A cracking day out...

This blog is mostly pictures, because that's all you really need. On Saturday, our local chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association went to Ashdown House.

It was a stunningly beautiful day. Clear blue sky, warm with a light breeze. We had one of our own, historical author, Nicola Cornick, as a guide and she gave us all the gossip, all the romance, all the history. (This house was built for love of a queen - sadly she died before it was completed.)

We climbed the fabulous staircase to the roof as had the ladies in the 17th century (they went to watch Rupert of the Rhine and Charles II hunting across the amazing landscape - we enjoyed the view, and a glimpse of a deer).

Then Nicola took us home to tea in on of those English villages you see on chocolate box lids. Thatched cottages, roses around the door. We sat in the garden, ate fabulous cake (made by her lovely husband) and were made a fuss of by Rochester, the puppy she is walking for the Guide Dog Association.

A cracking day out.