The One Ring?

Written by Sherry

Monday, 02 June 2008 09:18

I am being besieged with quirky but noteworthy bits of information. Via the Telegraph. The National Trust of Britain is urging people to visit 50 hidden gems among the thousands of wonderful houses, gardens, and historic and cultural sites administered by the Trust. For the literati among us. Some descriptions are particularly intriguing. Be sure to read to the end. Writers' homes Coleridge Cottage Somerset Here Samuel Taylor Coleridge roamed the countryside with Wordsworth, and wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan and This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison among others. The house survived years of use as 'Moore's Coleridge Cottage Inn', but still boasts several personal mementos, and the adjacent garden, with its Lime Tree Bower. 01278 732662 Coleridge Cottage Somerset Here Samuel Taylor Coleridge roamed the countryside with Wordsworth, and wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan and This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison among others. The house survived years of use as 'Moore's Coleridge Cottage Inn', but still boasts several personal mementos, and the adjacent garden, with its Lime Tree Bower. 01278 732662 Bateman's East Sussex Rudyard Kipling's attractive Jacobean home is preserved as he left it in 1936, crammed with oriental paraphernalia. Highlights include the original illustrations for The Jungle Book, and Kipling's Phantom I Rolls-Royce. 01435 882302 Hardy's Cottage Dorset Thomas Hardy lived here until he was 34, writing Far from the Madding Crowd and Under the Greenwood Tree under its thatched roof. 01305 262366 Max Gate Dorset Hardy designed this house in 1885. His father and brother built it while he wrote The Mayor of Casterbridge, and he lived here until his death, enjoying the success of Jude the Obscure and Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and entertaining Kipling, Woolf and Shaw among others. 01305 262538 Greenway Devon Home to Agatha Christie and her husband. Mr and Mrs Max Mallowan, as they were known locally, fell in love with the sea views and exquisite gardens, buying Greenway in 1938. They kept diaries on the variety of flora and foliage at their cherished holiday home. Christie's family remained there until 2000, when it was given to the Trust. 01803 842382 Hill Top Cumbria Beatrix Potter gave this 17th-century cottage to the National Trust, providing that everything was preserved just as she had left it. She created some of her best-loved characters here, such as Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck. 015394 36269 The Vyne Hampshire The 16th-century house's treasures include a 5th-century gold ring. Decades after the ring was found, a Roman tablet was uncovered referring to this distinctive ring, cursing the person who had stolen it. J.R.R. Tolkien was advising on excavations at the temple; this ring is said to have inspired his Lord of the Rings trilogy.