New teaching job - in a castle!

Exciting news...I've just heard that I'm going to be teaching an undergraduate children's literature course next semester in a castle in East Sussex. It's the International Study Centre for Queens University in Canada, and I went to visit on Monday. It's a spectacular setting - nestled in the hills near Battle in the south of England, in an amazing brick castle. Class sizes are small - I'll probably have 10-15 students, mostly third years. So I'm very excited! Were I back at university myself, this program would have been very attractive to me. And it's just a half hour commute (compared to the hour and half drive up to Roehampton in London).

So next semester will be a busy time. I'll also be teaching an undergraduate creative writing for children module at Roehampton University, trying to pull together and pull off the first Brighton Children's Book Festival on April 21st (Emily Gravett and William Nicholson have already agreed to participate), and organizing the fourth Children's Literature International Summer School which will happen at Roehampton University in July. It's going to be a busy time, but all good stuff!

Sorry to go on, but I had to crow a bit. I'm very excited about becoming part of such a great-seeming program. And, they have integrated field studies, so I need to think of some good field trips to go along with the class. I've got a few ideas already, including going to Great Maytham Hall (where Frances Hodgson Burnett lived and the inspiration for The Secret Garden), Bateman's (home to Rudyard Kipling), a hike through the Ashdown Forest to the Pooh-sticks bridge...and those are just the local places. If we read the Green Knowe books and want to go further afield, visiting The Manor at Hemingford Grey would be wonderful. Further than that, we could go up to Seven Stories in Newcastle where I think the Robert Westall exhibition will still be on-display. I think this is one of the most impressive children's literature sites in the UK. We could go to Beatrix Potter's home in the Lake District. Or there are the Alice in Wonderland and Philip Pullman connections in Oxford, though that feels less unusual.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? If you were a student (most of whom come from North America - Canada and the US - but from many other countries as well), what do you think you'd love to see in the UK that connects to children's books?