Houses in books....where do you want to live ?

[Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow]

Just reading the thread about homes and somebody mentioned no food smells in the kitchen.
This made me think of Penelope Keeling's house in The Shellseekers.
She has a huge basement kitchen with French doors into the garden, there is a scrubbed pine table with a jug of flowers on it and a delicious smell of garlic and herbs. She has shelves full of books and lots of records and silk indian throws on the sofa and omg! I want to live there!

Which fictional house do you want to live in?

The house in Tom's Midnight Garden - for the garden.
Or, in my darker moods, Wuthering Heights.

The castle in ' i capture the castle' would have had to be renovated completely. All leaks fixed, central heating installed and proper comfy beds with thick warm duvets installed.

The House in Norham Gardens

Molly Fox's house in Dublin in Deirdre Madden's Molly Fox's Birthday. It's a terraced redbrick in Dublin. I'm from Dublin and homesick and I like to imagine myself there just like the narrator.

@halfhope

Molly Fox's house in Dublin in Deirdre Madden's Molly Fox's Birthday. It's a terraced redbrick in Dublin. I'm from Dublin and homesick and I like to imagine myself there just like the narrator.

Oh, nice to see another Deirdre Madden fan! Will you keep the fibreglass cow the narrator is so appalled by?

Do you know what GloriousMystery I half-read this novel in 2008 when I emigrated and it is the only Deirdre Madden novel that I have (half) read but I intend to read more! I think I will keep the cow (am just rereading the novel this morning!) and I am imagining Molly's sunny backgarden with the soft fruits growing. (I grew up in Dalkey)

I have just bought The ShellSeekers and found Rosamund Pilcher's actual kitchen in Dundee which is not unlike the description given by posters of the kitchen in the novel: www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/property/peek-your-pad-take-look-5796005

[quote halfhope]Do you know what GloriousMystery I half-read this novel in 2008 when I emigrated and it is the only Deirdre Madden novel that I have (half) read but I intend to read more! I think I will keep the cow (am just rereading the novel this morning!) and I am imagining Molly's sunny backgarden with the soft fruits growing. (I grew up in Dalkey)

I have just bought The ShellSeekers and found Rosamund Pilcher's actual kitchen in Dundee which is not unlike the description given by posters of the kitchen in the novel: www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/property/peek-your-pad-take-look-5796005[/quote]
I forgot the 'mature soft fruit garden'! (I can't remember where Molly actually lives, though -- close enough to walk into the city centre...?)

My favourite Deirdre Madden is Authenticity, which is also mostly set in Dublin, with a section in Italy.

@GloriousMystery I'll look up Authenticity - many thanks for the recommendation!

I'm not sure that the location of Molly's house is mentioned but I had thought maybe Rathmines or Portabello.

When I was younger I would have loved to live in Redwall Abbey! It always seemed such a lovely community and I wished I could get a taste of some of the treats at one of the regular feasts.

Now I would quite happily to live at Lallybroch, (Outlander series) but only if Jamie was there with me!

Oh, and the Cornish sea captain’s house in ‘Dark is Rising’

@HandforthParishCouncilClerk

Oh, and the Cornish sea captain’s house in ‘Dark is Rising’

Is that from Greenwitch? I used to love those books.

@JuneJustRains I was thinking of when they first go to Cornwall in ‘Over Sea, Under Stone’ and they find the map hidden in the house

Definitely The Burrow. Actually my dream house. I love the chaos of it.

[quote HandforthParishCouncilClerk]@JuneJustRains I was thinking of when they first go to Cornwall in ‘Over Sea, Under Stone’ and they find the map hidden in the house[/quote]
Ah that house! Yes, I’m with you there.

Otherwise I’ll go for Beckfoit, preferably complete with boathouse.

Beckfoot, even.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

You are only allowed Beckfoot in return for hosting regular visits from the Great Aunt, and no you can’t go off and live in the Dog’s Home for the duration 😉

But you could escape to Captain Flint's houseboat, especially if the lake is frozen and it's masquerading as the Fram.

I was playing " when we win the littery" with dh yesterday and realised the holiday house i want is the ibiza house in the Shellseekers. Complete with maria and tomas.

Shamefully I haven't rtft but the two houses I always wanted to live in when I was a child were the little white cottage with the thatched roof from Milly Molly Mandy and Asterixs house. I had a recurring dream about the little white cottage and still occasionally do.

Oh - and the moomin house

Has anyone read ‘Return to Gone-Away’? It’s a US children’s book where a family buy an eccentric abandoned house by a dried up lake (now marsh). They have a great time exploring the house and discovering its secrets.

I would be very happy with 'Ingleside' Anne of green gables house when she is grown up. I loved the idea of it as a child and the location always sounded perfect to me.

@JuneJustRains and @HandforthParishCouncilClerk The Grey House was in Over Sea and Under Stone and Greenwitch. I totally agree with you, it’s amazing.

I’d also like Wil’s house in The Dark is Rising. It sounds so cosy and welcoming.

Fantastic books

@SquirrelFan I was so pleased to see you mention The Four-Storey Mistake - those books really deserve to be reissued in the UK.
Anyone for the Dew Drop Inn? (Eve Garnett, series starting with The Family from One End Street)

@Bloodybridget I bought paperbacks in a book shop in the UK for my kids a few years ago! (mostly I read them now) I think they're still available.

@KizzyWayfarer Oh yes both of those books are fantastic! I loved the illustrations by Beth and Joe Krush. Sounds a bit marshy now, though. Now I'm an adult I think about mosquitos and damp!