Category Archives: buildings and structures

Celebrating the Launch of “The Renegade Wife” with Caroline Warfield + a Giveaway

Today, I welcome one of my author friends, Caroline Warfield. I love Caroline’s “Dangerous” series, and now she is back with a new series that brings the children from the “Dangerous” series to new lands.  One of the things I love … Continue reading

Posted in blog hop, book excerpts, book release, books, British history, buildings and structures, excerpt, giveaway, historical fiction, holidays, publishing, real life tales, romance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

R. J. Reynolds’s Tobacco Connection to King Edward VII

I live in North Carolina where for many years tobacco was “King.” Tobacco Road was an historic tobacco-producing area of central North Carolina. Among the many who rode the “tobacco wagon” to riches (until the 1980s when the U. S. enacted anti-smoking … Continue reading

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The Triumvirate Which Changed the Face of Bath During the Georgian Era

The beginning of the 1700s in England saw the expansion of the middle class and a stronger economy. As such Bath had known a steady period of growth, but when Queen visited the city in 1702 (and then again a … Continue reading

Posted in British history, buildings and structures, Georgian Era, Great Britain, Living in the Regency, Regency era, Regency personalities, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Chistlehurst Caves and “A Touch of Emerald”

In my short seven years of writing fiction, I have written a variety of genres/settings: retellings, sequels, Regencies, paranormal, cozy mysteries, vagaries, contemporaries, and inspirational. Most of my 27 novels fall under the big “umbrella” of Regencies, and even the … Continue reading

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Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire, English Renaissance at Its Best, and Home to “The Dark Knight Rises”

Robert Smythson began work on Wollaton Hall in 1580. The Hall was to be the home of Sir Francis Willoughby. Most experts think Smythson, who also designed Hardwick Hall, in the same area, appears to have used Mount Edgcumbe in … Continue reading

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Georgian Architecture: University of London, a Metropolitan, Nonsectarian University

  In 1820, the Scottish poet, Thomas Campbell, put forth the idea of a metropolitan, nonsectarian university. With others he launched a movement in 1825 to found the University of London, for students excluded from Oxford or Cambridge by religious tests … Continue reading

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Life Below Stairs, Part 3 ~ The Male Servant

The English aristocrat often lived beyond his means. Maintaining country houses (often several of them) and a large Georgian town house in Mayfair took its toll on his purse strings. In addition to owning the property, Society forced him to … Continue reading

Posted in British history, buildings and structures, customs and tradiitons, estates, Georgian England, Georgian Era, Great Britain, history, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, Regency era, tradtions, Victorian era | 2 Comments

Life Below Stairs, Part II – Rules of Engagement

Previously, we looked at what a servant in an upper house, or even in a second-class household, of the late Regency Period or early Victorian times, might encounter. We spoke of wages, delineation of duties, and additional compensation. Today, we … Continue reading

Posted in British history, buildings and structures, customs and tradiitons, estates, Georgian England, Georgian Era, Great Britain, history, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, real life tales, Regency era, Victorian era | 9 Comments

Life Below Stairs, Part I: Obligations and Compensation

With the popularity of Upstairs, Downstairs and Downtown Abbey, the populace has become more aware of the British servant class. So what do we know of those who lived “below stairs”? First, rank and precedence ruled those of the servant … Continue reading

Posted in British history, buildings and structures, customs and tradiitons, Georgian England, Georgian Era, Great Britain, history, legends, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, real life tales, Regency era, Victorian era | 9 Comments

Getting Ready for October: The Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe Manor

Bettiscombe is a small village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated in the Marshwood Vale 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Beaminster. Dorset County Council’s 2012 mid-year estimate of the population of the civil parish is 70. This … Continue reading

Posted in British history, buildings and structures, castles, customs and tradiitons, gothic and paranormal, Great Britain, legends and myths, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, real life tales, Regency personalities | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Getting Ready for October: The Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe Manor