Walks
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire: Lord Byron
‘…It lies perhaps a little low, Because the monks preferred a hill behind To shelter their devotion from the wind.’ LORD BYRON (1788-1824) Lord Byron was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, embodying a lifestyle of brilliance and lasciviousness. The phrase ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ was coined for him, and […]
Melrose, Borders, Abbotsford House: Sir Walter Scott
‘It is a kind of conundrum castle to be sure, which pleases a fantastic person in style and manner’ KEY DATA Terrain: good paths on the estate Starting point: Abbotsford Visitor Parking (TD6 9BQ) Distance: 2 km (1 ¼ miles) Walking time: ½ hour OS Map: OS Explorer 338 Facilities: Toilets, café (admission fee applies) […]
Belfast: CS Lewis
‘My birthplace and dearest refuge so far as charm of landscape goes’ KEY DATA Starting point: EastSide Visitor Centre, 402 Newtownards Road, BT4 1HH Facilities: Café, toilets C.S. LEWIS (1898-1963) C.S. Lewis, known as ‘Jack’ from a young age, was born in Dundela Villas on Dundela Avenue and when he was seven the family moved […]
Winchester, Hampshire: John Keats
‘The pleasantest town I was ever in’ KEY DATA Terrain: potentially muddy in the meadows, steep ascent Starting point: Colebrook Street, SO23 9LH Distance: 7.4 km (4.6 miles); an extra 5 km (3.1 miles) if you take the West Hill (Hardy) loop Walking time: 2 hours 10 mins (allow an extra 1hr 20mins for Hardy loop) […]
Hull, East Yorkshire: Philip Larkin
Hull, East Yorkshire: Philip Larkin ‘I like it because it’s so far from everywhere else. On the way to nowhere, as somebody put it. It’s in the middle of the lonely country, and beyond the lonely country there is only the sea. I like that.’ ‘A city that is in the world, yet sufficiently on […]
Westminster Bridge and Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, London
Westminster Bridge We start our walk on Westminster Bridge and pick an early Sunday morning to try and soak up the experience before the rush of the day. We lean over the parapet peering downstream and recite Wordsworth’s famous poem ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.’ ‘Earth has not any thing to show more […]
Gough Square, London: Dr Johnson’s House
Gough Square, London: Dr Johnson’s House ‘Wherever I turned my view … there was perplexity to be disentangled, and confusion to be regulated’ Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Dr Johnson’s House is a charming 300-year-old townhouse, nestled amongst a maze of courts and alleys just north of Fleet Street. In 1746, Dr Samuel Johnson agreed to […]
Inspiring Places: London, Bloomsbury – Books, Books, Books
‘I love walking in London. Really, it’s better than walking in the country.’ Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf The books that inspired this walk…too many to mention I worked in Bloomsbury briefly as a summer intern with Evans Educational Publishers, under the tutelage of the engaging Warren Knock, who to make ends meet or maybe just […]
Tintagel Castle, Cornwall: Lord Tennnyson & The Arthurian legend
What is it? History and legend are inseparable at Tintagel Castle. From about the 5th to the 7th century AD, it was an important stronghold and a residence of rulers of Cornwall. It was probably memories of this seat of Cornish kings that inspired the 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth to name it in his […]
St Pancras Gardens, London: Thomas Hardy
‘The Levelled Churchyard’ “O passenger, pray list and catch Our sighs and piteous groans, Half stifled in this jumbled patch Of wrenched memorial stones! “We late-lamented, resting here, Are mixed to human jam, And each to each exclaims in fear, ‘I know not which I am!’ ‘The Levelled Churchyard’ (1880), an early poem by Thomas […]
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