This summer we took a trip to London, making a not-so-quick detour to Kensal Green Cemetery to find Wilkie Collins' grave. The Victorian author is most well-known for his mystery novels "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone", and was friends with Charles Dickens. Wilkie Collins was born in London in 1824. His father, William... Continue Reading →
After years of staying away, we finally made it back to Oxford and visited Magdalen College, part of Oxford University. This college has seen a plethora of famous writers come through its doors including, Joseph Addison, Oscar Wilde, and C.S. Lewis. It costs £9.50 for an adult ticket, with some concessions. Only part of the... Continue Reading →
T.E. Lawrence is known to most as Lawrence of Arabia. That's thanks in no small part to the autobiographical stories he wrote and the incredibly successful film made of them starring Peter O'Toole. Lawrence was a writer but had many strings to his bow. And much about his life (including those same stories) is shrouded... Continue Reading →
Thomas Hardy was a world-renowned writer with deep connections to Dorset, although his books were set in the fictional county of Wessex, inhabited by the rural country folk he'd grown up with. And while his ashes may lie in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner, his heart lies (quite literally) in Dorset. Born 2 June 1840, Hardy... Continue Reading →
If you mention Chawton to any Jane Austen fan, they will immediately think of her home, an unassuming cottage in the village. At some point, I'll do a blog post about that - but for this post we're going to visit Chawton House, the home of Jane's brother Edward. Sited just down the road from... Continue Reading →
Beatrix Potter is one of the most successful children's writers of all time. She was also into conservation, science, and illustration. There's plenty already written about Potter's life, so I won't try and shove it all in this blog post. Instead, I'll concentrate on Hill Top, the house where Potter lived and worked from 1905... Continue Reading →
Born Cicily Isabel Fairfax in 1892, Rebecca West was a writer, literary critic, and journalist, named "indisputably the world's number one woman writer" by Time magazine in 1947. Both a CBE and DBE, West died in 1983 and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery. Cicily took the pseudonym "Rebecca West" from the rebellious young heroine in "Rosmersholm" by Henrik Ibsen... Continue Reading →
You smug-faced crowds with kindling eyeWho cheer when soldier lads march by,Sneak home and pray you'll never knowThe hell where youth and laughter go.”Suicide in Trenches, Siegfried Sassoon You'll find the grave of Siegfried Sassoon in the lovely small Somerset town of Mells. Sassoon is one of the most famous poets of the First World... Continue Reading →
St Enodoc Church can be found hunkered down in the sand dunes at Trebetherwick, surrounded by a golf course. It's not the usual spot for a place of worship, and the building itself is also a curiousity. This unusual spot might be reason enough to visit, but it also happens to be where you'll find... Continue Reading →
Five years ago, I wrote a blog about stumbling upon Farringford, the home famous Victorian writer Lord Alfred Tennyson. Back then the house was a hotel with extra self-catering properties. Since then the house and grounds have been restored back to what it was when Tennyson and his family lived there. Unfortunately due to Covid... Continue Reading →
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