A cold chill creeps up my back as I make my first tentative steps beyond The Wall and into the frozen north.
To the left of me I spy some wildlings, their costumes all the more raggedy up-close, while to the right I glimpse the Night King commanding his hordes.
But it’s what is standing in front of me that captures the eye: a colossal giant, towering over all the other exhibits. The Game Of Thrones Studio Tour makes one heck of a first impression.
Following in the footsteps of the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Watford, Game Of Thrones captures that same magic to transport fans to Westeros.
Based outside Belfast, where much of the series was filmed, is a nondescript building hiding treasures from costumes to weapons – there’s even a dragon skull.
You’ll see early sketches and models of locations such as King’s Landing, explore sets such as the crypts of Winterfell and Cersei’s map-painted courtyard, find out how the visual effects artists made Daenerys’ dragons so realistic, and, of course, snap yourself sitting on the most famous throne in the world.
But that’s barely scratching the surface of what you can do in the half-day it’ll take to get around the building.
Want to see your face in the Hall of Faces? You can do that. Transform into a White Walker? That too. Want to smell the costume Kit Harrington wore as leader of the Night’s Watch? Well, you could do that, but security might have something to say about it.
Not that you need to be a Game Of Thrones superfan to get something out of the attraction, which functions as an ode to film-making itself – it takes more than a handful of actors to make a show as big as this and the studio tour acts as a tribute to the hard work of those behind the scenes.
The studio tour is the culmination of Northern Ireland’s efforts to lean into the spotlight shone on it by the show and there’s more to discover outdoors.
You can visit filming locations such as Castle Ward (aka Winterfell) and Ballintoy Harbour (where Theon first meets his sister).
Belfast, too, has got in on the action with its Glass Of Thrones tour, from the city centre to the Titanic Museum via six stained glass windows depicting the show’s best moments (tickets from £8).
The only negative: I can’t get the theme tune out of my head.
Tickets from £39.50 (or £55 including coach transfer from Belfast), gameofthronesstudiotour.com. Rooms at Europa Hotel from £81pn, europahotelbelfast.com; fly from London to Belfast from £39 one-way, ba.com.
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