Arthur Ransome

Although Arthur Ransome was born in Leeds, he spent idyllic childhood holidays in the Lake District. Like so many before and since, he fell in love with the place. His family stayed in the quiet hamlet of Nibthwaite on the shores of Coniston Water from where, as a baby, he was carried by his father to the summit of Coniston Old Man. The fells and lakes became his spiritual home and wherever he went in the world, he carried a talisman: a small stone from the summit of Kanchenjunga, his fictitious name for Coniston Old Man in his books for children.

Ransome honed his writing skills during his colourful life as a journalist, war reporter and novelist in Russia during the First World War and Russian Revolutions, during which he was also recruited as a Intelligence Officer to work for MI6. It was probably with some relief in 1928 that he sat down in his home in the Winster Valley to write Swallows and Amazons. The Walker children, the Swallows, were inspired by W G Collingwood’s grandchildren, his Lake in the North resembles Windermere, his fictitious landscape draws on the Coniston fells, and he describes characters he knew as a boy: charcoal burners, boat builders and farmers.

Swallows and Amazons was King Charles III’s favourite book as a child. Ransome’s twelve enduring stories have never gone out of print and have inspired generations of readers to sail, explore and appreciate nature: from David Bellamy who became a renowned conservationist, to Ellen MacArthur who sailed around the world.

The first Swallows and Amazons movie, released in 1974, was filmed locally and featured several popular attractions in the area, including the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway and Windermere Lake Cruises. A second film was also shot in the Lake District in 2016, and productions of Ransome’s books have been staged in theatres in London and Cumbria.

Although time has moved on and the Lake District is busier than Ransome’s day, it has lost none of its appeal. It is still the same place, with all its charm and beauty, that Ransome and the Swallows and Amazons knew – a place where youngsters and the young at heart can boat, fish, camp and fell-walk.