England has given the world a plethora of amazing authors and works of literature, from classic novels by Charles Dickens to the world-wide phenomenon of Harry Potter. As an English literature enthusiast, I visited several sites connected to my favorite stories during my semester in Harlaxton. Here are some sites associated with famous English authors and their writing to inspire future travelers!
William Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon has preserved the playwright’s home as a museum. The historic building and accompanying exhibits give visitors a glimpse into Shakespeare’s life once he retired to the city as a wealthy, successful playwright. In London, the Globe Theater offers comprehensive tours allowing theatre enthusiasts to explore the venue while learning about the significance of Shakespeare and his theater in his time and how his plays still influence us today.
Nottingham is a relatively large, modern city, but it also boasts some fantastic historical sites. The castle contains art, history, and Robin Hood themed exhibitions and the City of Caves attraction allows the adventurous to tour the city’s subterranean world where people in the past have lived, worked, and more recently sheltered from air raids. Some of the city’s streets are named for characters in the Robin Hood legend, and a statue of the story’s hero standing with his bow drawn lies in the shadow of the castle walls.
Famous for its university, Oxford also has a charming downtown area filled with shops and pubs. In the 1930s and 1940s, Oxford was the haunt of the Inklings, a group of writers including C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien, who met in pubs to discuss, critique, and encourage each other’s work. The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia were born out of this environment and the authors’ discussions. For example, Lewis included the famous lamppost in Narnia because Tolkien claimed that no fantasy story could have an electric light in it. C.S. Lewis’ house (called the Kilns) and Magdalen College where he taught both offer guided tours, and enthusiasts can also visit Lewis’ and Tolkien’s graves and the Lamb and Flag pub that was a favorite of the Inklings.
The Harry Potter films contain footage from all over the United Kingdom. Several courtyard scenes in the first few films took place in the cloister of Durham Cathedral and Professor McGonagall’s classroom was set up in the cathedral’s chapter house. In the town of York, the twisting cobblestone street called the Shambles feels like a real-life Diagon Alley with shop windows and roofs crowding over the street. Perhaps the easiest Potter destination to reach is Kings Cross Station in London, mentioned or depicted in nearly every book and movie. Visitors to the station can even take their pictures with a trolly that is disappearing into the wall on its way to Platform 9¾.
The small village of Chawton was one of the many homes of Jane Austen, one of England’s most famous authors. Austen fans can visit her large house to learn about the author, see where she wrote and edited her books, and even dress up in period outfits! The city of Bath, famous for its beautiful Roman baths and Georgian architecture, also boasts a Jane Austen Center to showcase the author’s time spent in that city. The Jane Austen Center also has its own tea rooms on the top story for visitors wanting to enjoy England’s most famous beverage before or after their visit.
Thirsk, set among the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales, was the home of James Wight (pen name James Herriot). Wight worked as a veterinarian in the small town and its surrounding farms and authored the All Creatures Great and Small books, which have been adapted into several movies and television shows. Wight’s stories about both the comical and serious moments of his career and daily life have delighted readers and viewers around the world. His practice has been converted into a museum with the rooms recreated and redecorated accurately to his time there. In the museum today, visitors to this charming market town can learn all about being a veterinary surgeon in rural England in the mid 20th century.
These places all serve as settings for parts of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, as well as its Broadway musical and movie adaptation My Fair Lady. Today, Tottenham Court Road and Wimpole Street do not look like the scenes from the movie, but Covent Garden is still a marketplace. The story’s heroine Eliza Doolittle sold flowers in Covent Garden, which today is a covered shopping district with shops and restaurants of many kinds.
Charles Dickens lived at several locations in London, but his only residence still standing is a house on Doughty Street, which has been turned into a museum. The rooms in the tall, beautiful building are filled with his possessions to show how Dickens lived and tell visitors about his life. Other organizations have also made self-guided Dickens themed walking tours of London for those who want to view the city through the eyes of this author.
While fans of Mary Poppins might not be able to find 17 Cherry Tree Lane in London today, visitors to the city will likely spot many streets that look very similar to the movie’s sets. One real-life location from the book and movie is the awe-inspiring St. Paul’s Cathedral. The setting for the Bird Woman in the Mary Poppins stories and movie, the cathedral boasts beautiful art and grand architecture both inside and out. Attending one of the church’s many communion or prayer services allows visitors to skip the line and admission fee for the site while also experiencing the Cathedral’s tradition of worship.
The Ashdown Forest in southern England is the original Hundred Acre Wood from A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books and the Disney movies that were inspired by them. The beautiful forest has hiking paths to the sites of Winnie the Pooh’s, Owl’s, and Piglet’s houses and the Pooh Sticks Bridge. It is a beautiful place to explore the English countryside; just keep a sharp look out for Heffalumps and Woozles! Nearby, Pooh Corner houses a combined gift shop, museum, and tearoom all themed around Winnie the Pooh and his friends.
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