I often wonder if Lewis Carrol (AKA Charles Dodgson) had any idea how sustained and popular his book would become at the time of writing. I would guess not, but Alice in Wonderland must be a phenomenon in comparison to the average novel. This Christmas we visited Castle Howard, who had a plan to take us all down a rabbit hole.
The book is said to have been inspired by a ten year old girl called Alice Liddell. Carroll was a friend of the family and spent quite a lot of time with them. He had a stutter which didn’t affect him when he was around children.
You start the Howard’s Alice Adventure on the Grand Staircase, where on the China Landing you find a lush Victorian riverbank. From there you see where Alice would write her invitations for her spectacular Tea Party. As you stroll along you are treated to the childhood home of the author and his ten siblings. He would tell them fantastic stories and often write them down.
I would say it was a good little Christmas adventure, there had been a lot of thought and work put into all the exhibitions. When you think that a book written in 1865 is still bringing joy to people one hundred and fifty five years later it’s quite an achievement.
I wonder if anyone else has seen old books transformed into entertaining exhibitions? If you have please share in the comments. Or, even better write a blog post and we’ll have fun reading it. Happy trails x
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