Kenneth Grahame

There’s nothing as nice, when the wind is in the willows, as messing about in boats. This is especially true when drifting along the Thames and enjoying the scenery that inspired Kenneth Grahame's children's classic story.

The Wind in the Willows, so magically told by Kenneth Grahame, comes to life in an exhibition in the River and Rowing Museum at Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire.  Pick up an audio guide and step into the exhibition and into chapter one. 

Watch Kenneth Grahame's much loved Wind in the Willows characters come to life as you turn corners rather than pages; Ratty and Mole and Badger and Mr Toad of Toad Hall. The scenes are delightfully true to the Wind in the Willows illustrations by E. H. Shepard.

And outside the River Thames awaits you with walks to follow and sights to see. Mapledurham House near Reading in Berkshire is reputed to have been the inspiration for E. H. Shepard's illustrations of Kenneth Grahame's Toad Hall.

Mapledurham House is today open to the public and located within the grounds is the Mapledurham Watermill. Be sure to enjoy the riverside – but don’t expect to see Kenneth Grahame's preposterous Mr Toad about.

Further down the river is the village of Cookham in Berkshire where Kenneth Grahame lived. Nearby is Bisham Wood, said to be the inspiration for the Wild Woods in the Wind in the Willows – and beyond that, as Grahame warns us, is the Wide World.