In the weekend I spent a sleep deprived 24 hours in Manchester to see the stage production of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes.
It rained incessantly but I was able to make a trip out to Alderley Edge, the locality that provided the setting for Alan Garner's classics The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath.
All the locations I remember from the book were there in vivid surreality, the Wizard's Well with its ancient inscription and the Circle of Stones, a site beloved by Pagans who mistake it for a Druidic momument. (it's not)
The Devil's Grave was there as I imagined it and I wandered around in an state of ethereal wonder, wishing only that I were able to venture into some of the caves that litter the area and that were such a feature in Garner's tales.
I befriended a woman out walking her dog, and found in her a guide for the area and a ride back into town, including a pitstop at the house where Alan Garner lived while he wrote the books I love. It was probably the highlight of my day.
All the locations I remember from the book were there in vivid surreality, the Wizard's Well with its ancient inscription and the Circle of Stones, a site beloved by Pagans who mistake it for a Druidic momument. (it's not)
The Devil's Grave was there as I imagined it and I wandered around in an state of ethereal wonder, wishing only that I were able to venture into some of the caves that litter the area and that were such a feature in Garner's tales.
I befriended a woman out walking her dog, and found in her a guide for the area and a ride back into town, including a pitstop at the house where Alan Garner lived while he wrote the books I love. It was probably the highlight of my day.
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