Tag Archives: Writers’ Homes

I Found The Poems In The Fields And Only Wrote Them Down : A Visit To John Clare’s Cottage

This week I’ve been staying at lovely Lynch Lodge in the sleepy village of Alwalton, right on the edge of the city of Peterborough.

“Lynch Lodge was re-erected around 1807 as a rather grand entrance to the three mile long drive to Milton Park, which was then owned by the Fitzwilliam family. It had been moved from the Drydens’ house at Chesterton when their house was demolished. So, the taller part of the Lodge predates the rest of the building by some 200 years when it stood as a Jacobean porch further away. Families who inhabited the Lodge would have done so to primarily serve the owners of the estate by opening and closing the gates.”

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Edward Gorey’s Cabinet of Curiosities : The 2017 Edward Gorey House Exhibit

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Map of Cape Cod by Consuelo Joerns, a friend of Edward Gorey, on sale in the shop

On our first return to Cape Cod in 2008, after an interval of  29 years, I discovered The Edward Gorey House and made a visit and posted my photos here. On our last Saturday of this year’s trip, after checking out of our Airbnb in Barnstable, I made a second visit to the house.

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Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus

Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946) is another winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was a German novelist, poet and playwright; although he was born and died in what is now Poland. I visited his former summer house on the island of Hiddensee in June.

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The original gate entrance to Gerhard Hauptmann House and Garden

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A Walk Through Huntingdonshire : Villages, Riverside Scenery and Historical Interest

There’s a walk that I’ve been looking forward to doing for several years. I found it when searching for more information about The Manor House, Hemingford Grey the location of Lucy Boston’s book “The Children of Green Knowe”. More recently, I read about Lynne’s visit to The Manor House on her blog The Dovegreyreader Scribbles. The walk appeared to have all the ingredients of a pleasant morning out in the Huntingdonshire countryside. So, as I happened to find myself here in Huntingdon this morning, I decided to try it out.

The 5 mile walk starts from the National Trust car park at Houghton Mill where there’s a Tea Shop and it’s possible to borrow a copy of the walk.

Love Lane

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Lübeck : City of Nobel Prize Winners : Thomas Mann; Willy Brandt; Günter Grass

 

The excellent Buddenbrook Book Shop

Lübeck is proud to claim three Nobel Prize winners among its residents: Thomas Mann (1875-1955) Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929);  Willy Brandt (1913-1992) Nobel Peace Prize in 1971; and Günter Grass (born in Danzig in 1927 died Lübeck 2015) Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999. All three claim this Hanseatic city as their home. The writer Thomas Mann was born here and for the first 18 years of his life called this city on the river Trave his home. The politician Willy Brandt was also born in Lübeck and, similarly, spent his formative years in the Hanseatic city. The author Günter Grass moved to Lübeck at the age of 68 – to be, as he once stated, “closer” to Thomas Mann and Willy Brandt.

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Germany, Bornholm and Sweden : a quick resumé of a three week tour

Where to begin? Where to begin? I arrived home on Wednesday after my wonderful visit to Germany and Scandinavia and now comes the hardest part – sifting through photographs and deciding which to include and which to discard.

Here is just a taster selection and I hope to expand on some of the visits and walks during the next couple of weeks.

At Buddenbrooks House, Lübeck

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Broadstairs on Sea

On the first Friday of February after leaving St Edward’s Presbytery and dropping my sister off at Ramsgate Station I headed to the little seaside resort of Broadstairs. It’s practically part of Ramsgate but definitely a separate place. I liked very much what I saw. I’d always been intrigued by views of the town which show Charles Dickens’s Bleak House on a cliff looking  out to sea. You can see it in the middle of the picture below. There are several Dickens connections in Broadstairs and I probably didn’t see all of them. At that early hour in the morning I was able to park easily near the sea front. As near as you can get by car, anyway. There are pleasant gardens and paths separating the beach from the road and the main streets and narrow lanes behind.

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Broadstairs Beach

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