Stories have the power to transport us to another world, but what if that other world is somewhere we can actually see with our own eyes and not just our imagination? Here are 7 famous children’s books that allow readers to visit the places that inspired them and to actually touch the magic for yourself.
7 Children’s Book Settings That You Can Visit
- Winnie the Pooh
- Katie in London
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Peter Rabbit
- The Worst Witch
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Paddington Bear
1) Winnie the Pooh
The first book on our list really does give you the chance to touch the magic of this story, as when visiting the Ashdown Forest you can follow a walking trail past many locations featured in the Winnie the Pooh stories. The trail culminates with the chance to play Pooh Sticks on Poohsticks Bridge. The scenery is simply stunning in this area and, to slightly misquote a line from Winnie the Pooh, we’re pretty sure that if you take the time to visit you might not realise that you’re making memories, you’ll just know that you’re having fun. A trip to the place that helped inspire these wonderful stories will certainly make memories and maybe cause you to recall some too.
Location: Hundred Acre Wood- Ashdown Forest, East Sussex
Book Themes: fantasy, animals (bear, piglet, kangaroo), friendship, kindness, integrity, adventure, fun (poohsticks)
Suggested Age: 6+
What’s it about?: Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends get up to all sorts of adventures. A collection of stories.
Author: A. A. Milne
Publisher: HarperCollins
2. Katie in London
This book showcases many of London’s most famous landmarks in a very child-friendly way. Join Katie, her brother and Grandma as they visit Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Big Ben and the London Eye. Why not take the book along with you and join them on their adventure?
Location: Various well-known locations in London
Book Themes: grandparents, London, Trafalgar Square, adventure, excitement, siblings
Suggested Age: 5+
What’s it about?: Katie and Jack visit London with Grandma when one of the Trafalgar lions comes to life and takes them on a tour of all the sights.
Author: James Mayhew
Publisher: Hachette Children’s Group
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I solemnly swear that, if you know your quaffles from your bludgers, then these are places definitely worth visiting. The Shambles (York) isn’t actually a location used in the books but the area is regularly likened to a real-life version of Diagon Alley. It has a number of Harry Potter themed shops, escape rooms and tours, so provides plenty for a fun-filled day out.
Lacock Abbey (Wiltshire) is where scenes from the first two Harry Potter films were filmed, giving visitors the chance to walk the corridors of Hogwarts, enter Professor Snape’s and Professor Quirrell’s classrooms and discover the room where Harry finds the Mirror of Erised, even if you can’t find the mirror itself! Nearby (Lacock village) is also the location used for Budleigh Babberton and Harry Potter’s family home.
Location: Shambles, York and Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire
Book Themes: magic, death (death of parents), unkindness (Harry is treated differently to his cousin, his windows are barred), boarding school, friendships, enemies, snakes
Suggested Age: 9+
What’s it about?: Harry Potter and his friends Ron and Hermione, are back at Hogwarts for their second year. After Ron and Harry’s somewhat troublesome journey to school comes a succession of sinister events.
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Bloomsbury
4. Peter Rabbit
Take the brilliant opportunity to step back in time and visit the world of Beatrix Potter’s animal friends. Beautifully and faithfully preserved by the National Trust, Hill Top was purchased by Beatrix Potter with the proceeds from the sale of her first book in 1905. You can see the house, garden and surrounding countryside that became the basis of so many of her later works of children’s fiction.
Location: Hill Top, Lake District
Book Themes: rabbits, animals, friendship, adventure
Suggested Age: 4+
What’s it about?: This collection brings together the first four original Beatrix Potter tales. Follow the cheeky little Peter Rabbit and some of his young friends as they constantly get themselves into mischief.
Author & Illustrator: Beatrix Potter
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children’s UK
5. The Worst Witch
Peckforton Castle wasn’t the actual inspiration for the Worst Witch stories, instead they came from a mixture of Jill Murphy’s imagination and her own experiences at a very strict Catholic girls’ school. Amazingly, Murphy began writing the first book while she was still attending school at the age of 14!
Peckforton might not have been known to the author at the time, but it became the ideal location when the books were made into a TV series in 2016. The imposing building – high on a hill and surrounded by a forest – perfectly matched the description of Mrs Cackle’s Academy for Witches.
Location: Peckforton Castle, Cheshire
Book Themes: witches, magic, friendship, school (starting a new school)
Suggested Age: 7+
What’s it about?: Mildred is in her first year at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches but wherever Mildred is disaster seems to follow!
Author & Illustrator: Jill Murphy
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children’s UK
6. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast, just over an hour away from the Mourne Mountains, and this incredible landscape is said to have been the genesis of the setting for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. If there was ever a land that inspired magic, then surely this would be it. In the words of C.S. Lewis, ‘if ever they remembered their life in this world, it was as one remembers a dream’. The Mourne Mountains certainly seem like something from a dream.
Location: Mourne Mountains, Northern Ireland
Book Themes: animals, war (evacuation) fantasy (time travel), magic, friendship, family (sibling rivalry), good vs evil
Suggested Age: 9+
What’s it about?: Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are evacuated to the house of Professor Digory Kirke. Whilst exploring the house, they stumble upon a mysterious adventure.
Author: C.S.Lewis
Publisher: HarperCollins
7. A Bear Called Paddington
Now Paddington Bear is an interesting one, as a lot of the stories are, of course, set in different parts of London, e.g. Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral, and the Tower of London. There are also the locations used in the two Paddington films, so readers can visit places linked with the books or the films.
The main film locations would be Chalcot Crescent, which doubles as Windsor Gardens, and Portobello Road for Mr Gruber’s antiques shop. However, Paddington Station is where book and film very much meets, as the site of the young bear’s first meeting with the Brown family and where he receives his name. There’s even a statue commemorating this fictional moment on Platform One.
Location: Paddington Station, London
Book Themes: comedy, fantasy, friendship, family, adventure
Suggested Age: 5+
What’s it about?: Paddington has been sent from Peru by his Aunt Lucy and meets the Brown family on a railway platform. The Browns take him to stay with them.
Author: Michael Bond
Publisher: HarperCollins