Writers' rooms

There's a fascinating audio slideshow on the BBC website with photographs of the rooms well-known (or at least, established - I'd never heard of some of 'em) writers use to write in, plus a commentary by the photographer.

Some of the rooms are really surprising - the blood red one, the one that's in a basement with piles of stuff everywhere, the one that looks like a 16 year old's study. More are what you'd expect - filled with books and a lifetime of thoughts, pictures and memories. Those were the ones that appealed to me most of all - in fact, some of them made me chartreuse with envy. I'm lucky to have my own space to write in, but it's in the attic and the roof comes half way down the walls, which means no floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Having adored books since the age of five, I would love to have a room lined with them, but it's just not possible.

What would your favourite work-space involve? Lots of light and space? Something cosy and familiar? A wonderful muddle? A lap-top on your knees in front of the telly?

Interestingly, the photographer commented that he was originally going to do a series on writers' desks. But the advent of the lap-top means far more people have no fixed desk, but cart the lap-top around with them to work whenever and wherever they get the urge. So he had to widen his scope to the room they usually worked in instead. A sign of the times.

Incidentally, if you want to run the slideshow for yourselves, click on the tiny right-arrow under the main picture. They don't exactly make it clear!