Mail on Sunday 20 October 2013

TRAVEL
October 20 • 2013 The Mail on Sunday
REX FEATURES / SHANE SIDLOW
A home full
of Swallows
& Amazons
75
By Frank Barrett
W
HAT is it with
the Lake Dis­
trict and literary
inspiration?
­William Words­
worth used his
native Cumbria as his poetic muse:
there is scarcely a crag or lake here
that didn’t work its way into one of
his poems – not to mention the odd
nodding daffodil or two.
Battling Wordsworth for the Lake
District’s literary crown is Beatrix
Potter, whose stories of Peter Rabbit
et al have an even stronger interna­
tional following – especially in Japan
and now, surprisingly, China.
Other members of the Lake Dis­
trict Literary First XI include John
Ruskin, Melvyn Bragg, Margaret
Forster (and her husband Hunter
Davies) and Postman Pat creator
John Cunliffe. The region also
inspired the Rev W. Awdry, who used
Barrow railway station as his real
mainland link to the fictional Isle of
Sodor in Thomas The Tank Engine.
But many would argue that the
Lake District’s most intriguing
writer is Arthur Ransome, whose
most famous work was the best­
NEW CHAPTER: The Cottage at Hill Top was home to
Arthur Ransome. Above: A scene from the 1974 movie
GETTING THERE
The Cottage at Hill Top, Lakeside (lakelovers.co.uk/
cottage-details/1057) sleeps four and costs from £495 per
week (£845 for Christmas/New Year week). For more
information, call 01539 531452. Find out about holidays in
the Lake District at golakes.co.uk or call 01539 822222.
selling children’s book Swallows
And Amazons, published in 1929.
Ransome came to children’s fic­
tion via a distinguished career as a
foreign correspondent for The
Guardian, for which he reported
the extraordinary events of the
­Russian Revolution.
During this spell abroad he met his
wife Evgenia, who had been work­
ing as secretary to Trotsky.
But during all the time he was fil­
ing his reports from Russia, Ran­
some’s letters to friends and family
reveal that his heart lay in the Lake
District, which had become first his
spiritual home and, later, his actual
place of residence.
Now his final home, The Cottage at
Hill Top, a substantial property
which looks over the stunning Rus­
land valley towards the Coniston
fells, offers excellent self-catering
accommodation. Restoring Ran­
some’s former home – and creating
a self-contained holiday let – has
been a labour of love for former
astrophysicist Stephen Sykes and
his wife Janine.
The house is a short drive from
Rusland’s beautiful St Paul’s Church
where, in a peaceful corner of the
graveyard, are the burial places
of Arthur, who died in 1967, and
Evgenia, who died in 1975.
Arthur discovered the church in
UK Travel
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fr £60pp
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as in Christmas in
Christm
Y
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*excl £12 per person Booking Fee & ATOL Fee £2.50 per person
*Prices are correct at time of going to print and unless stated are based on 2 people sharing a standard inland double/twin room.
VAT is included at the standard rate and any gratuities are at the discretion of the customer. A non-refundable deposit of £100 per
person is required on booking. The balance is payable by 1st December 2013 and is non-refundable after this date. We do recommend
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the late 1950s while exploring Rus­
land Pool during a fishing holiday.
He is said to have found the church­
yard one of the most peaceful places
on Earth, and asked if he could be
buried there under a particular tree,
with the sound of the wind in the
pine needles.
Hill Top is the perfect location for
exploring the locations described
in Swallows And Amazons (made
into a classic children’s movie in
1974, and now due to be filmed for
the BBC next year starring Dan
­Stevens, who played Matthew Craw­
ley in Downton Abbey).
You will also need time to explore
the rest of the Lake District’s rich
literary heritage, including Words­
worth – his Rydal Mount home is a
sheer delight; Beatrix Potter; and
John Ruskin (his Brantwood home
on Coniston is a genuine treat).
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