Literary Landscapes of the UK & Ireland

In Skyfall, Daniel Craig’s 007 returns to his Scottish roots. Much of the film’s action is centred around Bond’s family home, which is surrounded by the high, heathery mountains of Glencoe. The wild, often quite lonely beauty of this area provides the perfect backdrop for the film’s tense and atmospheric scenes.

Nearby, Glen Etive and the iconic peaks of Buachaille Etive Mòr and Buachaille Etive Beag also feature prominently. A thrilling car chase along the A82 showcases Bond’s legendary Aston Martin DB5 navigating the winding Highland roads, where the scenery often steals the spotlight. These locations capture the wild and majestic spirit of Scotland, making them essential stops for fans seeking the real-world settings behind the spy drama.

Jane Austen’s books, set among the English middle and upper classes, are notable for their social observation, wry wit and insights into the lives of early 19th century women. Her most famous works include Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. One of eight children, Austen grew up in a close-knit family, and in 1801, the family moved to Bath. After the death of her father in 1805, Jane, her sister Cassandra, and their mother eventually settled in Chawton, near Steventon. Visitors today can explore Jane Austen’s House in Chawton. The house is now a museum, preserving Austen’s life and work. Jane Austen’s final resting place is at Winchester Cathedral, where she was buried in 1817.

The Jane Austen Festival

The Jane Austen Festival in Bath is the largest and longest-running celebration of Austen’s life and work. Held annually each September, the festival attracts thousands of visitors from around the world. It begins with the Regency Costumed Promenade, where participants don period attire and stroll through the city’s historic streets.

Throughout the 10 day event, attendees can enjoy a variety of activities, including guided walks, costumed balls, theatrical performances, talks and much more. The festival offers a unique opportunity to immerse oneself in the world of Jane Austen, experiencing the charm and elegance of the Regency era in the city that inspired much of her work.

Royal Crescent, Bath

A striking curve of thirty terraced houses, The Royal Crescent is renowned as one of Bath’s most iconic examples of Georgian architecture. This grand architectural landmark features prominently in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, capturing the elegance of Bath’s society.

In Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliot’s home, Camden Place, is a fictional crescent-style residence inspired by real Georgian crescents such as the Royal Crescent. When visiting Bath, strolling along the streets is a wonderful way to connect to one of England’s best-loved novelists.

Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House, set in the heart of the Derbyshire Dales, is one of Britain’s most iconic stately homes—and a favourite among film fans. Most famously, it appeared as Pemberley in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, where Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennet first glimpses the grandeur of Mr Darcy’s estate. With its grand interiors, formal gardens and sweeping parkland, Chatsworth made an unforgettable backdrop to the story’s turning point. The house has been home to the Cavendish family since the 17th century and remains the seat of the Duke of Devonshire. Visitors can explore the extensive grounds, art collections and ornate rooms featured on screen. Travelling with us, it’s possible to experience the landscape that inspired Jane Austen—and later brought her world so vividly to life on film.

The North York Moors provide the atmospheric backdrop to Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, their sweeping, open landscapes echoing the novel’s intensity and isolation. Covering one of the largest moorland areas in the UK, the national park invites exploration on foot or by bike, with open-access land allowing walkers to roam freely. From windswept ridges to heather-covered hills, the moors reflect the raw emotion of Brontë’s writing—bleak and dramatic in winter, vivid and expansive when the summer heather blooms. Visiting the area offers a powerful sense of the terrain that shaped one of literature’s most haunting settings.

Highclere Castle, the stately home that brought Downton Abbey to life, stands as an enduring symbol of the English country estate. Set amid the rolling Hampshire countryside, this magnificent Jacobethan-style mansion is the real-world backdrop for the fictional Crawley family’s grand residence. The castle’s richly decorated interiors and extensive grounds provide an authentic glimpse into aristocratic life during the early 20th century, reflecting the social changes and historical events that shaped that era.

The estate itself stretches across 5,000 acres of parkland designed by famed landscape architect Capability Brown, offering a quintessentially English landscape of woodlands, gardens and open fields. Visitors can explore the castle’s elegant rooms, walk the formal gardens and enjoy the surrounding countryside that so perfectly complements the series’ themes of tradition and transformation.

For fans of Downton Abbey and lovers of English heritage alike, Highclere Castle presents a unique opportunity to step into the world of one of Britain’s most beloved dramas, set against the backdrop of a truly remarkable historic estate.

Fantasy author C.S. Lewis was born and raised near Belfast and spent much of his childhood exploring the wilds of Counties Down and Antrim. When writing The Chronicles of Narnia, the few parts of the book series set in the real world are clearly influenced by Oxford (and England in general), where he was living at the time of writing his famous fantasy series, but the fantastical worlds of Narnia where most of the book series takes place were vastly influenced by the romantic landscapes of counties Antrim and Down in northeastern Ireland. The dramatic cliff-top ruins of Dunluce Castle, clinging to the wild landscapes of the Causeway Coast, are said to have inspired Lewis’ depiction of Cair Paravel, the series’ royal castle, thousands of years in the future, when it, like the mighty Dunluce, is in ruins.

Lewis has been quoted as saying that the landscapes he grew up in felt very magical to him and that places like the Mourne Mountains and Carlingford Lough could be straight out of Narnia’s mystical lands. While many visitors comment on the feeling of magic in the air of the remote yet beautiful Mourne Mountains south of Belfast, Lewis captured this feeling of magic and used it to create the various realms of the fantastical Narnia, where the four Pevensie children and their friends have their adventures. Lewis has also cited Carlingford Lough, one of Ireland’s only three fjords, as a place of magical inspiration.