In which English county did J.K. Rowling grow up?

J.K. Rowling grew up in Gloucestershire, England.

She spent much of her childhood in the village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow and the Welsh border. Her family moved there when she was young, and she attended Wyedean School and College in nearby Sedbury. The landscape and communities around the border later became part of the biographical background often discussed in accounts of her early life.

Rowling was born in Yate, Gloucestershire, but her childhood is especially associated with Tutshill. This distinction matters because birthplaces and places where authors grow up are often conflated in short biographies.

Her early interest in storytelling developed before the Harry Potter books. She wrote stories as a child and later studied French and Classics at the University of Exeter. Gloucestershire is therefore linked to her formative years, while Exeter is linked to her university education.