A map of Elmsham built as a miniature model: the Royal Oswald Inn, The Field Allotments, Madisle Green and the great oak, Kettlewell Forest, Bramble Wood, and the road down to Fieldhaven on the coast

Elmsham

Everything in the stories happens somewhere on here.

The places

Places in Elmsham

From the cellar of the Royal Oswald to the lighthouse at Fieldhaven.

The Royal Oswald Inn at dusk, its windows lit and wisteria over the door.

The Royal Oswald Inn

Eric's home. An old inn with wisteria round the door and a dog on the hanging sign. Eric lives in the cellar, among the barrels and dusty bottles, where the lantern light is warm and the news drifts down from the bar above. Adventures tend to start here, and come home here.

Madisle Green during the fête, with bunting, striped stalls and the great oak.

Madisle Green and the Great Oak

The village green, where everyone gathers, with the great oak at its heart. Summer fêtes happen here, with bunting and stalls, and a crow or two keeping watch from the branches.

The Watch at Madisle Fête
St Erin's churchyard, the square tower, and a water butt with a football behind it.

St Erin's Church

Elmsham's church, with its square tower and its quiet churchyard. There is a big water butt round the side, and a gap behind it where a ball can go missing.

The Ball Behind the Butt
The seafront at Fieldhaven, with the jetty and the lighthouse on the headland.

Fieldhaven

The seaside, two miles off by the old country bus. A bright, windy beach, a wooden jetty, a lighthouse on the headland, and a sea that looks enormous when you are the size of a snail.

Shadow in the Sea
The Field Allotments at golden hour, with Plot 27's carved sign among the rows.

The Field Allotments and Plot 27

Wally's world, on the windy edge of the village: hawthorn hedges, a rusted water pump, compost bins and a peeling green shed. Plot 27 is Wally's own, and Nanny Joan's, with its wooden number sign and its rows of vegetables. The farmland runs away to the west.

Misplaced Potatoes
Kettlewell Forest at moonrise, a little shelter of leaves glowing in the root of an oak.

Kettlewell Forest

Old woodland growing through an older orchard: great oak roots, bracken, moss, and apples, plums and damsons still to be found. Deep in, where two roots curve together, is Eric and Wally's shelter of beech leaves, with a door of folded bark.

The Thing in the Trees

Around the village

  • Spires' Butchers, the Village Stores and Post Office, and the Village Café, on the map of Elmsham.

    The Village Shops

    Spires' Butchers, the Village Stores and Post Office all under one roof, and the Village Café for breakfast, tea and cake. Where Elmsham does its shopping and catches up on its news.

  • Jack's School and the sports field, on the map of Elmsham.

    Jack's School and the Sports Field

    The village school, where Jack goes, and the sports field beside it, with its goalposts and its long grass.

  • Bramble Wood and its footpaths, on the map of Elmsham.

    Bramble Wood

    A small wood of brambles and hedgerow between Kettlewell Forest and Madisle Green, crossed by footpaths and hedgerow lanes. No story has been set here yet.

  • The farmland west of the allotments, with hay bales, on the map of Elmsham.

    The Farmland

    Open working fields to the west of the allotments, with hay bales and stone walls, running on as far as you can see.