A poll of 2,000 literary lovers in Britain has revealed the top 35 places to visit made famous by iconic authors and the scenes from their books.
Some of the top must-see locations for book buffs are right in London, including Shakespeare’s Globe theater, the John Keats home, and 221-B Baker Street, better known as the home of Sherlock Holmes.
Travel 56 miles (90 km) northwest of London to Oxford, and tip a pint of ale at the Eagle and Child Pub, where authors JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, who created the mystical realms of Middle Earth and Narnia, held regular meetings on Thursday evenings with their writers’ group The Inklings.
Further into the countryside of West Yorkshire, visit Haworth, the #1 most beloved literary stop. It was the home of the Brontë sisters and its moorland setting had a profound influence on the writing of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.
Many of the sites, like Haworth, also have museums located on the property.
Sherwood forest, with its historic connection to the legend of Robin Hood, and Shakespeare’s birth town of Stratford-upon-Avon, also joined Jane Austen’s Chawton cottage in Hampshire in the top 35 ranking (see full list below).
“Iconic locations such as Shakespeare’s Globe and the home of the Brontë sisters hold such cultural importance, and it’s great to see them feature so prominently in our research,” said Darren Hardy, author and editorial programs manager at Amazon, which commissioned OnePoll to carry out the survey to launch the Kindle UK Storyteller Award, celebrating the best self-published stories.
The University of Oxford English Literature Professor Elleke Boehmer said the British Isles are rich in vital literary traditions.
“In Britain, you almost get the sense in some literary places of the land, trees and surroundings pregnant, still, with the writer’s presence, or a sense of how they have interacted with the context—like Coleridge’s Quantock hills.
“The walks that he made through those hills still exist today, and as we walk them we can imagine him pacing out the lines of his poetry, like ‘The Ancient Mariner’, looking out onto the Bristol Channel at the passing ships from around the world.
“Some of my favorite literary sites, like Coleridge’s Nether Stowey, the Brontës’ Haworth or DH Lawrence’s Eastwood, also feature truly wonderful and significant houses where the rooms in which the writers were born, or wrote some of their key works, are preserved for all generations.”
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The poll also asked people to name their favorite British writers—Charles Dickens came out on top, followed by Charlotte Brontë and George Orwell.
TOP 35 LITERARY LOCATIONS IN THE UK
1. Haworth, the home of Brontë sisters
2. Shakespeare’s Globe theater, London
3. Jane Austen’s Chawton cottage
4. 221B Baker Street, home of Sherlock Holmes
5. The Eagle and Child Pub, where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis wrote
6. Sherwood Forest
7. Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
8. Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon
9. British Library, London
10. William Wordsworth home, Dove Cottage in Grasmere, Cumbria
11. Hilltop House, the home of Beatrix Potter
12. Whitby, the setting for Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula
13. PoohSticks Bridge, A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh scene in Ashdown Forest
14. Anne Hathaway’s cottage, Stratford-upon-Avon
15. Chatsworth House, named in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
16. Charles Dickens’ birthplace museum, Portsmouth
17. The Jane Eyre trail, Peak District
18. Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey
19. Agatha Christie’s Devon retreat, Greenway
20. Roald Dahl’s Gipsy House, Great Missenden
21. Keats’ House, London
22. Thomas Hardy’s Birthplace, and Max Gate House, Dorset
23. Sedbergh book town, Lake District
24. Abbotsford, near Selkirk, Scotland, made famous by Walter Scott
25. Dylan Thomas boathouse, Laugharne, Wales
26. John Rylands library, Manchester
27. Charles Dickens home at 48 Doughty Street
28. John Milton’s Cottage, Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire
29. D.H. Lawrence Birthplace and Hagg’s Farm
30. Elizabeth Gaskell’s house, Manchester
31. Lamb House, Rye, East Sussex, associated with Henry James
32. Rudyard Kipling home, Bateman’s in East Sussex
33. Shelley Lodge, Marlow, home of Mary Shelley
34. Woolwich, and central London, famously associated to Bernardine Evaristo
35. Samuel Taylor Coleridge home, Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey
The Kindle Storyteller Award is a £20,000 literary prize recognizing outstanding writing, open to authors publishing in English in any genre through Kindle Direct Publishing. Readers play a significant role in selecting the winner, helped by a panel of judges including various book industry experts.
The 2024 Kindle Storyteller Award will be open for entries between 1st May and 31st August 2024.
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“We are looking forward to seeing what stories are submitted for this year’s Kindle Storyteller Award – perhaps some will have been inspired by some of our iconic literary landmarks and the authors connected to them.”
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