I like a good discussion over fiction and when I saw that Bevchen had done a post entitled, Top 10 fictional places I would like to visit, I knew this was something I would be doing!
https://confuzzledom.wordpress.com/2015/09/08/top-ten-fictional-places-i-would-like-to-visit/
So, without further ado, here are my choices:
1. The chocolate room in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
You know the one. Now, I confess, I SAW the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory BEFORE I read the book. Thus my choice is is a combination of the film AND book version.
Here is the extract from the book I am talking about. In the book, I wanted to drink the hot chocolate river, straight from that frothy waterfall! Because that hot chocolate wouldn't be a mediocre Coffee-shop/Cafe let-down, it would be made of real milk with real chocolate blended beautifully! And trying that minty grass! And in the film version, I too,like Violet Beauregard would pull one of those giant jelly bears from a tree and eat a lemon cup like Mr Wonka. I'd lick that cream from the NICE mushrooms like Mrs Mike TeeVee, stuff an enormous red licorice rope in my rope like Mr Beauregard!!! Oh this place was my place of wonder as a child!!!
2. The land of treats, The land of take what you please and The land of wishes from the Faraway tree!
The Faraway tree also features in BevChen's choice but I am quite sure it will be in many Blyton fans' lists. These lands were amazing as you could do what you want, eat what you want, find what you want. If you don't know the book, strange lands would appear if you climbed a ladder into the cloud at the top of the Faraway Tree, a magical tree. There were some horrid lands too but these ones were the best!
3. Tom's midnight garden
I only read Philippa Pearce's book as an adult but it is one of my most favourite books in all the world now. Tom is having to stay at his Aunt and Uncle's dull house whilst his brother has measles and when the clock strikes 13 after midnight, a beautiful garden would appear in the back garden when he opened the back gate. It was a vast garden from the Victorian era, it would have so many beautiful areas to it and Tom would play with Hattie, a sad little girl he meets there. The descriptions of that garden were so vivid, I longed to be there. Also, in my mind, the garden was rather like my Grandparents' beautiful, huge garden so it has happy memory associations too! I saw a beautiful film version of the book too and the garden they used in the film surpassed my imagination. Not often that happens in an adaptation!
4. Perelandra when it was first formed in C.S. Lewis' Voyage to Venus.
C.S. Lewis wrote a beautiful Sci-fi trilogy and in the second book, Voyage to Venus, Ransome, the main character travels to Venus to try to stop this evil character from ruining the new paradise. The description of Perelandra (the old universe language version of Venus), is just so imaginative. The land is made up of sea with islands that float and move with the waves,so the land ripples as you walk on it. And there were these trees with these bubbles on them that when you walked through them, refreshed and cleansed you as an alternative to a shower. These seemed so amazing, I longed to try them. Perelandra did not fall to temptation so it remained a beautiful place which Ransome longs to return to, the true fulfilment of what the garden of Eden could have been. He is truly changed by his visit to Perelandra and I long to go there to a place without sin and illness.
5. Kirrin Island. from Enid Blyton's Famous Five series
I strongly suspect that the reason I adore visiting small islands is that in my subconscious, I am seeking Kirrin Island, the small island that belonged to George Kirrin. It had a ruined castle with dungeons that concealed gold (1.
Five on a Treasure island), an underwater tunnel from the mainland that was naturally formed (6.
Five on Kirrin Island again) , a wonderful perfect cave with a hole in the ceiling for light (3.
Five run away together)and a natural stone shelf round the edge, a perfect swimming pool amongst the rocks and tame wild rabbits! And the children had it all to themselves!
6. The Wandering shop.
Ankh Morpork sounds a bit grubby and dangerous for me BUT In Terry Pratchett's books:
Certain constants apply to these shops. They carry exactly what the person is looking for, even if they aren't looking for anything particular; Out of all the myriad items, most of which are broken, the most powerful and mystical one will be the most ordinary looking, and the most affordable; and the shop owner will be older than mud, but sharper than flint.
These shops will appear in rarely travelled side streets, and will look as though they have been there forever. The next time the customers return (often to return the purchased items) the shop will be gone, the space it occupied looking as though it has been that way forever as well.
Quantum is suspected to play a large part in this, though some people believe it's just a clever way to avoid various Sunday Closing laws, while others believe these shops form an
Emporium, a galactic empire controlled by shopkeepers.
Tempting thought these explanations are, and while noting that they seem to fit the observed facts, they are almost entirely wrong.
This description is borrowed from
Wikilspace.
I loved the idea of a shop that was only there sometimes and then disappeared! To actually find one of these would be very exciting, even if I did end up buying a whole load of tat!
7. The Room of Requirement. First seen in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
When I read the description of the Room of Requirement, I knew this was a place I wanted to visit. The place of lost things which was piled up. I'd love to go there and have a good rummage through! When I read the last Harry Potter book, as soon as the lost Diadem of Ravenclaw was mentioned, I said it had to be the tiara on the bust where Harry hid the Half Blood Prince's spell book! I always wanted to read the Half Blood Prince's spell book too!
I'd love to visit the room where the DA met as well and have a lovely long read without being disturbed! It would have all the tea I could possibly want to drink and copious bags of Wotsits!
8. Northanger Abbey.
I'd love to go and stay in Northanger Abbey with Catherine Morland and Mr Tillney. To see if it was really very ordinary or very scary. I'd also love to visit the Lower Rooms in Bath with them to experience the assembly!
9. The Land of Oz.
I did wonder if I could narrow down one place in Oz I'd like to visit but there are so many interesting places within Oz, that I couldn't choose. I've read all of the 15 original Oz books by L. Frank Baum and the places within were so exciting! Even though, strictly speaking, it was in the Land of Ev, rather than the land of Oz, I'd love to visit the Nome King's land where the ground was made up of precious gems (Tiktok of Oz) and visit the cavern filled with all his treasures (Ozma of Oz), I'd pick a lunchpail and a dinner pail from the trees in Ozma of Oz. The Emerald City would be amazing to see as would Glinda's palace and I always fancied visiting Miss Cuttenclip's (The Emerald City of Oz) where all the people are made out of paper and Bunnybury (ibid) where all the inhabitants are rabbits!
10. Smuggler's Top.
Enid Blyton has a lot to answer for. Smuggler's Top is a mysterious old house surrounded by marshes absolutely riddled with secret passages galore. Top of my bucket list is to find a real secret passage, and this place was where I got that zeal from!!! I would love to explore all the passages with my torch, the Famous Five and a nice big picnic!
11. Narnia when it was formed.
Of course I'd love to climb through the wardrobe and find that amazing land, but I'd also like to visit the wood between the worlds and see Narnia as Aslan formed it in the very beginning by singing that song. What would that song sound like, a song which brings stars, entities, plants and animals into existence???? It would be the most beautiful, glorious song ever heard. It would be glorious to see that and have that privilege to witness that!
It's very hard to narrow it down, but these immediately came to mind.
I would LOVE to read your post if you felt compelled to write one too so if you do, please leave me a link and I will be there like a shot!!!
xx
