Tolkien Attraction and Distraction

A BBC website story from Saturday, 8 April 2006 describes plans for a Treebeard statue in Birmingham. Apparently, it was thought that this would be distracting drivers.

There are also references to The Shire Country Park, Sarehole Mill and other places in Birmingham which may have inspired the Old Forest and the Two Towers.

Although I admire these efforts to create visitor attractions with Tolkien connections in an area which some might not associate with tourism, I can't help noting the contrast with the Three Cups Hotel. The Three Cups Hotel was built for visitors and already has unquestionable links with Tolkien and it is in one of the most beautiful parts of England which has attracted tourists for centuries.

As with all BBC News web pages, there are some interesting links including one about the listing of a house which Tolkien lived in.

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Enjoying the countryside Shakespeare's way

On 19 April 2006, The Daily Telegraph published an article about the opening of the Shakespeare Way, a footpath from Stratford-upon-Avon to the Globe Theatre in London.

The pretext is that England's greatest playwright probably travelled the same route. Well done to Peter Titchmarsh who organised this in his retirement. It will help visitors to England and any admirers of Shakespeare to appreciate the countryside in which the Bard grew up and was the background to his life.

It would be good if there were footpaths through other parts of England decicated to one of England's other great authors, J.R.R. Tolkien. There is already a Tolkien Trail in Lancashire around Stonyhurst College where Tolkien stayed while writing parts of the Lord of The Rings. Surely, there would be interest in another trail around Lyme Regis where Tolkien also wrote sections of his greatest work. What better place for the visitors and walkers to stay than the Three Cups Hotel which the great man used himself and where he sat down to write after his own rambles in the shire of Dorset!

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Literally in Demand

The BBC website carried a story today about the re-opening of the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere following improvements costing more than £120,000.

The work has been funded by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts. More than 50,000 documents, works of art, and general memorabilia are held by the Wordsworth Trust. About 75,000 people visit Dove Cottage each year. Since it was founded in 1891, the trust has developed a museum, archive, store, library and shop.

Isn't Tolkien worth as much? The Lake District countryside which inspired Wordsworth must play a part in attracting visitors to Dove Cottage. Tolkien's Shire in Middle Earth was probably inspired by several places in England including Worcestshire, Warickshire, Lancashire and Dorset. Of these locations, surely Dorset is the area with the most visitor potential. I suggest that the Three Cups Hotel where Tolkien stayed and wrote and painted would be an excellent place for an international visitor centre.

If anyone out there knows how to bring this to the attention of the relevant fundng bodies to promote this idea, please do so as soon as possible and feel free to use the weblog as a resource.

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