Through a glass darkly
Wray Castle is a huge lump of a castle which squats on a hilltop overlooking Windermere and manages to look both Arthurian and menacing. Although roughly Medieval in form it was built in the mid 19th century by wealthy Liverpool surgeon Dr James Lawson as a "retirement home" for him and his wife, although the... Continue Reading →
It's a strange thought. On the one hand, a quaint old northern market town huddled in the Kent valley. On the other, the Caped Crusader. And yet there are two separate links between the two. The first is a bit more distant. Every year for the last six years, Kendal has run the Comic Art... Continue Reading →
When I mentioned that I was writing a romantic vampire story to a group of writer friends recently, their collective snorts shook the windows. And it does sound like a bit of a weird mix. But in reality it's a popular genre in its own right, as this collection of favourite movies shows: Love at... Continue Reading →
After spending Friday morning waiting in for a delivery we both had cabin fever, so in the afternoon we jumped into the car for a brief foray to the Grizedale Forest. This area of woodland between Windermere and Coniston was originally the site of a large country house, which was requisitioned during the war and... Continue Reading →
I won a signed copy of this book in a Twitter contest run by The Writing Haunt, a wonderful writers retreat set in the Welsh countryside. Normally I never win things, but I'm delighted to have made an exception this time because it introduced me to a truly fantastic new author that I hadn't come... Continue Reading →
This book was a lucky charity shop find. I'd never read anything by Ann Patchett before, but I fell in love with the rabbit on the cover, and liked the sound of the blurb. I very nearly gave up on it after the first few pages (the idea of someone being allowed in to hold... Continue Reading →
A little while ago, writing and marketing guru Damien Seaman was kind enough to interview me for a guest post on his excellent blog. The questions he asked were surprisingly tough, but in a good way because they really made me think about being a writer - what motivates me, what excites me, how I... Continue Reading →
For such a northern county, Cumbria has some amazing gardens to visit. Perhaps because of all the rain they seem to be lush green oases in a sea of, well, lush green scenery! I love wandering round them whatever the weather; here's a handful of my favourites. Acorn Bank Technically just outside the Lake District... Continue Reading →
Abbot Hall art gallery in Kendal has a brand new exhibition featuring the works of J M Turner and John Ruskin, focussing on landscape paintings, the weather, and Ruskin's work in flagging up climate change. It sounds fascinating, and we had a spare morning on Friday so we hurried over to Kendal to see it.... Continue Reading →
