Breaks for bibliophiles
On every Landmark’s bookshelf is a collection of books carefully curated by a Landmark librarian, spanning fiction, poetry, history and nature. Myriad Landmarks have literary connections; here we illuminate a handful of places for your next readaway.
Thomas Hardy's Wessex
Poet and author Thomas Hardy visited several of the properties now in our care on his rambles through the undulating county of Dorset. Thomas Hardy came to tea at Wolveton in 1900, and the tragic tale of Lady Penelope D'Arcy, the second wife of George Trenchard, appears in his book of short stories, 'A Group of Noble Dames'. Woodsford Castle near Hardy's birthplace in Brockhampton is where Hardy's father worked as a builder and Hardy himself trained as an architect. The romantic Clavell Tower, meanwhile, is where Hardy wooed his first love, Eliza Nicholls.
Wolf Hall at Cawood Castle
In 1530, Thomas Wolsey fell from power and was forced to surrender all his offices except that of Archbishop of York. Cawood Castle, one of the principal residences of the Archbishops of York, was a centre of immense political authority. It was here that Wolsey was arrested by the Earl of Northumberland and sent back south, where he died soon afterwards. The most prominent surviving feature of the castle is its gatehouse: a grand and imposing structure adorned with intricate heraldic carvings and a vaulted carriage arch. It was through this arch that Wolsey rode to face his fate. Today, you can stay in the atmospheric lodgings above that very gateway, described so vividly in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.
Daphne Du Maurier’s Cornwall
Immerse yourself in Daphne Du Maurier’s Cornwall in the atmospheric oak woodland surrounding Frenchman's Creek. In Du Maurier’s captivating 1941 novel of the same name, restless Lady Dona St Columb escapes to Cornwall from London’s Restoration Court, where she embarks on a thrilling affair with a French pirate. Built in about 1840 for a farm worker or boatman, our secluded and romantic cottage is a mecca for those who love proximity to nature and worship the woods and the water.
John Fowles’ home in Lyme Regis
Our award-winning restoration of Belmont in Lyme Regis brought life back to the former home of seminal 20th century author John Fowles. In 1968 he finalised the proofs of The French Lieutenant’s Woman at his desk in the sitting room overlooking the Cobb, with wide views of the sea and sky. Many will picture the windswept and sea-sprayed pier from the 1981 film featuring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. Today we celebrate Fowles’ literary legacy through biannual breaks for creative writing students at the University of East Anglia (UEA).
Robert Macfarlane at West Blockhouse
Writer Robert Macfarlane completed his acclaimed Underland when staying at West Blockhouse on the Pembrokeshire coast. In his words, the Victorian fort is ‘a beautiful paradox of a building: it seems both to rise from the rock and to soar above the sea… How is this building not either flying or floating?’. Robert also wrote a thought-provoking piece for us about Underland and his stay at this popular cliff-edge Landmark.
Weatherland at Laughton Place
Alexandra Harris, a Professorial Fellow in the English Literature Faculty at the University of Birmingham, stayed at Laughton Place whilst researching Weatherland, an exploration of imaginative responses to the weather in England, including those by John Clare, Charlotte Bronte and Gilbert White. She wrote in a blog for us ‘I loved that tower in the fields from the moment we first glimpsed it, approaching on the old wartime track across the marshes. It wasn’t just that Virginia Woolf had discovered it on a walk with Vita Sackville-West and longed to live there - It was the way the building stood against the sky.’ Laughton Place is currently closed for vital works, reopening for holidays in 2026.
Many more Landmarks have literary connections, such as Coombe in Cornwall for its former resident and writer, the Vicar of Morwenstow, Robert Hawker. George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evans, grew up on the Arbury Estate near Nuneaton and was inspired by neighbouring Astley Castle.
