Interesting Places in Great Britain

Interesting Places in Great Britain: Osborne House

In 2013, my husband and I visited Osborne House, in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight, a short Red Funnel ferry ride from Portsmouth. I specifically wanted to visit Osborne House to see if I had gotten details correct for it in LADY OF ASHES. I seem to always be visiting places after I’ve […]

Interesting Places in Great Britain: Longleat

Longleat is one of the most fascinating places in Wiltshire, England. Actually, you can’t call it a “place,” as it is really three different things:

The House

First and foremost, it is the home of Alexander Thynn, the 7th Marquess of Bath. A very eccentric figure who resembles Richard Branson, the Virgin company tycoon, Thynn […]

Interesting Places in Great Britain: St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle

For those who have read both LADY OF ASHES and STOLEN REMAINS, you know that Windsor Castle is a large royal residence where Prince Albert died on December 14, 1861. Today it is the preferred weekend home of Elizabeth II, but Queen Victoria thought it gloomy, much preferring her seaside retreat of Osborne House on […]

Interesting Places in Great Britain: Old Operating Theatre

My husband and I have visited this location twice. It is officially called the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret, and you must travel a set of tiny, winding stairs inside St. Thomas Church in London to get to it. It was once part of old St. Thomas Hospital, and is the oldest operating […]

Interesting Places in Great Britain: The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace

Mews: a group of stables, typically with rooms above, built around a yard or along an alley.

Originally referring to the royal stables on the site of the hawk mews at Charing Cross, London, the Royal Mews has been located at Buckingham Palace since 1820.

I must confess that having visited England many times, it […]

British Cemetery Monuments

Doing research for the LADY OF ASHES series can often involve visiting some rather, er, unusual places. Several years ago, my husband and I went to London, with one of my primary goals being to visit Kensal Green Cemetery. Fortunately, the hubby is very good-natured about such things.

As London churchyards began filling—and overflowing—in the […]

Interesting Places in Great Britain: Weald & Downland Open Air Museum

The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum is a fun way to spend the day in the town of Chichester, West Sussex.

I would describe it as essentially a large collection of buildings that have been transplanted from their original sites and put here to show visitors what life was like in England over the […]

Interesting Places in Great Britain: Appuldurcombe

I think this post needs to begin with a pronunciation of the word.

Ap-pull-der’-cum (The apples that grow in the valley)

Located on the Isle of Wight, it was the home of Sir Richard Worsley, the 7th Baronet Worsley. Sir Richard had a most unfortunate marriage, which resulted in a scandalous divorce case […]