Where have you visited just because it was in a book you like?

[Patti (baconater)]

India.

The Far Pavilions

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

I've been to Shrewsbury because of the Cadfael books. Really helped me get a grip on the layout, and a much better idea of the setting. Lovely place too...

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

If you get a chance, do go. Its worth the trip.

[Jan]

Jamaica Inn while I was on holiday in Cornwall. I'd just been listening to it on the radio in SA.

[Tim]

I moved away from Rochester cos it was in so much Dickens.

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

Tim wrote: "I moved away from Rochester cos it was in so much Dickens."

So you moved to Oxford which has not featured in any books at all...

[Tim]

No it hasn't. I had to write my own books featuring Oxford... ;)

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

Better not forget Darren's books which are set in Oxford (sort of).

[Jay-me (Janet)]

And inspector Morse.

[Joo]

I went on holidays to a place because of the words on the back of a Crunchy Easter Egg box. Does that count? :)

[Geoff]

Can I tweak the thought to buying books, because you have visited the places in the book – e.g Twopence to cross the Mersey (Liverpool), Tai-Pan (Hong Kong), etc

Visited Jamaica Inn while on holiday then read the book :-o)

[Stuart]

I went to Thetford after reading Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine - amazing fellow! Lovely place but it's no Tollesbury!

[Tim]

Philip Pullman, Colin Dexter, Thomas Hardy, Sue Townsend... and add another 50 for "authors based in Oxford" (CS Lewis, Tolkein, TS Eliot etc)

[Jim]

Gingerlily - Elephant Philosopher wrote: "I've been to Shrewsbury because of the Cadfael books. Really helped me get a grip on the layout, and a much better idea of the setting. Lovely place too..."

Same here, the basic geography is still the same

[Jamie]

Oh yes. The wife and i went to venice. We wandered about looking for chiesa dell 'angelo raffaele. Its a church, as you'll have realised. Its featured in Miss Garnet's Angel. I havent read the book but the wife adored it. I loved the church and i have a great picture of her outside the church by the sign.

[Elaine]

We went to Lyme Regis after I read Persuasion and The French Lieutenants Woman. I walked along The Cobb trying to take little steps and acting all demure and Jane Austenish. :D

[Jan]

Geoff wrote: "Can I tweak the thought to buying books, because you have visited the places in the book – e.g Twopence to cross the Mersey (Liverpool), Tai-Pan (Hong Kong), etc

"

If you've crossed the Mersey then you might like to read about a family of Scousers. LOL
But Can You Drink the Water?

(expecting to get deleted for spam :) )

[Anna]

Ah, no, don't delete! Readers visiting places which have captured their imagination can turn into writers being inspired.

I visited Jamaica Inn yonks ago because of the book and I nearly fell apart when a reviewer said a book I've written reminded them of J.I. What joy! I hadn't thought of it like that at all but maybe it's the menacing atmosphere.

I've also been to Lyme Regis, attracted by Persuasion, and that really did make me stand, stare and soak up.

Oh and Bath! Austen again. And architecture.

I could go on, but there's insufficient time in a day.

[Tim]

Philip wrote: "Joo wrote: "I went on holidays to a place because of the words on the back of a Crunchy Easter Egg box. Does that count? :)"

You went on holiday to Cadbury-World?"

I'd go... :D

[Tim]

Philip wrote: "Tim wrote: "I moved away from Rochester cos it was in so much Dickens."

We aren't discussing Rochester today."


Phew!
It is a nice town though. (it used to be a city, until some idiot forgot to redo the paperwork when it merged into the larger Medway conurbation)

[Kevin]

I visited Penselwood after reading James Long's Ferney. The village church was just as he described in the book.

[Patti (baconater)]

I've been to Dylan Thomas's boathouse in Laugharne.

And Kenya and Cuba for Hemingway. Still need to tick a few more Hemingway places off the list.

Need to do Australia too.The Potato Factory

[David]

I can't say that I've ever done this. Not that I can remember, anyway.

I may end up at some place with literary associations for other reasons, but it would never occur to me to go there just because it was in a book I've read.

For example, I've been to Whitby, but that was for fish and chips and not because of Dracula.

[David]

Philip wrote: "If you like a particular book and its setting (and you know it is based on or is a real place), it can be interesting to see how much the setting you have conjured up in your mind matches the real place. "

Maybe. I'll have to try it one day and see. As I said, it's just never occurred to me. Dunno why. I think the same goes for characters too.

I think it is that I'm more interested in what the author does with the place and the folks than what they are based on. Sort of me being less interested in the eggs, the flour and so on and being more interested in the finished cake.

[Patti (baconater)]

Cake. I'd like to visit cake.

[Gingerlily - The Full Wild]

Patti (baconater) wrote: "Cake. I'd like to visit cake."

Not bacon?

Francis Bacon

[David]

Patti (baconater) wrote: "Cake. I'd like to visit cake."

I'd go to Dundee if it was made of the cake.

[Joo]

Tim wrote: "Philip wrote: "Joo wrote: "I went on holidays to a place because of the words on the back of a Crunchy Easter Egg box. Does that count? :)"

You went on holiday to Cadbury-World?"

