Peel Island, Cumbria with of woodland, in 1932. Peel Island is considered to be one of the origins of the fictional Wild Cat Island in the 1930 book "Swallows and Amazons" and its sequels, by Arthur Ransome. Taqui Altounyan, sister of Roger Altounyan and inspiration for one of the characters in "Swallows and Amazons", described Peel Island in her semi-biographical novel "In Aleppo Once" as "like a green tuffet, sitting in the water, the trees covering the rocks". The island also features in W. G. Collingwood's novel "Thorstein of the Mere, A Saga of the Northmen in Lakeland". Ransome, at the age of
Swallows and Amazons (2016 film) a series of adventures quite different from their plans. Principal photography on the film began on 21 June 2015 in the Lake District, North West England. The film was also shot in Yorkshire, at Plumpton Rocks parkland near Harrogate (the location for 'Wild Cat Island') Arts correspondent for "The Daily Telegraph", Hannah Furness, observed, "The original "Swallows and Amazons" saw its intrepid children battling the perilous waters of the Lake District summer, a grumpy uncle and, occasionally, one another. The 2016 update, a BBC film of the same name, will add one further foe to that list: gun-toting Russian spies