Download George!
Now you can experience George Eliot Country on the web by downloading two fantastic new George Eliot Country podcasts. The podcasts - one a walking tour, the other a driving tour - shed light on the writer and the connections between her birthplace and fiction, and also reveal some of the lesser known facts about George Eliot’s controversial life. It is totally free to download the podcasts.
The tours explore George Eliot Country, and look in particular at the people and places which inspired the writer’s first ever work of fiction, ‘Scenes of Clerical Life’, which celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. Both podcasts are presented by broadcaster Jane Markham and feature local historian and Chair of the George Eliot Fellowship, John Burton, whose knowledge of the area and of its links to Eliot’s writing takes the listener to a whole new level of participation.
Both podcasts have been funded by Warwickshire County Council as part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Scenes Revisited Festival, which was organised last year in partnership with Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, the George Eliot Fellowship, and Nuneaton & Bedworth Heritage Forum.
The Drive
The first George Eliot Country podcast, ‘The Drive’, takes you on a circular tour of Nuneaton and Bedworth, starting off at Chilvers Coton Church and finishing in Griff where George Eliot spent her childhood and teenage years. The tour provides a rare opportunity to learn more about the fabulous Gothic manor house of Arbury Hall, and pays a visit to the atmospheric medieval church and castle of Astley - all places which inspired ‘Scenes of Clerical Life’.
The Walk
The second podcast, ‘The Walk’, focuses more on the town of Nuneaton and the locations and colourful characters which helped to create stories such as ‘Janet’s Repentance’, with its tale of a drunken and violent lawyer who sparks strong hostilities in the town.
