CLASSIC STORYBOOK ADVENTURES
It’s not just Roald Dahl who found inspiration in the UK’s landscapes and towns. Here are some of the best breaks to enjoy around the country, inspired by our finest children’s authors.
For more British holiday
inspiration, visit: telegraph. co.uk/tt-uktravel
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, C S LEWIS Mourne Mountains, Co Down
The classic book that first introduced us to Narnia turned 70 last year. Lewis spent childhood holidays in Co Down and the Mourne Mountains are said to have inspired the mythical land beyond the back of the wardrobe.
Where to stay: To experience real-life Narnia yourself, book a stay in one of Northern Ireland’s most majestic spa hotels, Slieve Donard. It is set in six acres of mature grounds, right on the beach, with glorious views of the sweeping bay in front and the Mourne Mountains behind. Doubles from £130; hastingshotels.com
THE WORLD OF PETER RABBIT, BEATRIX POTTER Hill Top, Cumbria
Now owned by the National Trust (nationaltrust.org.uk), Potter bought the Lake District farm of Hill Top with her earnings from The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Many of her subsequent stories were based here. Visitors can explore the house, examine Potter’s original sketches and even see the dolls’ house from The Tale of Two Bad Mice. Where to stay: Lindeth Howe in Bowness-on-Windermere was once owned by Potter, who called the 34-bedroom property home for 20 years. It has been sympathetically updated to retain its quintessential character, with nods to the author via feature walls made of books. Double rooms from £160; lindeth-howe.co.uk
THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER, A A MILNE Ashdown Forest, Sussex
father, AA Milne, was “identical” to Pooh’s forest. The “Hundred Acre Wood” is the Five Hundred Acre Wood. “Galleon’s Leap” was inspired by the Gill’s Lap, and Poohsticks was first played on a bridge in Posingford Wood. Where to stay: The neo-gothic Ashdown Park Hotel is set within the forest. It’s a seven-minute walk from the Ashdown Forest Centre, a launch point for dozens of walking routes. Although there aren’t any bears, you can meet the forest’s resident alpacas, llamas and reindeer at the Llama Park, a five-minute drive from the hotel. There’s also an 18-hole golf course. Doubles from £250; ashdownpark.com
THE LORD OF THE RINGS, J R R TOLKIEN
Sarehole and beyond, Birmingham Take the Tolkien Trail through Birmingham and you will visit Sarehole
Mill (birminghammuseums.org.uk), which Tolkien spent hours exploring as a child. He was also often chased off by the miller’s son, nicknamed the “White Ogre”. The Shire is thought to have been inspired by the village of Sarehole itself, where Tolkien grew up.
Meanwhile, Moseley Bog is said to have inspired Middle Earth’s “Old Forest” and the Two Towers of Gondor are believed to have been based on the Victorian Edgbaston Waterworks tower and Perrott’s Folly. The description of Mordor was influenced by the industrial Black Country to the north. Where to stay: 25 minutes away by car from Sarehole Mill are the Hidden Cottages, set in Henley-in-Arden, deep in the stamping ground of another of the area’s famed writers: William Shakespeare. Four red brick houses can be found amid meadows near winding canals and burbling rivers. Cottages from £44 a night; sawdays.co.uk
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS, PHILIP PULLMAN Oxford
Knife, and even The Trout Inn at Wolvercote – a real pub as well as fictional home to Malcolm and his parents in La Belle Sauvage. So thorough is the tour, Pullman endorses it himself.
Where to stay: The Head of the River is a popular riverside pub, with fabulous bedrooms, a huge terrace and all day dining, right next to the river. Doubles from £115; headoftheriveroxford.co.uk
THE FAMOUS FIVE, ENID BLYTON Purbeck, Dorset
Dorset is full of castles, rock pools and ruins, ripe for a ripping adventure. Kirrin Island, central to Five on a Treasure Island, is thought to have been based on Corfe Castle, which you can still climb today before heading to the Blue Pool, just a couple of miles down the road and described by Blyton herself, in Five Go Off in a Caravan, as “an enormous blue lake that lay glittering in the August sunshine.”
If the on-site vintage tea room doesn’t draw you in, how about recreating the picnic in Five Fall into Adventure? Kimmeridge Bay provided the inspiration: “where rocks jutted up from the beach, surrounded by limpid rock pools”. Visit Dorset’s downloadable Enid Blyton trail (visit-dorset.com/ dbimgs/Enid-Blyton-Trail-Leaflet.pdf ) will take you to all these and more. Where to stay: Knoll House, on Dorset’s Purbeck peninsula, was the inspiration for Blyton’s Famous Five series (she stayed on multiple occasions). The uninterrupted sea views are still likely to stir the imagination. Doubles from £89; knollhouse.co.uk
SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS, ARTHUR RANSOME Coniston Water, the Lake District
“All the places in the books are to be found, but not arranged quite as in the Ordnance maps,” said Arthur Ransome of his enchanting children’s classic.
