The Burrow (silly questions!)

[Steve Vander Ark]

No: HPFGUIDX 24929

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., scaryfairymary at h... wrote:
> I was just wondering (although this topic might already have been 
> covered, I'm very new to all this!) do the Weasleys live in an 
> ordinary Muggle village? If they do how does their house, unusual 
as 
> it is, not attract attention from the muggle neighbours? In GoF 
> Harry, Ron and his brothers play quidditch outside, how is this not 
> noticed?  THey also seem to have a terrible infestation of garden 
> knomes, if this is in a muggle area, are they not noticed by the 
> neighbours??
> I would appreciate if someone could throw some light on the 
> situation!!!
> -scaryfairymary!

Nice of you to bring this up. I am in the process of researching the 
Burrow for a map I'm drawing for the Wizard's Atlas. Here's some 
facts that help to answer your question:

The Burrow is located "a little way outside the village" of Ottery 
St. Catchpole. This village is located in Devon, along the River 
Otter. The Burrow has a tumbledown garage and a small yard, with a 
fairly good-sized garden out back (which includes a pond and room 
enough for a big family dinner). The Muggle postal carrier doesn't 
know where the Burrow is, so it's probably not directly connected to 
the village by any obvious road. There are neighbors fairly nearby, 
however, and the neighbors can see the Burrow. The Burrow is larger 
than just the house and small yard, however. It includes some area of 
fields and, presumably, trees, since the area around the Burrow is 
described as "fields and clumps of trees." They also own an orchard, 
and it is in the orchard that they have a small paddock, where the 
boys practice Quidditch (flying low so that the neighbors don't see 
them and not using real Quidditch balls, which might escape and 
frighten the Muggles in town).

A couple of interesting points:

1 - On the other side of the village from the Burrow is a hill called 
Stoatshead Hill. 
2 - There are only a few other Wizarding families in the vicinity of 
Ottery St. Catchpole, and they don't really socialize much. Amos 
Diggory wasn't even familiar with the Weasley children enough to 
recognize them. Arthur isn't absolutely sure that there aren't more 
Wizarding families about.
3 -These families are the Lovegoods, who are fairly poor (since they 
had to go to the Quidditch World Cup a week early), and the Fawcetts, 
who might be the family of the Miss Fawcett from Ravenclaw. 
4 - The Diggories live quite some way from Stoatshead Hill. They  had 
to walk there and in order to make it in time, they had to get up at 
2 am. That means that they're at least four or five miles away from 
the village. That doesn't sound like much, but in the Wizarding world 
it is. (Just imagine haw far things would seem if YOU had no car!)
5 - JKR was asked in an interview why Gnomes are considered a bad 
thing. She replied that they burrow up the ground like moles, which 
makes a mess. Also, and this points toward something someone 
mentioned on the list, the fact that a garden has gnomes is pretty 
much a dead giveaway that it's a Wizard's garden. That's why they go 
to the trouble to de-Gnome gardens.

resources from the Lexicon:
The Burrow (includes a marvelous picture)
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/w_pl_burrow.html

The Weasley family:
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/weasley.html

The Wizard's Atlas (includes map of Wizarding Britain, showing the 
location of Ottery St. Catchpole)
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/atlas-b-britain.html



Steve Vander Ark
The Harry Potter Lexicon
http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon