The Hogwarts castle is situated in the village of Hogsmeade,in the highlands,Scotland,Great Britain.It is surrounded by mountains and the Hogsmeade village.The Hogsmeade village is a purely wizarding village,inaccessible to muggles.The Hogwarts castle also appears to be just abandoned ruins to a Muggle,with signs asking them to keep out.It is also protected with many protective charms and enchantments from outsiders.

It is said that Hogwarts was named as such by Rowena Ravenclaw who dreamed of a warty hog that led her to a cliff by a lake.This lake is now known as the Black Lake and Hogwarts is situated on the cliff.

Hogwarts is a coeducational school that has never had any admission test,but selects its students by finding their names from a long parchment book written by an enchanted quill.Muggles and squibs are not included in the list.

The Hogwarts institute of witchcraft and wizardry was enchanted by Helga Hufflepuff to expand with the increasing number of students.It eventually took the form of a castle.The castle is a seven-storeyed building supported by magic,has 142 staircases and five main towers-the Gryffindor Tower which houses the Gryffindors,the Ravenclaw Tower which houses the Ravenclaws,the North tower also known as the Divination tower where the Divination classroom is situated,the West Tower which houses the owlery and the Astronomy tower which is the tallest tower in Hogwarts and lies almost directly above the front doors of the castle,and Astronomy classes are held here.The castle is dotted by magical portraits which can talk and move into other people's portraits,sometimes if there are two portraits of the same person in two places,they can move from one portrait to another portrait of themselves and carry news from one place to another.The portraits are often found chatting with each other or guarding entrances to various towers or common rooms.The castle also has moving staircases enchanted by Rowena,that lead to one place on one day and another place on another and includes many a trick step.

The Hogwarts castle is also full of mysteries such as the Mirror of Erised,the Room of Requirement etc,but I will leave the details for you to explore and find out.

The permanent residences of the castle are the students,the staff,the ghosts and the poltergeist Peeves.

The Hogwarts castle is situated on a cliff in front of which is a lake,the Black Lake,also known as the Great Lake.The doors of the Great Hall open towards the main entrance hall which opens south towards the Black Lake.Across the Black Lake from the castle is one of the entrances to Hogwarts which is used to row first years through the lake into the castle for the sorting ceremony.The other entrance to the castle is on its western side towards the back of the castle,which is the entrance from the village Hogsmeade.On the backside of the castle,the Hogwarts grounds contain the vegetable patches(which in case you didnt know,are the kitchen gardens of Hogwarts,where the house elves working in the kitchens get their vegetable supplies from),the greenhouses and a cabin for the Care of Magical Creatures professor,who also serves as the Hogwarts groundskeeper.Behind the cabin,the Hogwarts grounds extends into the Forbidden Forest.There is a tree called the Whomping Willow,a little distance from the cabin and it is a magical tree whose branches flail around all the time beating people who come near it.No freezing charm works on it,but you can press a knot like structure on its trunk,to make it stop,if you can reach that structure,that is.It is said that the Whomping Willow was planted there to guard a secret passage to a building called the Shrieking Shack in the village of Hogsmeade.Since you cant visit Hogsmeade in first year,I will leave it to you to find out more about the Shrieking Shack and Hogsmeade on your own later as you stay in Hogwarts through the years.

The Hogwarts grounds are taken care of by the Hogwarts groundskeeper and gamekeeper,which is a post usually held by the current Care of Magical Creatures(a magical subject discussed later) Professor.It was once held by the famous Rubeus Hagrid,who had a hut home in the grounds,near the Forbidden Forest.The hut home has now been rebuilt and converted into a beautiful resort like cabin according to the taste of the current Care of Magical Creatures Professor,and I must say she has good taste.

The Hogwarts grounds has an anti-apparition charm on it,which means no one can apparate on to or disapparate from the Hogwarts grounds.(Apparition,verb form-to apparate,is a way to magically teleport oneself from one place to another,that witches and wizards can use.It involves vanishing from the starting point which is called disapparating,and reappearing in another location or the destination which is called apparating.)You will learn more about apparition and how to apparate,later at Hogwarts itself,or can learn more about it from books in the Hogwarts library.Any witch or wizard needs a license from the Ministry of Magic to apparate,and while the licenses to apparate are doled out at Hogwarts after an optional twelve week course of Apparition lessons,from the Apparition instructor from the Ministry of Magic,for a fee of twelve Galleons,followed by an Apparition examination,to students above seventeen years of age,if this examination is failed or not taken,witches and wizards can also obtain a license to apparate later in life from the Ministry of Magic. 

The Ministry of Magic is explained further in one of the later chapters.

The Hogwarts motto is Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus,which means "Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon".It can be found written on a yellow ribbon-like band on which sits the Hogwarts crest or Hogwarts coat of arms.The Hogwarts crest or Hogwarts coat of arms is a shield which rests on a yellow ribbon,the shield is divided into four parts representing the animals symbolising the four houses,Gryffindor,Slytherin,Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff,which are a lion,a snake,an eagle and a badger,on a scarlet,emerald green,blue and yellow background respectively,in a clockwise direction starting from the top left and features a big "H" in the center overlapping all the four parts.The yellow ribbon on which the coat of arms sits features the school motto or tagline "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus".