Afternoon tea at the Petersham Hotel

Taking afternoon tea 'a la Miss Marple' isn't something I do every day, but it happened last Monday at the Petersham Hotel on Richmond Hill. It consisted of a pot of darjeeling, cucumber sandwiches, and at dusk this view of the Thames. It put me in mind of a 17th Century Dutch landscape, or a Constable. I couldn't resist posting it. Click on the image to enlarge it, and focus on the river and you'll see what I mean.

Ightham Mote at Halloween

Visiting historic places is for me both a joy and a bane. I'm invariably inspired to start a new story right away. Then, of course, I have to deal with the voice in my head which nags at me to knuckle down and finish the one I'm working on.

But who could resist Ightham Mote at Halloween? Certainly not me, so on 31st October I drove into Kent for a mulled wine reception followed by a candlelit tour of this medieval moated manor house.

Visitors to Ightham Mote rarely get the opportunity to view the house at night so it was a real treat. And the weather was clement. The cloud abated allowing a full moon to shine through a hazy and atmospheric sky. If ever there was a night to turn a writer of contemporary romance into a writer of the supernatural, this was it.