The Truth About Harry Potter's Neighborhood In Real Life

All in all, SurreyLive has four possible options for the real-life counterpart to Little Whinging: Ashford, Dorking, Redhill, or Reigate, all of which are small towns in the Surrey area. By using clues from the book series — like Uncle Vernon's commute or the Dursleys' trip to a nearby zoo — the intrepid Harry Potter fans over at SurreyLive may have figured out exactly where Little Whinging should be.

One of the first details readers learn about Uncle Vernon is that he works at Grunnings, a fictional drill company, so SurreyLive figured out what would be a relatively reasonable commute for an impatient man like Vernon Dursley. Later, when the Dursleys go to the zoo for their son Dudley's birthday and bring Harry along, they also drive, meaning the zoo can't be far. However, it's definitely not the London zoo, as Harry has never been to the big city, and doesn't go until he travels there to shop for school supplies with Hagrid.

London is the other big issue — the first book specifies that the Dursleys and Harry drive well over two hours to get to King's Cross, and Harry also takes a train from London to wherever Little Whinging is after his day with the Dursleys. For that reason, Dorking, Redhill, and Reigate, which are close to each other and quite similar according to SurreyLive, seem to be the best options, as Ashford isn't far enough away from London to justify such a long car ride.