Literature

Britain’s literary scene has an illustrious, prestigious past and an exciting, evocative present. The country has been immortalised in verse throughout history and some of your strongest images of Britain have come from the page.

The spirit of William Shakespeare still haunts Southwark’s cobbled streets. A visit to the faithfully reconstructed Globe Theatre (www.shakespeares-globe.org/) gets pretty close to an authentic Tudor theatre-going experience.

A pilgrimage to Stratford-upon-Avon will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the Bard. However, his true legacy is found in the performances, both faithful traditional shows and radical adaptations, playing all over the country.

Jane Austen was a resident of Bath and it was here she wrote some of her best-known books. You’ll be able to conjure up her world of bubbling passion, gossip and men in tight britches at any stately home from the era.

A E Housman (A Shropshire Lad) and William Wordsworth (The Prelude) described romantic visions of two very different areas of rural England. The Lake District’s wild hills look much the same as they did in Wordsworth’s time.

The wizardry of J K Rowling's Harry Potter can be experienced at Alnwick Castle, used as the set of Hogwarts in the films.

Scotland’s most famous writer is Robert Burns and Scots celebrate his birthday as Burns Night (late January). Other famous Scots writers include Sir Walter Scott (climb his monument in Edinburgh for a great view of the city) and Robert Louis Stevenson, whose birthplace still stands in the Scottish capital.