Where have you toured because of a book?

Although it's doubtful whether we will, I have thought about following in the footsteps of Inspector Montalbano in Sicily from the books by Andrea Camilleri, although my route has been via the TV programmes. 

David

Two years ago I got intrigued about Samuel Pepys and his diaries. I've got copies of them but had never read the whole lot or taken on board where he came from etc. Then I read Claire Tomalin's "The Unequalled Self" which was a really good read about Pepys's life and as we were heading off to East Anglia I decided to take a look where Pepys was brought up because his descriptions of walking with his father in the countryside where quite memorable. We stopped at a CL on the edge of Brampton where he lived in his early years and we were just a few minutes walk from his old home. Over the road was Hinchinbrooke House which he wrote a lot about and the walks over one of England's largest meadows, Portholme Meadow, still there for all to see, but no milkmaids milking cows any more. 

We stayed in Scarborough last summer and went to Whitby Abbey due to my gothic teenage daughters love of all things Dracula!

The Welsh Marches, Ludlow, The Malvern and Hereford area to visit the places mentioned in the Merrily Watkins books by Phil Rickman. Lincoln Cathedral because of Anya Seaton's Catherine.

We tend more to visit places/filming locations associated with films/tv series, many of which have originated as books, e.g. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. In fact have just been to Long Melford which was used for Lovejoy, another tv series based on novels by Jonathan Gash (the pen name of John Grant).

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I've never visited a place first and foremost because of a book but we have often visited places that have resonated with us through reading or has inspired us to pick up a book that discusses or is set in that place, if that makes sense

For example, when we first visited a region in the south of France we visited the windmills that the French novelist Daudet wrote about in Daudets Windmills but we didn't know about them before we went there. We also visited some of the places where the resistance fought their guerilla war in mid France after reading a book about the Resistance when we were in the area.

I also like to visit some of the places Pevensey has written about and will read a few travelogues for future reference and visiting.

I'm normally not too bothered about fictional books and places unless they are set quite some time ago and there is some social history attached to it.

I trust you know they have a festival every year for Dracula. Might make a nice present for your daughter. Just remember the garlic.

Although not really relevant, I was inspired to visit Kefalonia, after watching ‘Captain Correli’s Mandolin’ ( the book is a best seller, I believe?). We went on a guided tour whilst there. The tour guide was brilliant. She recounted lots of the history, and after being prompted by me, especially the things that occurred during the occupation by firstly the Italians and Germans (jointly) and then the Germans after the Italian surrender. ‘Captain Correli’s Mandolin’ is of course a work of fiction, but a lot of what was portrayed is based on fact. My visit to Kefalonia was very memorable.

I am often inspired by books and read a great deal but it is an unfortunate fact that they often romanticise places. Films and TV do that as well. Inspector Montalbano is a good example - look closely and visit the country and there is much to enjoy but not always in the way it may seem. Ditto for travel journalists “ what to see in xxxxx” sometimes should be “what to avoid in xxx”!

“A year in Provence” has probably inspired many and we are frequent visitors but the Mistral and the intense heat in summer are not to everybody’s taste.

Books are great for escapism and part of that is often to paint a rosy picture. Long may it continue.

The Ripening Sun: One Woman and the Creation of a Vineyard

In summer of 2004 in my very first Motorhome we spent a lovely afternoon visiting this ladies vineyard of Clos d’Yvigne, excellent summer read and I think Channel 4 made a documentary about her life as a former banker who gave up her job to buy a vineyard in the Bordeaux region with no knowledge what so ever.

Have read this at least three times.

Phil