The Watcher and The Friend is set in England today and Yngerlande in 1795. Yngerlande is a strange parallel world, that is familiar, but subtly different to our own world. Thomas Trelawney and his cousin Dan travel back and forth between the two worlds to try and save Yngerlande from a brutal uprising. In many ways they are fighting to preserve Yngerlande as a better, more diverse and enlightened world than our own. The story was inspired by real locations and legends from York, Runswick Bay and The North Yorkshire Moors. Many of the locations featured can be visited today. Have a look at some of the contemporary photographs below.
North Yorkshire, Yngerlande
Rumswick Bay, Yngerlande
Georgian York
no. 1 The Assembly rooms today in York 
no. 1 The Grand Ballroom inside The Assembly Rooms 
no. 3 Fairfax House, York. A grand Regency house 
no. 6 HobHole, Runswick Bay. 
no. 2 King’s Manor, York 
no. 4 Mulgrave Castle (in the book, this is Mulgrave Hall) 
no. 7 A snowy North Yorkshire Moors 
no. 8 Runswick Bay 
no.5 The Crab and Lobster is actually based on The Ship Inn at Satburn by the Sea