An area of low-lying valleys dotted by small farms and comprised of two known towns, the Folding Valley is home to Upper Folding, which resides in the North, and Market Chipping, which takes up the South end of the Valley. The two towns are separated by rolling hills of heather.
The climate of this area is generally temperate with few fluctuations between the seasons. Summers are not too hot and Winters are never too cold, which creates a near perfect working environment for businesses to thrive all year around. However, there have been some occasions when the seasons fluctuate and every so often it becomes warm enough for much needed trips to the coastal town of Porthaven or chilly enough that light snowfall sprinkles the valley.
Market Chipping is the hometown of Sophie Hatter and her family, and like the name suggests, it is a market town which largely revolves around trade. As such, many of the families living in Market Chipping are of the working and lower-middle classes. Unlike the capital city of Kingsbury, many of the residents of Market Chipping receive no formal education, but rather learn a trade and apprentice quite early in life. If a family was well-off enough, they could afford to send their children to a local academy. Not as prestigious as the Royal Academy, and it doesn’t cater to magic, but it teaches the basics. In the Hatter family Sophie was the only one to have any formal schooling and did very well in her studies.
As a whole, Market Chipping is a mostly Pre-Industrial town, with few allowances to technology – at most there are trolleys and early model automobiles, but the latter is usually only owned by more wealthy families while many of Market Chipping’s residents travel by foot or horse-drawn carriages. The fashion tends to reflect this Pre-Industrial era as well, with women wearing long dresses with full petticoats and corsets and men in fine-tailored suits and hats.
Magic in Market Chipping is well-known, but not often used except by those who’ve sought to to learn it or educated Wizards and Witches from Kingsbury’s Royal Academy. Sophie is a special case in that she exhibited magical abilities without being taught, although she was unaware of them for a long time. Her sister, Martha, was sent off to Mrs. Annabel Fairfax, a well-known witch in Upper Folding, to learn magic, though it was later revealed that Martha and her sister, Lettie, switched places.
NOTABLE LOCATIONS:
Market Square - Nestled right in the middle of the town, Market Square is usually where the townsfolk gather for festivals, parades and other celebrations. It’s a wide, open space with little shops and cafes, perfect for residents and visitors alike. Market Square is also where the annual May Day celebration is held.
Cesari’s Bakery - A quaint, but flourishing two-story bakery. Cesari’s is known for its large array of sweets and baked goods. The building almost always exudes a sweet aroma, and one can smell the fresh breads and pastries being made from miles off. Lettie Hatter is initially sent off to work there, but eventually switches places with Martha.
Hatter’s Hat Shop - Owned by the Hatter family, it was once in the hands of Mr. Hatter until his passing. It later belonged to his second wife– Sophie’s stepmother– Fanny and employs a number of shop girls, including Sophie Hatter, the eldest who believes she’s destined to inherit the shop and little else. The hat shop is connected to the house in which the Hatters live, joined by a small courtyard. Later in the film and the novel, the hat shop becomes the new base for Howl’s castle and is eventually turned into a flower shop.
Heather Hills - Green fields stretching from the edge of Market Chipping up to Upper Folding. The landscape is marked by small pastures and farms, and on occasion one can find Howl’s castle wandering there.