I'd go... :D"

Haha

To Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky Ohio.

On the back of the box there was lists of tallest, longest, fastest etc roller coasters and most of them were in Cedar Point. So off we went. Via Washington travelling on 16th September 2001, but that's another story :)

[Kath]

I went to Tintagel because of the Arthurian legends. The main author to influence that was Mary Stewart with her Merlin trilogy.

I also went to Lindisfarne having read a book by a newsreader of the time and I'm darned if I can remember him or the book. It concerned something dragon-like landing on the cottage roof. I think the word Red was in the title. Vague? Me? Youbetcha!

[Geoff]

If you've crossed the Mersey then you might like to read about a family of Scousers. LOL
But Can You Drink the Water?If you've crossed..."

Jan,

Slightly tongue in cheek about Liverpool, because I was born & bred in Birkenhead, (Lr Tranmere) . . .

Drink the Water looks an interesting story - it's on my list
cheers

[Elaine]

Kath wrote: "I went to Tintagel because of the Arthurian legends. The main author to influence that was Mary Stewart with her Merlin trilogy.

I also went to Lindisfarne having read a book by a newsreader of th..."

I was really disappointed with Tintagel. I was expecting something like you see on Excalibur but it was nothing like that, just a load of old stones.

[Kath]

Just a load of stones fuelled by my imagination - it was great. To be honest, the historic King Arthur, in Five-hundred and Frozen-to-death would have lived in pretty primitive surroundings. The stories re-told in the twelfth century and after glam it up a bit with posh stone castles and velvet doublets and stuff. It would have been nasty, brutish and muddy!

[Tim]

Kath wrote: "It would have been nasty, brutish and muddy! "

Like Glastonbury then... ;)

[Kath]

Yes, but people were even worse dressed. Really!

[Jay-me (Janet)]

I have been to plenty of places that happened to be mentioned in books that I have read, but can only think of two places that I deliberately chose to go to because of reading about them. Periyar because of Death to the Landlords and Switzerland because of reading the Chalet School stories many years ago. I am still planning my visit to Shrewsbury (Cadfael) and Shropshire (Lone Pine series ) despite having had a standing invitation to stay with my sister in laws family I have never managed to get there yet.
And there are plenty more places that I want to go to, the list would fill this page several times over.

[Patti (baconater)]

I just read that as 'standing ovation', Janet.

*slow clap*

[Joo]

We went to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York because it was in the book "Die Hard With A Vengeance" :):)
We couldn't find the fountain in Central Park, though.

[Sam]

Corfu. We were going to Greece anyway; it was just a matter of which island. Corfu swung it for me because of My Family and Other Animals. It was one of my O Level texts and I completely fell in love with the book and the island.

[Tim]

When I went to New Zealand I deliberately sought out the locations used for Hobbiton, Rivendell etc. (this was ages ago, before they got all touristy). I didn't go to New Zealand because of LOTR, but since I was there...

[Vanessa (aka Dumbo)]

I suppose I do things the other way round as I love reading books set in the City of London's square mile because I used to live there and recognise the places and get a feel for them as they were hundreds of years ago. Also like books set there in modern times.
I'm particularly fond of CJ Sansom's Shardlake books amongst others.

[Patti (baconater)]

You'd enjoy Ruth Rendell, Vanessa.

[Vanessa (aka Dumbo)]

Ooh, I'll have to have a look. Thanks Patti.

[Anna]

Tim wrote: "Philip wrote: "Tim wrote: "I moved away from Rochester cos it was in so much Dickens."

We aren't discussing Rochester today."


Phew!
It is a nice town though. (it used to be a city, until some id..."

I agree, the main street is wonderful with the cathedral and castle right alongside, and then there's the river. No I don't live there, but I take my overseas visitors to take a peek at Dickens' haunts.

And what Tim says is absolutely true, they messed up the paper work and lost entitlement to city status. Anyone know the name of the idiot who... no ignore me!

[Anna]

Vanessa (aka Dumbo) wrote: "I suppose I do things the other way round as I love reading books set in the City of London's square mile because I used to live there and recognise the places and get a feel for them as they were ..."

Yes, the Shardlake books are good. I followed the places on the maps.

Lexi Revellian sets most of her books in London - east and city locations.

[Tim]

Anna wrote: "Tim wrote: "Philip wrote: "Tim wrote: "I moved away from Rochester cos it was in so much Dickens."

We aren't discussing Rochester today."


Phew!
It is a nice town though. (it used to be a city, u..."

It's now a "unitary authority" or some such hideousness.

[Lexi]

Does anybody else cheat like I do, and visit scenes from novels via the magic of Google Street View?

[Joo]

Have you got the new streetview yet, Lexi? :)

[Jan]

When they did the street view for my street it was bin day and guess whose house all the orange bags were piled up outside !!

[Lexi]

Lexi wrote: "Does anybody else cheat like I do, and visit scenes from novels via the magic of Google Street View?"

Yes, and it's BRILLIANT!

[Tim]

Jan wrote: "When they did the street view for my street it was bin day and guess whose house all the orange bags were piled up outside !!"

I was looking at streetview the other day as research for my WIP, and predictably, the building I wanted to look at it had a massive white van parked outside it!