SWINDON LITERARY FESTIVAL REVIEW: THE literary and artistic associations of properties and places was the subject of National Trust director Fiona Reynolds' talk at the University of Bath in Swindon.

She also explained why the Trust attaches so much significance to houses where great literary figures have lived.

Her talk was a timely one given that just last year the Trust announced plans to relocate its headquarters to Swindon.

The preservation charity's association with literary houses began not long after it was founded at the turn of the century with the acquisition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's cottage in Somerset.

Many more have followed since including Wordsworth's birthplace in the Lake District and Uppark where HG Wells once lived.

Some properties, such as Bateman's in East Sussex, are impressive enough to merit preservation in their own right. But others, such as the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney and George Bernard Shaw's writing hut, are much less prepossessing.

They have been preserved purely for their associations.

Explaining why Ms Reynolds said: "We are about much more than ownership.

"Without imagination and reaching out to people these are just places.

"It's all about their relationship with people."

Ms Reynolds was a confident performer and it is easy to see why she has risen so far in her field.

By Dominic Ponsford