Swallows and Amazons characters in Arthur Ransome books According to Ransome, every place in his book can be found in the Lake District, but he took different locations and placed them in different ways: the lake is a fictionalised version of Windermere but the surrounding countryside more closely resembles that around Coniston. Wild Cat Island, the location of the island camp, has elements from Peel Island in Coniston and Blake Holme (or Blakeholme) in Windermere. Holly Howe, the farmhouse where the Swallows stay, is based on Bank Ground Farm, which exists to this day. It was featured in the 1974 film. Reviewing the
S. I. Martin S. I. Martin S. I. Martin (born 24 April 1961) is a British author, historian, journalist and teacher, specialising in Black British history and literature. He wrote "Britain's Slave Trade" for Channel 4 Books to accompany the channel's television documentary "Windrush", a novel, "Incomparable World", charting the progress of three black exiles living in 18th-century London, and has written works of fiction for children to widen the consciousness and knowledge of the slave trade. Aside from authorship, Martin actively promotes the knowledge of Black British history through his work with London schools, borough councils, English Heritage, the National Maritime Museum,