Devon has provided inspiration for a host of literary greats down the centuries. Many of them lived in Devon; some stayed here for a time; and others holidayed in the county.

Writers such as Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Arthur Conan Doyle, RD Blackmore, Henry Williamson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge - to name only a few - all have links in one way or another with Devon.

There are very few parts of the county which are not linked with England's literary past, so let's explore Devon's literary map.

NORTH DEVON:

Henry Williamson (Tarka the Otter)

Tarka the Otter was published by Henry Williamson in 1927. It was only natural that Williamson should base the story around the Taw-Torridge rivers, as he spent most of his life in North Devon.

The Tarka Trail, as it is now called, is a honeypot for visitors every year. The countryside described by Williamson has remained virtually untouched. For those wishing to see the place where the Tarka's journey started and ended, it is Canal Bridge on the River Torridge near Weare Giffard.

Ted Hughes

The Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was born in Yorkshire, but he moved to North Devon in 1961. He loved this part of the county and much of his later writing reflected this.

Following his death in 1998, a memorial stone - made of Dartmoor granite - was engraved with his name and placed at his favourite spot on northern Dartmoor.

The best of the rest

Dartmoor born Charles Kingsley wrote Westward Ho! - and a resort on the North Devon coast was later named after the novel.

And the Lynmouth area was visited by many of the romantic poets such as Shelley, Wordsworth and Coleridge. Ilfracombe, meanwhile, was a favourite holiday destination for George Eliot and Beatrix Potter.