Showing posts with label Lacock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lacock. Show all posts

Friday, October 13, 2017

A tour of Combe St Philip

When Sophie, Jessica, Anne and I looked around for a setting for our fictional Cotswold village, I immediately  thought of Castle Combe - the prettiest village in England. Allegedly. (Other villages are also extremely pretty!)

I'd had lunch at the Manor House Hotel with the Bath and Wiltshire Romantic Novelists' Association chapter when Jill Mansell gave a talk there.

She'd used the hotel in her book, Daisy's Place and I knew it would work very well for Hasebury Hall, the childhood home of Hope Kennard, Sophie's heroine (The Prince's Bride).


Sophie, Jessica, Anne and I had a day out walking the ground of "our" village on a gloriously sunny spring day and had a wonderful lunch there, purely in the necessity of research, you understand. Research is not all about surfing the 'net and dusty libraries!


Jessica, who'd been the first out of the traps with a draft ms, had named the church  where the wedding was to take place St Philip and All Angels and when we went into the beautiful church in Castle Combe, one of the first things we saw was this array of angels on either side of the aisle. 

One of those spine-tingly magic moments for a writer.

We found a suitably ancient monument where our bride's ancestor would have been laid to rest and imagined a stained glass window bearing his coat of arms,

There was some discussion about the differences between a US wedding and one taking place in the UK - the bridesmaids follow the bride in the UK. The fact that the bride and groom (and their witnesses) disappear into the vestry after the service to sign the register. Details that may not be used but are important to know.

We walked around the churchyard, working out the where the television people would put their cherry picker - my heroine's concern - and, because that's what you can do when you've created your own location, we turned it around so that the heroine, walking from her family home, would not have to walk all around the graveyard. 

There were other important locations. This is the market cross, Ally's home, and the Three Bells where Ally was working when Fredrik arrived unexpectedly.  



Actually the pub isn't in Castle Combe but in the equally pretty village of  Lacock and is the pub where our local Romantic Novelists' Chapter meet for supper once in a while.






And the last picture refers to something that our village and Castle Combe have in common. They are both used as locations for films and tv dramas. 

Castle Combe was recently used in the film War Horse.






Thursday, May 28, 2015

A walk around Lacock

The village of Lacock has been used in countless television dramas - including Downton Abbey.  Our local romance writers group meet there every couple of months for lunch. When I went there last week I took some photographs and spotted this interesting topiary!

 The bakery...

A very old house...


 The post office...


And this is The George, where we had lunch.



Thursday, August 29, 2013

Plus One is a Lucky Number



I'm absolutely thrilled to welcome Teresa Morgan to my blog today. Teresa is a member of the Bath & Wilts RNA Chapter - we meet every six weeks or so for luscious food and fun at The Sign of the Angel in the historic village of Lacock. Our last meeting included a celebration of Teresa's debut book, Plus One Is a Lucky Number and she's here today to tell us all about it.

Hi, Liz, thank you so much for inviting me on to your blog! This is so exciting. (Tries not to have a fan girl moment).

What is your genre? Why did you choose to write it?
I thought my book was more ‘contemporary romance’, however Harper Impulse have put it into their Rom Com section as they say my book is more chick-lit. I have been reassured that my book does have a gentle humour throughout it, as I was scared it wasn’t funny enough to be classed as a Rom Com lol! I thought it was funny, but I’m not sure how good it is to laugh at your own jokes.

I’m not sure why I chose to write that genre, I suppose I just write what comes naturally to me.

Tell us about your writing journey – and the Call.
A fellow writer in our (as you’re in it too :D) RNA chapter group had announced she’d been accepted by Harper Impulse. When I checked out their website I realised they were really new and thought ‘grab the bull by the horns’ and sent out my first novel. A few weeks later there’s an email in my inbox! They wanted to phone me, but I had four boys (two weren’t mine) in the house and I knew if the telephone rang all hell would break loose, so I was offered a two book contract with Harper Impulse via email, and I’m still pinching myself. I might frame that email.

Tell us about your debut book.
Plus One is a Lucky Number is about a young woman who has a wedding to attend but no ‘plus one’ to take with her. Returning home means facing her past and she’s not quite sure she wants to do it on her own. Her friend, who is also her work colleague, convinces his best mate Adam to go with Sophie. With all the pretending – they never discussed kissing! - Sophie starts wishing it was real. The weekend holds a few surprises in store for Adam, too.

Do you listen to music while you write? Have any favourite snacks to keep you going?
When I’m writing or editing I need complete silence. No TV or radio. I like it quiet while reading too. I have been known to have chocolate to hand though... However, lyrics from songs can inspire scenes in my head, so when I’m not writing, I love the radio on.

Give us the blurb!

Sophie’s going to a wedding where the invite is strictly plus one… but with her single girl status not exactly fitting in with the bridesmaid dress code, and the best man being none other than the ex she would rather forget, Sophie needs a date and she needs one fast!

Luckily for Sophie, her dreamy but distant co-worker Adam Reid owes their mutual friend James big time…and his gorgeousness more than fills the role of the ‘Perfect Boyfriend’!


As they take off to the sunny shores of Cornwall for the wedding weekend, it’s not long before pretence leads to passion and Sophie and Adam must decide; is their relationship real or is it all for show?


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