5 places to celebrate Britain’s literary heroes

Hill Top, Cumbria, Beatrix Potter
A view of Hill Top, Cumbria, home of Beatrix Potter Credit: National Trust Images/James Dobson

From the Brontë sisters to Beatrix Potter, a visit to Britain is a great opportunity to explore the home life of the brilliant authors we all love.

Bronte Parsonage Museum, Haworth - former home of English writers Charlotte, Anne and Emily Brontë. Credit: VisitEngland/VisitBradford
Bronte Parsonage Museum, Haworth – former home of English writers Charlotte, Anne and Emily Brontë. Credit: VisitEngland/VisitBradford

The Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth, Yorkshire

The windswept moorlands of West Yorkshire inspired the Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne – who lived in Haworth Parsonage from 1820. Today, you can visit their home in the parsonage and then stride out over the beautiful moors where they would’ve walked and conjured up ideas for their eternally loved books.

Sherlock Holmes Museum, London
The Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street, London. Credit: Sherlock Holmes Museum

Sherlock Holmes Museum, London

221B Baker Street is famously the address of Arthur Conan Doyle’s master-sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. It’s now a charming museum recreating Holmes’ Victorian house as described in the books.

Dickens
The Dickens Museum in London Credit: Charles Dickens Museum

Charles Dickens Museum, London

Home of Charles Dickens between 1837 and 1839, 48 Doughty Street saw some great literature written within its walls. Dickens wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby here in what is today the author’s only surviving London home.

webhilltop
Beatrix Potter’s beloved Hill Top home: Credit: National Trust Images

Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top, Lake District

Hill Top was the Beatrix Potter’s country getaway for many years, and it’s here that many of the characters she’s famous for today were created. Hill Top is open to the public – she gifted it and many of her other properties and land in the area to the National Trust, so there’s lots for fans of her books to explore in the lovely landscape.

Dove Cottage
Dove Cottage in Grasmere. Credit: Wordsworth Trust

William Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage

Wordsworth was one of many writers to find inspiration in the Lake District’s magnificent landscapes, so much so that he moved here. Dove Cottage was his home, and remains almost exactly as it was when he lived and wrote here. Many of his best-known works were composed within its walls.

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