I've been inspired to start this by Caroline’s question on good writing spots in London. I thought we could compile a list of inspiring places to write outside of the capital. So here are my ideas, not in any order of preference.

Let’s face it – any library.
The coffee shop, Borders, Briggate, Leeds.
The Piece Hall, Halifax.
Sitting on the sundial at the eighth century chapel on Heysham Head.
Sitting in the sun on Lancaster Quay.

What I’d really like is a narrowboat on a rural stretch of canal somewhere – with broadband, obviously, and as many reference books as it can carry without sinking. And a freezer for the ice cream. Not too much to ask, is it?

Dee

Hoping to think of more later.

Great thread, Dee.
Here are mine:
any seaside, pretty much, although British seaside in winter spots would be; Weston Super Mare, in the cafe on the prom, watching the waves lash against the rocks; anywhere in Norfolk/Suffolk but particularly Holkham beach- haven't tried it for writing but when I was there it struck me as a fabulous place to write- miles and miles of nothing but stunning sands
Ilkley Moor
Montana, for all that big sky
West Yorkshire Playhouse cafe
I never find libraries great places to work, myself, but I'd make an exception for the British Library, except that's London...
Brighton... not sure where exactly, but I always find it an inspiring place
trains, long journeys like London- Manchester
Salford Quays
an amazing place in Scotland near Glasgow, a pod with grass on the roof and sheep nibbling above your head, right on the edge of a loch
Any of those would do me.
oh, and my own studio which is outside London and lovely.

Brilliant thread - mine is Southwold - but please don't all rush there at once!

I'm worried now, because I don't really write anywhere except at my desk - the writing one. The time I had such a bad back that I had to write upstairs lying on my bed was disconcerting enough! There are many places I absolutely adore, but I think I associate them more with thinking and feeling than getting the words down on paper.

Emma

For me any place where I am captive for a couple of hours, lately this being a cafe called Zafaros in Truro, just around the corner from the cathedral, where I write for 2 1/2 hours every Tuesday after work and before my evening writing workshop (at the cathedral). I have produced a nearly finished poem almost every time I have written there. Great for low-output me.

I'm boring too, Emma. My only place is on my dining room table. Occasionally on the settee with laptop on my knee.

I think one of the things that ties me to my desk is that I hate working on laptops and, having a bad back, have to be fussy about chairs and tables and heights for any longish writing session. I also start feeling insecure if I haven't got all my reference books within reach! If I could arrange all these things on some beautiful Cotswold hillside, or in the tower of a Northumbrian castle, I'd be happy indeed.

Emma

If I could arrange all these things on some beautiful Cotswold hillside

Now I feel spoiled. Because I'm sitting at my desk, with my reference books on shelves beside me, looking out at the village green flanked by a terrace of Georgian houses on a Cotswold hillside.

Perversely, I'd prefer to be on the North Wales coast, or in the Welsh hills. I have a novel on ice which will be completed one Autumn/Winter when I'm hiring the coach-house at Gwydir Castle..!

Tiger

I do most of my writing at my desk too, but most of my inspiration and ideas come from being out and about among people in the city.

I have a favourite cafe with large windows to watch people and a mixed clientelle to listen to. The place is run by some friendly French guys who don't seem to mind me sitting staring out of the window for hours.

Alternatively, in the summer, I go for hikes in the country which usually includes a packed lunch taken in some village where the only thing that's moving is the heat and it still feels like 1920.

Tiger, Gwydir is the most extraordinary place in the world! Have you read the book by the woman who restored it?

Actually, I love the country, but I don't think it's really me, long term. It's cities that get my imagination going. My perfect place to think is the café at the top of the National Portrait Gallery. Or even the hill behind my house, from which, with a bit of manoeuvring, you can see from Fulham, via Battersea Powerstation, round to the London Eye, Big Ben and Tower Bridge, finishing with the Dome at Greenwich and Canary Wharf.

Emma

I'm with Emma and the other deskites, I'm afraid. I think it's a safety and discipline thing. I used to enjoy editing and proofing in a cafe, with a coffe and a cigarette to hand, but there's nowhere local that caters for smoking Nik anymore so it has to be my desk. Not that I'm complaining. I think I get more done that way, and there's no danger of me leaving what I've been working on behind! And no distraction of people to watch or newspapers to read.

Nik.

Yes, for full-on writing, as opposed to thinking, I need as few distractions as possible. The view from my study is very dull, and it's just as well. I'm trying to get round to moving my study to the front of the house, which is a hive of activity by comparison - a car goes past at least every ten minutes. I also need a permanent supply of tea made how I like it, which is my version of the working cigarette.

Emma

Emma, yes I really liked Castles in the Air, with the exception of the bit about the ghostly possession which just made me snigger, I'm afraid. I knew Gwydir when I was a child, at the time it was a hippy squat, and used to visit regularly, so saw it being slowly neglected and then slowly restored. They hire out the coach-house and the gate-house - both really splendid conversions with modern facilities - and it would be a perfect hiding place for a writer.

Tiger

Definitely a boat anchored or moored in a tidal estuary so there's endless gentle movement and change of direction as the boat swings.

Pete

I was thinking more along the lines of inspirational places; somewhere to make notes, jot down ideas, odds and ends of plots and dialogues, rather than serious writing, but some of these places sound wonderful. I particularly like the idea of a Northumbrian castle, or a view of the sea – or, if it’s Bamburgh, both!

There again, we’ve talked a lot about what I call spew-writing. Getting it out as fast as possible and not worrying about errors. Many writers recommend doing this by longhand, in which case, all you need is a notepad and pen.

Dee