Ashdown Forest, the Real Hundred Acre Wood
When I visited Ashdown Forest, the real Hundred Acre Wood of A.A. Milne’s beloved Winnie-the-Pooh stories, in August 2020, I was on a quickly executed and minimally planned trip across the English Channel from France just before the borders closed again due to rising cases of COVID-19. Years earlier I read online that it was possible to play Poohsticks on the very bridge (albeit rebuilt in the pattern of the original) where A.A. Milne played with his son, Christopher.
Books that Evoke an English Summer’s Day
While it’s true that English summers can have their share of rain and cold, there are also sure to be many picture-perfect days of warmth, buttercups, and grazing sheep. It’s the perfect time to visit a country house and have tea in the bursting-with-color gardens; take a long walk on a public footpath; or spend the day exploring a new market town or village.
Bluebells
As the winter months inched toward spring, I noticed the people around me keeping time with the season by the flowers that slowly appeared, and they taught me to do the same. In February I saw my first snowdrop. By March the crocuses were popping up all golden and purple. The daffodils arrived in April, and the golden rapeseed fields were glowing in the sun by May. June brought buttercups and wild garlic, along with primroses in the hedges. I became so in tune with the rhythm of the flowers during my three years in North Yorkshire. But somehow, during that first spring, I missed out on hearing about the bluebells.
My Canterbury Tales
My own personal Canterbury tales don’t include thirty-one pilgrims, and my goal wasn’t the shrine of Thomas Becket, though I did attend an Evensong service at the cathedral and walk by the site of his murder, but for the three years I lived in France I made my own yearly pilgrimage to Canterbury. It became the last stop before my family and I took the ferry from Dover back across the channel, and I made so many memories walking the ancient streets amidst centuries’ old buildings.
Surprise View in Keswick
If you drive about three miles outside of Keswick up the Borrowdale Road, you’ll cross the famous Ashness Bridge and arrive at Surprise View. From the top of this cliff you can look over almost all the Derwentwater and beyond to Bassenthwaite Lake.
A Novel Pairing: Agatha Christie & An Homage to Golden-Age Mystery Writers
These books are a lot of fun and have me wanting to do a deep-dive into so many writers, which to me is the best thing books with an homage to a classic can do! I’ve read most of Christie’s catalog at some point in my life, but I’ve only dipped my toes into Dorothy Sayers, Josephine Tey, and Daphne du Maurier (who Wingate includes for her suspense even though she’s not technically a writer of detective fiction). I think if you enjoy Agatha Christie and her ilk, you’ll enjoy The First Edition Library Mystery series.
Sutton Bank on a Summer’s Night
James Herriot once said that the view from Sutton Bank is the finest in England, and it is hard to disagree with his assessment. Summer days are long in North Yorkshire, and when the sun is shining carpe diem is the order of the day, so one night after dinner my family and I decided to seize the golden hour and drive up to the top of Sutton Bank for a walk and to enjoy the view.
Goathland Station
Goathland Train Station is on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway line and is featured in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone as Hogsmeade Station, the end of the line for the Hogwarts Express. It is as charming as its sister station, Grosmont, though it is smaller.
Grosmont Station
If you are visiting Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast, the nearby village of Grosmont is also worth a visit. You can easily drive or take the North Yorkshire Moors Railway steam train April through October.
Walking Around Haworth, Home of the Brontë Sisters
The village of Haworth in West Yorkshire is famous the world over for being home to Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, also known as Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell when writing under pseudonym. Visitors flock to the parsonage every year to see the ordinary yet special place that fostered the imaginations and writing of these extraordinary women.
Ripley Castle Deer Park
Ripley Castle in North Yorkshire has been home to the Ingilby family for over 700 years, and according to a sign on the property, the fallow deer have been grazing here for perhaps even longer!
Seacombe Sands in Devonshire
In September 2019 my family and I camped at a yurt in South Devon, which put us a short distance from a secluded beach called Seacombe Sands or Gara Rock Beach. I was blown away by the view of bright blue water and rocky beach when we parked the car and walked to the path beside Gara Rock Hotel. It was completely stunning.
The Devil’s Arrows
Just on the outskirts of Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire are three standing stones known as the Devil’s Arrows. Two stand in the middle of a field where wheat and barley grow in alternating years, while one stands across the road leading to Roecliffe in a small enclosure. The stones are thought to have been erected around 2700 B.C., which absolutely boggles the mind.
St. Herbert’s Island in the Derwentwater, the landscape of Beatrix Potter
This week I read a collection of 22 Beatrix Potter stories, and while the Lake District is easily recognizable in Miss Potter’s charming illustrations, I was completely surprised to be able to find among my own pictures of Derwentwater the very Owl Island that the squirrels in The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin sail out to on their rafts to gather nuts for winter.
Hill Top, Home of Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter learned to love the Lake District after spending a summer at Wray Castle as a child and bought Hill Top as an adult in 1905. It’s a beautiful 17th-century farmhouse kept in the exact condition she left it.
Blenheim Palace
I first visited with my husband in 2011 while planning a visit to Oxford, because I learned that it was the birthplace of famed Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Located just 10 miles outside of Oxford the palace and grounds are well worth a visit while you’re visiting “the city of dreaming spires.”
Baggins Book Bazaar
If you’re visiting London and want to experience a little English life outside the big city, Rochester is less than an hour away by train and would make a really fun day trip with its charming shops, eateries, cathedral, castle, and most importantly: the largest second-hand bookshop in England.
Rochester, a city for the Dickens enthusiast
Charles Dickens lived just outside of Rochester in Chatham as a child and returned to the area as an established author in 1856. Many of his books reference buildings in Rochester, and you’ll find plaques all around the High Street explaining their Dickens connection.
Grasmere Gingerbread
It’s texture was not quite a biscuit (in the British sense of the word) and not quite cake; it was somewhere in the middle and just right.
Dove Cottage, Home of William Wordsworth
Visiting Dove Cottage taught me more about the poet’s life, how he lived here with his sister, Dorothy, for nearly three years before marrying Mary Hutchinson. The setting is stunning, the perfect place for a life of walking and writing.