▲Laugharne was the inspiration for Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. He wasn’t born there, but spent a good deal of his life in the small town.

▲Visiting Dorset is as close as you can get to going to Wessex.

▲Novels such as ‘Jude the Obscure’ and ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ have rural settings that mirror Dorset locations such as Wareham Forest.

▲Thomas Hardy set of all his major novels in the fictional county of Wessex. The area is based on Dorset, where Hardy was born and raised.

▲Thomas called Laugharne “the strangest town in Wales” when he first arrived, The Culture Trip notes. However, he soon made a home out of the town's ferry house, The Boathouse.

▲Thomas wrote classic poems like ‘Over Sir John’s Hill’ and ‘Do Not Go Gentle’ in Laugharne.

▲Irish poet Seamus Heaney was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. There, he wrote about the natural world and politics through his complex poems.

▲Heaney’s collections like ‘Door Into the Dark’ and ‘Death of a Naturalist’ focus on the Irish rural experience.

▲Heaney’s later work, such as ‘Field Work’, address The Troubles.

▲You can visit Burns’s childhood home, which is now known as Burns Cottage.

▲The Lake District is the UK’s largest national park. It also inspired authors like Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth.

▲Wordsworth was born and raised in Cockermouth. You can revisit his life at the excellent Wordsworth Museum, which features his former home, Dove Cottage.

▲The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is another spot for avid fans of Scotland’s national poet.

▲Up in Scotland, Robert Burns is celebrated on January 25, his birthday. The poet hails from Alloway in South Ayrshire.

▲Beatrix Potter frequented a holiday home, Hill Top Farm, in Near Sawrey. You can check out her work at the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction.

▲Countless authors have made London their home and literary setting. But Charles Dickens stands out as the novelist who depicted London with incredible attention to detail.

▲Pay a visit to Bath’s Jane Austen Centre for a comprehensive look at the novelist’s incredible life.

▲Jane Austen hails from Hampshire but Somerset was the place that moulded the novelist’s creative vision.

▲You can explore Dickensian London at the Charles Dickens Museum, a place dedicated to telling the author’s fascinating life story.

▲Dickens depicted London’s chaotic Victorian era in novels like ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Great Expectations’.

▲Austen resided in Bath from 1801 to 1806. There, she found herself in complicated relationships that were reflected in novels like ‘Emma’ and ‘Persuasion’.

▲Emily Brontë depicted the romantic gloom of Yorkshire in ‘Wuthering Heights’, with protagonist Heathcliff wandering the melancholic moors. The moors are otherwise known as Brontë Country.

▲J. R. R. Tolkien lived in the West Midlands for much of his life. It was one of the locations that informed the creation of Middle Earth for ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

▲Step into the sisters’ world at The Brontë Parsonage Museum. The site is located at their former home in Haworth.

▲You can check out the author’s legacy and records at the Tolkien Trail in Hurst Green, which leads visitors to the locations that shaped his magical world.

▲Places that inspired Tolkien's works include Sarehole Mill, Moseley Bog, and St. Anne’s Church.

▲Agatha Christie is famously linked to the seaside town of Torquay.

▲The ‘Poirot’ author spent a lot of her life in the area, specifically the small estate of Greenway.

▲You can attend the Agatha Christie Festival and Agatha Christie Literary Trail to find out more about the novelist’s connection to Torquay.

▲The highly-admired Brontë sisters were from West Riding, in Yorkshire. There, the three writers created intricate stories about love and loss.

▲The UK has a rich literary history. Explore the landscapes that inspired our best writers and visit some local museums dedicated to their work.

Explore the UK's literary inspirations

Take a trip to the places that inspired our greatest writers

21/08/21 por StarsInsider

TRAVEL Books

From Jane Austen to J.K. Rowling, the UK has produced countless writers who are globally lauded. Take a look at where to rediscover these literary legends and explore the landscapes that inspired them.