assumed to be a new session.
_GRECAPTCHA
5 months 27 days
Google Recaptcha service sets this cookie to identify bots to protect the website against malicious spam attacks.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie records the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent
1 year
CookieYes sets this cookie to record the default button state of the corresponding category and the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
ts
1 year 1 month 1 day
PayPal sets this cookie to enable secure transactions through PayPal.
usprivacy
1 year 1 month
This is a consent cookie set by Dailymotion to store the CCPA consent string (mandatory information about an end-user being or not being a California consumer and exercising or not exercising its statutory right).
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
Cloudflare set the cookie to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
li_gc
5 months 27 days
Linkedin set this cookie for storing visitor's consent regarding using cookies for non-essential purposes.
lidc
1 day
LinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection.
UserMatchHistory
1 month
LinkedIn sets this cookie for LinkedIn Ads ID syncing.
v1st
1 year 1 month 1 day
The v1st cookie is set by TripAdvisor to collect details about how visitors use the website, by displaying user reviews, awards and information received on the TripAdvisor community.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_gat
1 minute
Google Universal Analytics sets this cookie to restrain request rate and thus limit data collection on high-traffic sites.
_p_hfp_client_id
less than a minute
Elfsight sets this cookie to implement social platforms on the website and enables the social platforms to track the users by assigning them a specific ID.
dmvk
session
The dmvk cookie is set by Dailymotion to record data of visitor behaviour on the website.
SRM_B
1 year 24 days
Used by Microsoft Advertising as a unique ID for visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__hstc
6 months
Hubspot set this main cookie for tracking visitors. It contains the domain, initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session).
_clck
1 year
Microsoft Clarity sets this cookie to retain the browser's Clarity User ID and settings exclusive to that website. This guarantees that actions taken during subsequent visits to the same website will be linked to the same user ID.
_clsk
1 day
Microsoft Clarity sets this cookie to store and consolidate a user's pageviews into a single session recording.
_fbp
3 months
Facebook sets this cookie to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting the website.
_ga
1 year 1 month 4 days
Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors.
_ga_*
1 year 1 month 4 days
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.
_gat_gtag_UA_*
1 minute
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store a unique user ID.
_gcl_au
3 months
Google Tag Manager sets the cookie to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid
1 day
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store information on how visitors use a website while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the collected data includes the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
AnalyticsSyncHistory
1 month
Linkedin set this cookie to store information about the time a sync took place with the lms_analytics cookie.
CLID
1 year
Microsoft Clarity set this cookie to store information about how visitors interact with the website. The cookie helps to provide an analysis report. The data collection includes the number of visitors, where they visit the website, and the pages visited.
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded YouTube videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
hubspotutk
6 months
HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of the visitors to the website. This cookie is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts.
ln_or
1 day
Linkedin sets this cookie to registers statistical data on users' behaviour on the website for internal analytics.
MR
7 days
This cookie, set by Bing, is used to collect user information for analytics purposes.
SM
session
Microsoft Clarity cookie set this cookie for synchronizing the MUID across Microsoft domains.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
ANONCHK
10 minutes
The ANONCHK cookie, set by Bing, is used to store a user's session ID and verify ads' clicks on the Bing search engine. The cookie helps in reporting and personalization as well.
bcookie
1 year
LinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser IDs.
bscookie
1 year
LinkedIn sets this cookie to store performed actions on the website.
fr
3 months
Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites with Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE
1 year 24 days 1 minute
Google DoubleClick IDE cookies store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads according to the user profile.
li_sugr
3 months
LinkedIn sets this cookie to collect user behaviour data to optimise the website and make advertisements on the website more relevant.
muc_ads
1 year 1 month 4 days
Twitter sets this cookie to collect user behaviour and interaction data to optimize the website.
MUID
1 year 24 days
Bing sets this cookie to recognise unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. This cookie is used for advertising, site analytics, and other operations.
personalization_id
1 year 1 month 4 days
Twitter sets this cookie to integrate and share features for social media and also store information about how the user uses the website, for tracking and targeting.
test_cookie
15 minutes
doubleclick.net sets this cookie to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
ttwid
1 year
Tiktok sets this cookie to keep track of user authentication and session information.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
YouTube sets this cookie to measure bandwidth, determining whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA
6 months
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's cookie consent state for the current domain.
YSC
session
Youtube sets this cookie to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt.innertube::nextId
never
YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requests
never
YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.