England’s Coast in Literature and Film

England’s Coast in Literature and Film

England’s coastal regions are impressively diverse and varied. Wild, imposing cliffs, lonely moors, historic seaside resorts and idyllic harbour towns enchant like postcard panoramas. Therefore, counties like Yorkshire, Dorset or Suffolk often serve as inspiration for settings in novels and film locations.

Only in December 2020, a two-part movie based on the bestseller “The Search” by Charlotte Link was filmed at the North Yorkshire coast. The locations of the highly suspenseful thriller starring Henny Reents and Lucas Gregorowicz were the North York Moors National Park with its magical moorlands and vast heathland, the lively seaside resort of Scarborough, once a Victorian spa, and the coast around the idyllic Ravenscar. The series is expected to be broadcast on ARD in the second half of 2021.

Since the end of January 2021, the film “The Dig”, which was filmed at the original location of Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge in Suffolk on the coast of the county of East Anglia, is available on Netflix. In 1939, archaeologist Basil Brown, played by Ralph Fiennes, discovered an Anglo-Saxon ship burial here, the final resting place of King Raedwald dating from the 7th century AD with valuable funerary goods. The Suffolk countryside is characterised by idyllic seaside resorts, beautiful sandy beaches and picturesque villages with Tudor-style houses.

The film “Ammonite”, which celebrated its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2020, is expected to be coming to German cinemas by mid/end February 2021. The romantic drama is set in the Victorian 19th century and tells the story of the British fossil collector Mary Anning (Kate Winslet), who is considered one of the first female palaeontologists. The film was largely shot in Mary Anning’s home town of Lyme Regis on the coast of the county of Dorset on the south-west coast of England. The atmospheric shots of the rugged cliff landscapes on the beach of the Jurassic Coast look like something out of a William Turner painting.

The novel “Career of Evil” by Robert Galbraith, pseudonym of JK Rowling, takes its readers on the path of the investigators Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott to the north-west coast of the British Isle to the harbour town of Barrow-in-Furness and through the picturesque moorlands of the county of Cumbria. Many know and love the Lake District, but the quiet beauty of Cumbria’s desolate coastal landscape, with its green grassy cliffs rising from misty marshland, sandy coves and small villages, is definitely worthy of note.

The “England’s Coast” project is an initiative of the National Coastal Tourism Academy (NCTA) to promote eight of England’s most beautiful stretches of coastline, with their rich culture and fabulous nature, in Germany. The regions promoted include the coasts of Northumberland, Yorkshire and Durham in the north-east as well as the east, south, south-east, south-west and north-west coasts of England.

Further information about the England’s Coast project can be found at www.englandscoast.com/de

England’s Coast advises visitors to adhere to local travel restrictions and regional tiers, which can be found on the Gov UK website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/full-list-of-local-restriction-tiers-by-area

Notes to editors:

The England’s Coast project is delivered by the National Coastal Tourism Academy whose partners include: The Yorkshire Coast, Visit Scarborough, The North York Moors National Park Authority, Visit East Yorkshire, Visit Lancashire,  Visit Cumbria, This is Durham, Visit Northumberland, Visit Essex, Visit Thanet, Dover/White Cliffs Country, Creative Coast Kent, Visit Brighton, Experience West Sussex, Visit Portsmouth, Discover Gosport, Visit Isle of Wight, Coast with the Most -Bournemouth/Christchurch/Poole, Somerset and Exmoor National Park – The Hinkley Tourism Action Partnership, P&O Ferries, Hornblower City Cruises Poole.

Image: Actress Henny Reents (role of Kate Linville) during the filming of the adaptation of the bestseller “The Search” by Charlotte Link.
© ARD Degeto/Neil Sherwood