Posted by Peter Ceresole on September 14, 2013 at 09:16:29 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Belle Grange as Beckfoot - putting the pieces together! posted by Duncan on September 14, 2013 at 02:17:58:
Duncan: well done for finding the painting. And it does fit a part of the 'Beckfoot' legend pretty well- the headland and the flag especially. Looking at the Google sat image, though, the headland doesn't seem to be as prominent as the artist made it, and unless I've missed something very obvious, there's no river, which seems fairly crucial. Looking at the estate agents' particulars for a part of Belle Grange, it does seem to be a kind of 'Beckfoot', a reasonable fit for size, except that the particulars are for a part only, and it appears to have a dominant view of the lake, again unlike Beckfoot in the books. But as you say, AR would have seen the painting and it may be that this sparked his imagination. Nothing needs to be 'real'. It seems to me that the painting may be all it takes to be the inspiration for several major features of 'Beckfoot'. And the position works in the stories, being up-lake, gateway to the Far North.
I think you may have cracked it; it's not Belle Grange itself, it's the painting. Plus, of course, other households, like Lanehead.