He did, however, learn to sail on Coniston Water, which was also used as a location for both the 1974 and 2016 Swallows and Amazons films. So young pirates and their parents could do worse than hiring a sailing dinghy or motorboat and exploring the fifth largest of Cumbria’s lakes (conistonboatingcentre.co.uk).
A couple of clues… Wild Cat Island is thought to have been based on Peel Island, which has a similar secret harbour, while Kanchenjunga is likely inspired by the Old Man of Coniston. Where to stay: Bank Ground Farm, located on the shores of Coniston Water, was the inspiration for the fictional house of the Walker family in the book. Today it is a collection of six cottages, with many of their original features restored. In homage to its literary connection, the Swallows and Amazons Tea Room serves homemade lunches. Weekend breaks from £240-£1,800; bankground.com
HARRY POTTER, JK ROWLING Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
Muggles may not be able to get on to Platform 9¾ but that needn’t stop you from travelling to Hogwarts. Northumberland’s Alnwick Castle (alnwickcastle. com) was the location used for Harry Potter’s school in both the Philosopher’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets films.
Fans will recognise the Inner Bailey as the place where Ron and Harry crashed the Weasleys’ flying car, while the Lion Arch led to Hagrid’s cabin and the Forbidden Forest. Harry took flying instruction in the Inner Bailey and the Castle holds broomstick training lessons at 10.30am, weather permitting. Where to stay: The Cookie Jar, a convent for 120 years, is a handsome sandstone property in Alnwick that has been lovingly converted into a stylish boutique hotel. It has plenty of period features remaining as well as knockout views of Alnwick Castle from many bedroom windows. Doubles from £140; cookiejaralnwick.com
WIND IN THE WILLOWS, KENNETH GRAHAME Fowey, Cornwall
Fancy a stay in Toad Hall? Kenneth Grahame was a frequent visitor to Fowey Hall (foweyhallhotel.co.uk), now a luxury and exceedingly family-friendly hotel and said to have inspired the amphibian arch-aesthete’s pad.
Berkshire officially claims the novel, but the area surrounding Fowey is awash with literary echoes. Nearby Lerryn – a tiny village at the end of a winding creek – stakes a claim in inspiring its setting, while Ethy Wood is a dead ringer for the Wild Wood. But don’t forget the river Fowey itself. Because there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
Where to stay: Owned by the Luxury Family Hotels chain, Fowey Hall really revolves around children and their attendants (that’s you and me), and is about to launch its new Wind in the Willows-inspired children’s play area. Staff will heat and sterilise bottles and deliver morning and evening milk to your room, free of charge. Doubles from £139; foweyhallhotel.co.uk
PETER PAN, J M BARRIE London and Eilean Shona
Though raised in Scotland, JM Barrie wrote his play while living in London and fans of the little boy who never grew up can visit his statue, commissioned by Barrie and still standing in Kensington Gardens. The Darling children, lived in Bloomsbury Square, while in Kensington Gardens, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground recreates many of the scenes from their adventures (royalparks.org.uk).
If it’s a true Neverland you are after, head to the Scottish island of Eilean Shona (eileanshona.com). It is here that Barrie is thought to have penned the screenplay to Peter Pan; “A wild rocky romantic island it is too,” he wrote to a friend, “it almost taketh the breath away to find so perfectly appointed a retreat on these wild shores.”
Where to stay: There are nine pretty cottages on Eilean Shona, five of which overlook the lock. They sleep two to eight people. From £950-£1800 per week; eileanshona.com/the-cottages
THE SECRET GARDEN, FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT Yorkshire
“Just listen to them birds – th’ world seems full of ’em – all whistlin’ an’ pipin.” Never has a book made so many fall in love with Yorkshire’s dialect and its natural world. Indeed, those fans who only fell for its charms last year, with the release of the film adaptation, will recognise the North York Moors.
You can stroll through the secret garden of the film itself (helmsleywalledgarden.org.uk), wander the parkland and gardens of Duncombe Park (duncombepark.com), which became Misselthwaite Manor in the new adaptation, or hop aboard the historic North Yorkshire Moors Railway (nymr.co.uk). Where to stay: Grantley Hall is on the eastern fringes of the Yorkshire Dales. A Palladian-style hall (17th-century origins), set in parkland and formal gardens, it has all the grandeur you’d expect of somewhere that has had a multimillion-pound figure thrown at it. Even the swimming pool is marble-clad. Doubles from £350; grantleyhall.co.uk
PADDINGTON BEAR, MICHAEL BOND London
Our hero is immortalised in the form of a bronze statue, located under the clock on Platform One inside the station that gave him his name – here you will also find the Paddington Bear gift shop.
It was on this spot, of course, that Mr and Mrs Brown found him and took him home to live with them in Windsor Gardens. Swing by the street before hearing to Portobello Road, the site of Mr Gruber’s antique shop. The Official Paddington Bear Tour of London (britmovietours.com/bookings/paddington-bear-tour-london) takes in all of these sights.
Where to stay: The Marylebone is well located between both Regent’s and Hyde Park, in village-like Marylebone. Children are well-catered for with in-room tepees and a package including tickets to ZSL London Zoo. Doubles from £360; doylecollection.com