What makes the tiny island of Lindisfarne a “thin place” where the spiritual and physical worlds seem to meet? How does living in such a close-knit community shape one’s identity? And what secrets lie beyond the tourist paths on this ancient sacred site? LK Wilde and J.F. Penn talk about their love of Lindisfarne.
Laura is the award-winning author of historical fiction, romance, and uplifting feel-good fiction. Her novel Silver Darlings is set on the Northumberland Island of Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island.
Where is Lindisfarne and what makes it unique as a tidal island?
Holy Island, the rich Celtic Christian heritage and Viking history
What it’s like to grow up on a remote island with only 150 residents
Lindisfarne as a “thin place” where spiritual experiences feel more accessible
Natural wonders: sand dunes, seal colonies, and bird sanctuaries
Essential safety tips for crossing the tidal causeway
The fishing heritage that inspired Laura’s novel Silver Darlings
Local delicacies: fish soup, fresh crab sandwiches and the potent monastic mead
You can find Laura at
LKWilde.com and
her books on Amazon and other stores.
Transcript
Jo: Hello Travelers. I’m Jo Frances Penn, and today I’m here with LK Wilde. Welcome, Laura.
Laura: Hello. Thank you for having me.
Jo: It’s great to have you on. So little introduction. Laura is the award-winning author of historical fiction, romance, and uplifting feel-good fiction. Her novel Silver Darlings is set on the Northumberland Island of Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, here in England, which we are talking about today. So just to get us started.
Where is Lindisfarne? How big is it? What makes it so special?
Laura: It’s quite a famous place considering how small it is. It is off the coast of Northumberland, which for those who don’t know, it’s probably about halfway between Newcastle and Edinburgh.
It’s really close to the Scottish border, and it’s a tidal island, so you can get across twice a day, there’s a road to drive across and it’s about eight or nine miles round, and there’s a population about 150. So you’ve got a very small village in one tiny corner of the island and then a big nature reserve. But it’s got quite an important historical significance considering when you look on a map, it’s a tiny little pinprick.
Jo: It is really small. And so you said the eight or nine miles, just so people know, you can easily walk around that?
Laura: You could. There’s not a path all the way around, so you’d have to do a bit of scrambling over rocks and things. But yes, you could definitely walk around it.
Jo: As you said, really near the borders. And when I was there, only briefly, which we’ll come back to, but on that one side you are looking towards the coast of England. On the other side, what do you see looking off the other side?
Laura: You can see the Farne Islands, which are a cluster of islands a bit further down the coast. And then a lot of sea.
Jo: Exactly. And that’s the way the Vikings came, right?
Laura: Yes. And I think you can still almost get that a bit in the accent. It’s quite unique. The accent on the island is a real mixture of Newcastle and Northeast and Scottish and they have their own words and things. I wonder how much influence from Scandinavian is in there too.
Jo: That’s interesting. Do you speak that accent?
Laura: No. I had to get a narrator to record the audiobook for me because I’ve tried, and when I went to school there, everyone used to say “Aye” instead of “Yes” when you did the register. And for me, with my very obvious Southern accent, it was so embarrassing.
