Book Lovers Paradise

Places of Interest for Book Lovers to Visit.

London

The Globe Theatre: Devoted to the works of Shakespeare, the original Globe was damaged by fire in 1613 and shut by the Puritans in 1642. the new Globe was built close to the site of the original theatre and closely resembles the space that Shakespeare worked in. Further information can be found on the Globe Theatre website; http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/

The British Library: Currently Shakespeare400 exhibition/ 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB http://www.bl.uk/ for further information.

St Pancras International Station: Sir John Betjeman Statue (upstairs on the first level). John Betjeman was Poet Laureate from 1972-1984, he lived in London all his life and loved the Victorian buildings http://hidden-london.com/the-guide/betjeman-statue/

Agatha Christie Memorial: On the corner of Cranbourn Street and Great Newport Street. Features a book with Agatha Christie's bust in the book. On the reverse there are the two main characters she wrote about, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple http://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/agatha-christie-book

Kings Cross Station: Platform 9 ¾ in the Northern Ticket Hall at Ground Level. For Harry Potter Fans https://www.kingscross.co.uk/harry-potters-platform-9-34

Paddington Station: Paddington Bear Statue. Currently Paddington Bear can be found on Platform 1. There is also a gift shop of Paddington memorabilia. http://www.thisispaddington.com/article/paddington-bear-statue

221b Baker Street: Fictional home of Sherlock Holmes, also home to the Sherlock Holmes Museum http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/

Charing Cross Road: for antiquarian and 2nd hand bookshops.

Poets Corner Westminster Abbey; Many poets rest in the South Transept which has become a literary hall of fame. Geoffrey Chaucer's tomb sits alongside Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Laurence Olivier, Edmund Spenser, and Alfred Tennyson. Famous writers are also remembered there with memorial stones, including Shakespeare, who is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Oscar Wilde The Irish poet and playwright is remembered by a statue called A Conversation With Oscar Wilde, on Adelaide Street northeast of Trafalgar Square. Unveiled in 1998, it features a quote from Lady Windermere's Fan "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars

Harry Potter Walking Tour by London Walks; You will see film locations around Westminster, London from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. More information from http://www.walks.com/

Continuing the Harry Potter theme; The House of MINALIMA on Greek Street, London is home to the work of the graphic artists Miraphina Mina and Eduardo Lima. They worked on all the film sets for the Harry Potter Films and more recently on the set of "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them." Packed with four floors of posters, letters, tickets and much much more this is sure to fill a morning.

Blue Plaques of London; If you have spotted the blue plaques dotted around London, commemorating a famous person and their connection to that place you can now look them up; http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/ there is also an app for both ios and android


U.K.

Hay-on-Wye: for the bookshops and the Hay Festival (May half term holiday) http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/bookshops/default.asp

Pooh Corner: Hartfield, make sure you take some small sticks with you if you go to Pooh Sticks bridge in Ashdown Forest as there are not many left in the woods; it has been picked clean by all the other visitors. http://www.pooh-country.co.uk/ep_poohsticksbridge.php the second link has a map and trail to find the right place. http://www.just-pooh.com/map.html

Manchester Central Library: A grade 2 listed building, built in 1934. It had a £48m restoration completed in 2014. The public lending library is on the ground floor, whilst reading rooms and other collections fill the remainder of the building.

Barter Bookshop: Alnwick, Northumberland NE66 2NP https://www.barterbooks.co.uk/ set in a former Victorian railway station in the northeast of England and filled with books of kind.

Leakeys secondhand bookshop: Church Street Inverness https://leakeysbookshop.com/ Scotland's largest secondhand bookshop.

National Trust Properties:

Bateman’s, Home of Rudyard Kipling: Bateman’s Lane, Burwash, East Sussex TN19 7DS http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/batemans Rudyard Kipling wrote the Just So Stories, Jungle Book and Kim

Monks House, home of Virginia Woolf: Rodmell, East Sussex, author of To The Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway as well as many other titles. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/monks-house

Greenway, home of author Agatha Christie: Greenway Road, Galhampton, near Brixham, Devon TQ5 0ES http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway Agatha Christie wrote the Poirot Series and Miss Marple Books.

Hill Top Farm, home of author Beatrix Potter: near Sawrey, Hawkshead, Ambleside, Cumbria. LA22 0LF http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hill-top

Europe

Anglo-American Bookshop: Florence, Italy. PAPERBACK EXCHANGE s.r.l.

Via delle Oche, 4R - Florence, Italy http://www.papex.it/

Shakespeare and Co: Paris, France. A very British bookshop in the heart of Paris, 37 Rue de la Bucherie, Paris V (the 5th Arrondissment) https://shakespeareandcompany.com/

Market Square, Brugge: Newsagent which sells a limited amount of English language fiction.

Libreria Acqua Alta, Calle Lunga Santa Maria, Venice, Italy: A bookshop with a difference in the heart of Venice filled with new and secondhand books in very unusual shelving including a Gondola. http://en.venezia.net/2014/02/04/libreria-acqua-alta-library-in-venice