Planning some literary breaks - starting with London but all ideas welcome

[AgualusasLover]

For various reasons, I will get to use a reasonable amount of my annual leave just for me this year.

I live in London but want to devote one working week to literary pursuits. All ideas very welcome. I’ve done a lot of British Library/pottering about Bloomsbury but not averse to a day doing that. Keen to visit Westminster Abbey for Poets’ Corner. I’ll need to do everything by public transport. Hit me with your ideas along with food recommendations.

I am planning a few weekends as well. High on my list is:

Dorset - Jane Austen, Hardy
Devon/Cornwall - Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier

Lake District:

• Swallows and Amazons (round Windermere inc the jetty museum)
• Beatrix Potter - Hilltop and Sawtry
• Wordsworth - Dove Cottage

@Phineyj Is it Barter books in Alnwick you are thinking of ?
It is fabulous.

Rochester, Kent for links with Dickens & Canterbury not far away for Chaucer.

There’s tonnes in Edinburgh and you can join an organised tour. Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, Muriel spark, Irvine Welsh, Arthur Conan Doyle etc. (too tired to think of more.)

@TakeMyLifeAndLetItBe The Inklings used to meet at the Bird and the Baby aka The Eagle and Child.

There are Blue Plaques in various places in Birmingham for Tolkien

Yes sorry. Barter Books.

Charleston - depending on when you go you will need to book. The house is quite twisty upstairs and numbers inside are limited due to this.

Dartmoor - Hounds of the Baskervilles

Dickens Museum in London - enjoyed this very much

Jamaca Inn - Bodmin Moor

Visit Hay-on-Wye during the Hay Festival which is always the last week of May, either book some events or sit in The Old Electric Shop (fab big bookstore/cafe/bar/homewares place) and spot literary celebrities.

Or go at a quieter time and mooch around the bookshops/castle/cafes/along the river.

Train to Hereford then bus to Hay-on-Wye.

Lots of fabulous ideas. Just working out when to take my first break.

Brilliant thread!

A few other ideas....

National Trust Batemans (Rudyard Kipling's house)

Bleak House museum - Broadstairs, Kent

Canterbury - Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Also Faversham in Kent has a fabulous literary festival in late February.

www.favershamliteraryfestival.org/

Rye is a beautiful coastal town with Lamb House which was lived in at different times by both Henry James and FE Benson (who wrote the fabulous Mapp & Lucia series)

Jane Austen's house in Chawton is lovely.

Keats' house in Hampstead is lovely.

I used to work near Elephant and Castle there are a bunch of places named after Chaucer and his associations. The ark school there used to be called Chaucer and folks who were locals told me there is a tabard Inn that is THE Tabard Inn but I believe this isn't actual fact.
It is in the right place though the pilgrims set off down the Old Kent Road and it was there then. Probably fewer potholes as well.

You could probably do Charleston, Batemans and Rye in a weekend, they are fairly close to each other

@CatherineCawoodsbestie

I'm so very glad you understand! Come sooner rather than later. ( ie don't leave it years) Spring is the best time (may/june)

The planning process for the wind farm will take a while as it will be referred as a national project due to its size. There is a local campaign group but it all seems a bit disorganised. Either way, there is no doubt in my mind this horrendous project will be approved.

It's a paradise to me in every way and although it sounds stupid, I haven't been able to bring myself to go up there after I heard this news.

If you're a walker, Hebden Bridge is a fab place to be based. You could walk from your accommodation up through Hardcastle Crags ( stunning. Mix of victorian planted and ancient woodland; fabulous fields of bluebells) and up via the reservoirs onto the Pennine Way which takes you to High Withens. That's ten to 15 miles of moderate going I would say.

Heptonstall is a fascinating medieval village, largely unspoiled, about 2 miles above Hebden. Plath is buried in the church yard but you may need to ask a local to point out where to find the grave.

Or you could base yourself in or near Howarth which is the other side of the hill for the Parsonage, and walk up to Top Withens from there. It is all a bit Bronte this and that but not too overdone.

Have a look at the OS map and happy travelling:)

I definitely wouldn't bother with Halifax town itself although you do have the restored Piece Hall and Shibden Hall (Ann Lister's house ) is on the outskirts. Hard no to Wakefield.

Ilkley is a lovely little spa town , again with direct access to the moors but no literary connection I can immediately think of.

Get the maps out lass and start planning!

Ten to 15 miles return that is :) very roughly.

You'll need to bring your hill legs with you though. It's very steep climbing from the valleys up to the tops, but once there you can go for miles with uninterrupted views of total gorgeousness.

@Words I have actually been to Wakefield, and had a tour from a retired surveyor, who, allegedly in property circle IS Wakefield.

Loving the walking suggestions, I’m terrible and would get lost, but if I manage to convince anyone to come with me, I might attempt it.

I’m going to plan a lovely literary day/s every 8 weeks or so I think.

I’ve just discovered that an FOI request at an archive has finally been approved (after 2 years) so I’ll have to spend a lovely day faffing about with that, visiting the book shop.

This is so me, thank u OP for starting the thread!

I always try to read a book set in the area where I will be going, mainly around UK but not always. I tend to go for historical fiction or time slip novels.

It started for me with Hampton Court after I read Margaret George's Autobiography of Henry the Eight" 🙂

For Gower peninsula, check out books by Iris Gower.

Look up Barbara Erskine's books (time slip), some set in UK eg Time's Legacy but there is also Egypt (whispers in the sand).

This thread has given me lots more suggestions 🙂

I’ve been busy planning this afternoon.

Apart from the large number of literary festivals already suggested, I came across the International Agatha Christie Festival, which reminded me about the Jane Austen Festival which reminded me it’s 250 years for Jane and so I’m going to ‘have’ to reread everything.

I am starting with the Hampstead literary walk suggested way back. In part because I’ve always wanted to go into the Spaniards Inn - but also not too far.

I have started loose planning for Whitby too.

I am now down a rabbit hole of museums in London that I might start frequenting, starting with the Museum of Home in Hackney, hopefully at the weekend.

The Museum of the Home is good. Enjoy!

Love Whitby. If you're driving park at the Abbey and walk down the 199 steps into town. Everyone will recommend the Magpie Cage but the only time I got in was midweek in November so have an alternative option.

I probably should have said at the outset that I don’t drive, which probably makes some more difficult or at least trickier to group together. But that’s ok. I plan to spread them out and some I can do as day trips and where necessary I will just have to budget for a taxi.

Literary Walks @AgualusasLover I saw this and thought of you

Whilst you are in Yorkshire, you could check out the wonderful Leeds Library. It's a private members library, with a huge collection going back around 250 years. They do a taster membership for a few pounds. (It's not the Leeds Central public library, which is not far away).

Much lower brow, but Thirsk is the home of James Herriot - about 45 mins drive or train from Leeds.

If you head to N Wales, you could stay at The only residential library in the uk.

And if you fancy a bit of diversity in your cultural tour of Yorkshire, The Henry Moore Gallery (Leeds), the Hepworth Gallery (Wakefield) and /or the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (Wakefield/Barnsley/Huddersfield borders) are worth a visit.

For Jane Austen/P&P fans, the North Lees Estate and Pemberley (Chatsworth House) are in the Derbyshire Peak District.