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Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire: George Bernard Shaw
‘Walk! Not bloody likely!’ SHAW’S CORNER Shaw’s Corner was George Bernard Shaw’s home for over 40 years, from 1906 to his death in 1950; and because he left his estate to the National Trust, much of the house is preserved just as he left it, making it easy to imagine his life there. The house […]
Chawton Cottage, Hampshire: Jane Austen
‘Our Chawton home, how much we find Already in it to our mind; And how convinced that when complete It will all other houses beat That ever have been made or mended With rooms concise or rooms distended’ KEY DATA Terrain: flat but potentially muddy across fields Starting point: Jane Austen House Museum, GU34 1SD […]
Coniston Water, Lake District: Arthur Ransome’s Swallows & Amazons
Lake District, Coniston Water: Swallows & Amazons ‘All the places in the books are to be found, but not arranged quite as the ordnance maps’ The inspiration for this walk…Swallows & Amazons (1930s) I must have scorched through the Swallows and Amazon series in a matter of weeks when I was about eight years old. […]
Birmingham, West Midlands: J. R. R. Tolkien
Birmingham, West Midlands: J. R. R. Tolkien ‘I took the idea of the hobbits from the village people and children.’ The inspiration for this walk…Lord of the Rings (1948) The Lord of the Rings was a hand down from my brother, for whom it was a hand down from my sister. And it got devoured […]
Inspiring Places: Oxford, Oxfordshire
‘Sweet city with her dreaming spires’ WALK DATA Distance: 5.4km (3.4 miles) Walk Time: 1hr 24 mins Start & finish: The Eagle & Child pub, 49 St Giles, OX1 3LU (the pub was purchased in Oct 2023 by The Ellison Institute of Technology, and they have promised to ‘refurbish and reopen the iconic venue’.) Map: Can […]
Bath, Somerset: Jane Austen
‘I walk: I prefer walking’ KEY DATA Terrain: Pavements, hilly bits Starting point: 13 Queen Square, BA1 2HJ Distance: 6.4 km (4 miles) Walking time: 1 hr 56 mins Map: can also be found online at https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/route/10535476/Bath-Literary-Ramble Facilities: Everything JANE AUSTEN (1775-1818) Jane Austen visited Bath in 1797 and again in 1799 before moving there in 1801 when her […]
Morden Tower, Newcastle: the modern poetry movement
‘I learned more reading at Morden Tower than I had at a hundred universities’ MORDEN TOWER We came across the Morden Tower on a walk around Newcastle’s thirteenth-century city wall which can still be seen in several parts of today’s city. Here, on the northwest side, it is most evident, a stone’s throw from St […]
Glastonbury, Somerset: Searching for King Arthur
‘All these things considered, can no man reasonably gainsay but there was a king of this land named Arthur…you may see his sepulchre in the monastery of Glastonbury.’ William Caxton, preface to Malory’s Morte d’Arthur KEY DATA Terrain: steep climb Starting point: St John’s Car Park, Glastonbury, 10 St John’s Square, BA6 9LJ Distance: 4.3 km […]
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 […]
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) […]
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