Have you ever visited a place because of a rook that you have read?

@oldchem1 (8132)
June 22, 2010 2:36am CST
I have to admit that I have done this several times!! After I read I Love Capri, I had to go to Capri!!, it was after reading My Family and Other Animals that I had the burning desire to go to Corfu and as a big fan of the works of Daphne Du Maurier and I found out that the actual inn that inspired her to write 'Jamaica Inn'existed I had to visit it Jamaica Inn was built in 1750, as a coaching inn where tired travellers crossing the dangerous moors between Launceston and Bodmin would stay for a welcome rest. Not all the travellers were respectable travellers though, as the Inn was often used to hide away the contraband that had been smuggled ashore to the Cornish coast. In fact it is thought that the Inn may have got its name because the amount of trade it did in the rum that made it's unofficial way there. In 1778 the Inn had a coach house, stables and a tack room added in a large extension. Daphne du Maurier used it as setting for the novel 'Jamaica Inn' after spending just one night there in 1930, after getting lost on the moors. The atmosphere, history and legends that surrounded the inn inspired her work. The Jamaica Inn is rumoured to have several ghosts, including that of Demon Davey, the vicar of the parish of Altarnun who lived in the old schoolhouse opposite the inn, as well as that of a local man who was summoned outside by a smuggler he'd betrayed for his own financial gain. The man apparently left his half-finished ale on the bar, only to be shot with a pistol out in the courtyard. He now, seemingly, regularly appears at the bar to "finish" his ale!! In 1911 there was much interest and press coverage about a strange man who had been seen by many people, sitting on the wall outside the Inn. He neither spoke nor moved nor acknowledged a greeting but it is said that His appearance was uncannily like the murdered man. Could this be the dead man's ghost? There is even a museum there about Du Maurier and a tableau about the story of Jamaica Inn. I found that it was an inteeresting place to visit,especially for people who love the author or the book, unfortunatly I feel that they have gone a little too far down the commercial path; I'm not sure what Daphne du Maurier would make of it all Have you ever visited anywhere because of a book that you have read?
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7 responses
@aquariand (464)
22 Jun 10
Yes I have visited the Bronte county after reading wuthering heights the countyside is amazing and you can get a feel of the storyline in the book
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@oldchem1 (8132)
22 Jun 10
Oh yes, I forgot about the Yorkshire moors, they are still very much the same as when the sisters wrote their books!
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22 Jun 10
I love the classic books and watching the adeptations on television
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@oldchem1 (8132)
22 Jun 10
Did you see last year's Wuthering Heights on ITV, I thought that it was a very good adaption myself
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@ellie333 (21016)
22 Jun 10
Hi Oldchem, I have never visited a place because of a book that I have read but have been to Jamaica Inn on the way back from a trip to Cornwall, this was during the day but can unstandwhy itis said that itis haunted as thereare some definite cold spots in some places and the feel of the place itself at night I should imagine wouldbe pretty eery just becauseof the location. Huggles. Ellie :D
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@ellie333 (21016)
22 Jun 10
If you ever in that neck of the woods again a visit to Bodmin jail will give you the spooks lol
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@oldchem1 (8132)
23 Jun 10
We did visit it on the same day!! It was really interesting
@oldchem1 (8132)
22 Jun 10
Yes the hotel itself is very eerie, but it has become very much a tourist destination
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• United States
22 Jun 10
Mine was just the opposite. I read a book (it wasn't that great but after what I paid for it I did read and finish it!) anyway after I read the book I realized we had been to the civil war battlefied and museum that was talked about in the book. As it was very far away I do not see us ever going back there again. I also read another book that had a historical setting to it but I really did not care for the way it was written. My personal opinion it was 'sold' on the historical setting but other then the author writting that this was the setting many times in the book they never worked much information into the book. I was greatly disappointed with it. This is probley the same as tv. The OLD shows were the great ones just as the old books were the great ones and these new ones have just lost their appeal.
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@Angelwriter (1954)
• United States
22 Jun 10
Not yet, because I haven't traveled much. But, I've always wanted to visit Prince Edward Island because of LM Montgomery's books. And, I'd love to visit one of the places from the Little House books.
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@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
22 Jun 10
you mean a fiction book? No, but I'm always thrilled to see a place I've been to be in a book I read. For example, in one murder mystery the killer left a body on a life guard stand on Jenkin's beach in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. Not only was it clear in the writing, but I could picture it in my mind since I've been there so many times.
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@oldchem1 (8132)
25 Jun 10
I know exactly what you mean, this is one of the reasons why reading is such an incredible thing!!
@Torunn (8606)
• Norway
22 Jun 10
Once. A friend and I went on interrail in the UK ages ago, and one of the places we went to was Shrewsbury, mainly because I had read the crimes series about brother Cadfael written by Ellis Peters. We did the whole monastery tour, even did the "make your own Medieval page" thingy. It was a nice city, but it's not that much left of the Medieval part of town I think.
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@Jstewart (167)
• United States
24 Jun 10
Yes, I read Midnight in the garden of good and evil and so had to go to savanah georiga. It was even better then the book (the image I had of it from the book). I still go there from time to time for a weekend. I went there once for saint patrick's day. I won't do that again, it was so crowded. When I went I found all these places that where haunted and even stayed at the 1790 inn. ...spooky. I ended up buying some more books on savanah and at one of the book shops there was a signing going on from one of the local authors so of course bought his book. later me and my girlfriend at the time went to lunch and he was there by himself eating. I gave a nod because I did'nt want to bother him. My girlfriend did not have the same idea but he ended up joing us and we started talking about ghosts and stuff in the area. it was really a great time. and so much closer and cheaper then most other trips I have been on.
@oldchem1 (8132)
25 Jun 10
fantastic experience for you! I was once reading a Daphne du Maurier book on holiday in Cornwall, and as I was reading I realised that I was actually sitting on the beach that she was writing about below the house featured in the novel -felt very weird!!