Sophie Neville was invited to write an article for the December issue of Living magazine about the locations featured in Arthur Ransome's series of Swallows and Amazons books. As the British Author died fifty years ago, it seemed a fitting way to remember the places he loved and wrote about, inspiring generation after generation to get out on the water and experience life in the great outdoors.
The idea was to encourage readers to spend time searching for literary locations in the English Lake District. It's a great theme for a holiday if you are travelling alone or with your family, as featured in the pages of Sophie's memoir, 'Funnily Enough' when she went boating on Windermere and Coniston with her father.
The Arthur Ransome Society is now the second biggest literary society in the UK, perhaps partly because it attracts families who like to take part in activities such as camping, sailing, swimming, birdwatching, photography, archery, skating and tobogganing. They offer grants for young members in search of adventure or taking up interests advocated by the author such playing chess or tying fishing flies. There is also a research grant and any number of interesting opportunities for adult members.
You can read the article on-line here
