The literary locations that inspired ten of our favourite festive stories and wintry tales, plus where to stay to enjoy them for yourself

Smothering, transformative and beautiful, fog’s close-set shroud has inspired titans of literature, cinema and art–and forces the rest of us to look at the world a little closer, writes John Lewis-Stempel

The quiet beauty of winter sets the stage in this garden, where topiary shapes and the borrowed landscape are the main performers

Winter has a way of slowing life down in the gentlest of ways, setting in like a quiet spell or a morning’s frost. Days feel softer and nights longer, the darkness illuminated by the warm glow of ligh

Amy McCormack, senior gardener at the National Trust’s Anglesey Abbey, on planting for winter colour and scent and protecting perennials from frost

Moments enjoyed, lessons learned, handy advice, weird stuff that happened: welcome to the little bits and pieces that don’t make big stories, but do make all the difference.