11 College Road/10 Tollgate Road

Yesterday I took to Google Maps and went for a walk along College Road, or Tollgate Road as it is called in the Susan books. This is a photograph of the house at Number 11, where Jane Shaw lived during her time in London. She did not occupy the whole house, only the flat on the top floor. However, in the Susan books, the Carmichaels had the whole house at 10 Tollgate Road to themselves. The house is a character itself in the books. One woman even told me that it was her ideal house while she was growing up. I recently commented about how Jane Shaw made her settings more compact to create a cosy feeling. This is especially true of Dulwich/Wichwood. College Road is very long and the walks that the characters go for would have taken a good deal longer in real than they do in the stories and would justify Midge's reluctance to be dragged around the village by Susan.