After I posted about the one that may or may not be at Levens Hall the other day, I remembered that there was a good segment on the subject in one of the George Clarke’s National Trust Unlocked programmes on Channel 4 last Sunday. This particular piece came from Baddesley Clinton, which we were lucky … More Speaking of priest holes…
This is something I forgot to mention when I blogged about Levens Hall yesterday. I visited the house several times with my parents as a child or young teenager, and on the last of those visits I’m convinced I remember a priest hole. It was entered through a trap-door in one of the main bedrooms, … More The strange case of the missing priest hole
The history is easy to see at Levens Hall. For starters, it’s a medieval pele tower encased in a (slightly) later Elizabethan house – the largest in Cumbria. The original building dates from around the middle of the 13th century; the ‘new’ house from about 1580. It’s stunning to look at, with stone mullioned windows, … More History, mist and mystery at Levens Hall
I’ll start by saying that I really enjoyed the recent BBC dramatisation of Eleanor Catton’s novel The Luminaries. It took me far too long to watch, mostly because of lockdown and not having the house to myself, but when I did get the opportunity I enjoyed this strange, compelling mix of mysticism and skull-duggery set … More Shedding light on The Luminaries
I’m not too sure how genuine the ‘Roman’ bath was, to be honest, but this was a terrific day out at Lowther Castle near Penrith. It’s been on the ‘to visit’ list for several years but we’ve never quite got there before. However, a couple of weeks ago we spotted the grounds were open again … More Ruins, roses and a Roman bath
My paranormal romp Got Ghosts? is featured today at the lovely Mary Anne Yarde’s blog. The post includes a nice juicy excerpt from the book, so if you’re tempted but not sure whether to take the plunge without an initial trial, now’s your chance. Pop along to the Coffee Pot Book Club and make the … More A ghostly little feature
Today sees the release of my short story Heat Haze. Those of you with really long memories might remember that it first appeared in Velvet Mafia, which was a wonderful LGBT magazine publishing a wide range of stories back in the 1990s and early 2000s. After it closed its doors, Heat Haze had nowhere else … More Heat Haze – new free story
What do you do on a damp drizzly morning in the Lake District? Answer, in our case, go and explore a bit more of Kendal’s rich tapestry of history. This time, we chose the area known as Greenside, which rises steeply up the hillside on the west of the town. The main gateway to it … More Beasts, cemeteries and sepulchres, oh my
I have just discovered that there really were African Roman soldiers in York, and this makes me very happy. Why? Well, one of the main characters in Echoes of Blood is exactly that – a citizen of North Africa who has joined the Roman Army and been sent, as part of the Ninth Legion, to … More Vincentius Valerius – less fictional than I thought!
The Lake District had over 8 inches of rain on Sunday. Yes, you really did read that right – 8 whole inches of water fell in a relentless torrent for just over 24 hours. Luckily, this time, there was no flooding, but it still left everywhere rather sodden. By Monday it had sort of stopped, … More A really wet day out
