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A Merlin Conspiratorial Entry
Jun. 28th, 2021 10:08 amAyako, a die-hard Diana Wynne Jones fan who came to Bristol specifically to reside in the city of her heroine, has of course read all the books in Japanese, but she recently got through The Merlin Conspiracy (aka 「花の魔法、白のドラゴン」 or "Flower Magic, White Dragon") in English too, so some of our recent jaunts have had an MC theme, visiting the British equivalents of scenes set in that book's Isles of Blest. I don't suppose we'll get down as far as Chysauster in west Cornwall, the model for the ruined village where Roddy Hyde encountered the spirit of an ancient flower-witch (something that actually happened there to Diana Wynne Jones, as she told me herself); however, we have already dropped in at Chalice Well garden in Glastonbury, where the conspiracy was launched; and, as previously recounted here, we have visited White Horse hill and Wayland's Smithy, which seem to me the evident originals for the book's "Ridgeway Hills."
Of course, we have not neglected to pay homage to Stonehenge (pictured here, in case you have forgotten what it looks like):
And, last week we took advantage of a day of good weather and no meetings to drive over to Salisbury and Old Sarum - the latter of which I hadn't been to in more than twenty years. The personifications of both cities appear in the book. Salisbury is literally overlooked by the 5,000-year-old settlement on its edge - famous now, if for anything, only as having been the rottenest of rotten boroughs; but Old Sarum is naturally resentful at being neglected in favour of its swisher mediaeval replacement. It certainly has the better views, though.
Looking down at that new-fangled spire
The flinty remains of Old Sarum's abandoned cathedral
Then on to have lunch in my home town and up to view the roses at Mottisfont, just past their best but still putting on quite a show:
There were no more Merlin Conspiracy sights to see, but since I'm in the middle of organising a conference to celebrate a certain novel's half century next year, I did make a small detour on the way back to do some more literary tourism on the Hampshire-Berkshire border:
Of course, we have not neglected to pay homage to Stonehenge (pictured here, in case you have forgotten what it looks like):
And, last week we took advantage of a day of good weather and no meetings to drive over to Salisbury and Old Sarum - the latter of which I hadn't been to in more than twenty years. The personifications of both cities appear in the book. Salisbury is literally overlooked by the 5,000-year-old settlement on its edge - famous now, if for anything, only as having been the rottenest of rotten boroughs; but Old Sarum is naturally resentful at being neglected in favour of its swisher mediaeval replacement. It certainly has the better views, though.
Looking down at that new-fangled spire
The flinty remains of Old Sarum's abandoned cathedral
Then on to have lunch in my home town and up to view the roses at Mottisfont, just past their best but still putting on quite a show:
There were no more Merlin Conspiracy sights to see, but since I'm in the middle of organising a conference to celebrate a certain novel's half century next year, I did make a small detour on the way back to do some more literary tourism on the Hampshire-Berkshire border: