Harry Potter beach scenes filmed

Filming for the latest Harry Potter movie is under way at a Pembrokeshire beach.

Among the sand dunes of Freshwater West, one of Wales' top surfing beaches, a cottage has been built out of shells for the film.

The movie is one of two Hollywood blockbusters using the beach to film some of its scenes.

Director Sir Ridley Scott will also use it to film a battle scene for his Robin Hood movie, Nottingham.

Over the weekend hundreds of Harry Potter fans visited the beach to see the set which has been built for the film.

And in nearby Pembroke Dock, more than 1,000 people lined up for a chance to appear with Hollywood stars Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett in the new Robin Hood movie.

Boom time - Daniel Radcliffe on the set Photo Andrew Lloyd/Wales News

In Pictures: The stars on the Harry Potter set

Sir Ridley was looking for 600 extras to play soldiers.

Hundreds had to be turned away from the Technium Centre because of such a high turn out of people wanting to appear in the film.

Freshwater West, a huge and remote beach, was chosen for both Nottingham and the seventh and final Harry Potter film (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) starring Daniel Radcliffe.

The Pembrokeshire National Park Authority said while filming would cause some disruption, the beach and coastal path would be kept open.

Road closures will be in place for the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows between May 11 and 15.

Based on the final book in the series by JK Rowling, it is being split into two parts set for release in 2010 and 2011.

The Robin Hood film, which has already started filming in the UK, will see further road closures between 15 - 30 June.

Pembrokeshire's head of tourism, Rob Lewis said: "To have big name films such as these is bound to increase the visitors to the county when they see how beautiful it is on the big screen.

"The film crews that will be staying locally will obviously inject capital into the economy that way. We've also got a lot of the materials sourced locally.

"We've got two months of excitement ahead of us at Freshwater West and a massive, massive publicity boost for Pembrokeshire," he added.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
The shell cottage build
Freshwater West
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites