A Walk on the Wild Side: St Thomas’ Parish, Oxford
There’s nothing like exploring on foot to get a real feel for a place, so I was very pleased to join a guided walking tour earlier this week. The tour in question was around a part of Oxford that was completely unknown to me — and I have worked in that city for almost twenty […]
A Sunday Walk (and Jane Austen Came Too)
Today felt like spring had really arrived. After nearly two weeks of being stuck indoors because of illness, I desperately needed to get out and about, and the sunshine and clear skies could no longer be ignored. So, husband and I decided to head off over the fields towards a small hamlet a couple of […]
Church, Chapel, and Cake: A Visit to Bath Part 3
It’s been a while since I posted, so apologies if you’ve been waiting for the final instalment of my trip to Bath. On the recommendation of a friend, the final full day of my trip included a visit to St Swithin’s Church in Walcot. I’d not been there before, but because it has Austen connections, […]
A Visit to Bath, Part 2
Welcome to the second instalment of my visit to Bath. We decided that our second day here should include a visit to Bath Abbey. The weather was cold but dry, and not too overcast. We were hoping to take a tour to the top of the Abbey tower, and though it wasn’t the best day […]
An Officer’s Vow
Just a brief post to let you know that my second novel, An Officer’s Vow, has been released and is now available on Amazon A standalone story set in 1810, it tells what happens to Major Nate Crawford, a character first introduced in A Gentleman’s Promise, on his journey back home to the family estate […]
A Visit to Bath, Part 1
To celebrate a significant birthday and the upcoming publication of my second novel, An Officer’s Vow, I was treated by my husband to a stay in one of my favourite places, Bath. We both love history and architecture… well, ok, perhaps I’m more into history and he’s more into architecture, but Bath combines both of […]
A Winter Walk at Blenheim
Last week, bored after being restricted to home because of the bad weather (we had a fair bit of snow where I live), I decided a visit to Blenheim Palace was called for. Not for a tour of the house, I’ve done that before, but for a walk in the gardens and around the lake. […]
Dying and Dyeing in 1810
Trapped indoors by the extremely cold and icy weather we are enjoying at the moment, I thought I’d spend some time looking at the Gentleman’s Magazine for January 1810. I love reading about events that occurred so long ago and speculating on the stories of the people involved. A couple of sad items caught my […]
Don’t be a Nuisance! 11 Useful Facts for a Regency Time-Traveller.
To help with research, it’s always useful for a writer of historical novels to have a few old books to hand. Well, that’s my excuse for haunting antiquarian and second-hand book sites and shops, and spending hard-earned cash on decrepit and worn volumes (the only sort I can afford). To be honest, I started buying […]