Arthur Ransome and The Lake District

Welcome to the 'Arthur Ransome and his Lakeland' section of The Lake District dot eu, the site dedicated to the stunning Lake District of northern England.

Born in Leeds in 1884, Ransome died in 1967. His name is strongly associated with the lake District for two primary reasons. Firstly, that that he made it his home in his later years and, secondly, that the books for which he is most well known were set around Windermere and Coniston Water. He had early experience of the Lakes as some of his childhood holidays, and his early schooling, were spent there. As a college student he studied chemistry but his heart wasn't in it and he went to London to find a career in writing. Whilst cutting his literary teeth he took jobs in a publishing company and on a magazine. His first book of any note was 'Bohemia in London (1907) about the growth of London's literary and artistic communities. In the years that followed Ransome married, fathered a daughter and continued writing. One of his publications, about Oscar Wilde, involved him in a messy libel suit and took him into the trial court. After the trial, which he won, he went to Russia to study folklore, thereby starting a new chapter in his already eventful life.

During the ensuing years he brought out his book of Russian folk-tales, called 'Old Peter's Russian Tales', in 1916; worked as a foreign correspondent; became involved in diplomatic affairs during the Russian Revolution and was accused of spying; lived in the Baltic States; built a yacht called 'Racundra' (which inspired a successful book called 'Racundra's Fist Cruise') and finally returned to England with his second wife, Evgenia Petrovna Shelepina. Back in England he continued working as a journalist and on topical columns.

Yet another chapeter in his life opened when he returned to settle in the Lake District and wrote 'Swallows and Amazons' in 1929. The landscape of this book, and of subsquent ones, was closely based on the geography of the Lake District but with fictional names and 'adjusted' locations. This series of books made Ransome one of the most famous and popular writers of children's books in England. He subsequently moved to East Anglia where he continued writing, including more 'Swallows and Amazons' books which he set in East Anglia. His travelling hadn't stopped, though, and a trip to China provided the inspiraton for 'Missee Lee' (A Swallows and Amazons story).

So why is Ransome so inextricably linked, in the minds of so many people, with the lake district and 'messing around in boats'? Perhaps it's because, although only a small number of the total of his books were actually set in the Lakes, those that were are the ones for which he is best remembered and loved. His own love for the Lakes is unquestioned. Both he and his wife Evgenia are buried in the churchyard of St Paul, in the village of Rusland, close to Newby Bridge and between Windermere and Coniston. His wish was to be buried in what he considerd one of the most peaceful places on earth, under a particular tree, with 'the sound of the wind in the pine needles'.