I thought it was a disturbingly appropriate time to again share the story of the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, England, and how they handled the plague in 1665. I wrote about it after my visit a few years ago, and you can read it HERE.
Tag: England
On this day: Workmen in London
Workers at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London remove scaffolding from the Victoria Tower. The image appeared in The Illustrated London News on the 20th of March, 1954.
From The Londonist, via the British Newspaper Archive.
The Week: 11th – 17th November
You know summer is on the way when the noisy friarbirds reappear in the garden! They are such funny-looking birds, but their calls are so weird they’re cute. They’re constantly chatting to each other.
It’s late Sunday morning here and I’m (sort of) working on edits for an upcoming book. It’s probably not something I should admit, but I’m pretty bored with the story at this point!
Want to Read: The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks: Life and Death Under Soviet Rule by Igort
On this day: the Coventry Blitz
On this day: the Coventry Blitz
A wrecked bus is photographed amongst the destruction in Coventry, England after a German Luftwaffe air raid on the night of 14-15 November, 1940.
Coventry suffered heavy damage in the Second World War. The city’s famous cathedral was one of the casualties of the “Coventry Blitz”, which killed many hundreds and left thousands without homes.
From the collection of the Imperial War Museum.
On this day…
The church in Eyam, circa 1890.
Tomorrow the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, England recognises “Plague Sunday”.
The day remembers the decision of the village’s reverend and his wife – in 1665 – to convince the plague-stricken residents to barricade themselves in so that the disease wouldn’t spread to other villages in the area.
Hundreds of people died, but other communities survived.
Below is a picture from last year, when we visited the old well on a hilltop outside the village, which is where others would come to leave the people of Eyam food.
National Pet Day
So, apparently today is National Pet Day – I’m going to guess it’s a US day, because I can’t find anything linking it to other countries. Where are all the other pet days?!
Anyway, in honour of the event, I’d like to recommend a Twitter account to follow: Henry, the official dog of Chatsworth House. (Images from my visit to the estate last year.)
As historical romance fans will know, the Chatsworth estate is at the heart of many a period drama, and it is mentioned in Pride and Prejudice, when Elizabeth Bennet visits with her aunt and uncle (but no, it’s not Pemberley, as commonly misreported).
It is also arguably England’s most famous stately home.
Anyway, here’s Henry in the snow this past January, and you can follow his adventures HERE.
And a bonus picture, just because he’s cute:
The Week: 22nd – 28th October
Spring sunshine – and a spring sunset – in Canberra.
Only days to go before I fly to China!
A Book for the Anniversary: Goodbye for Now by M.J. Hollows
On this day: British women prepare for invasion
Royal Wedding
I’m no royal watcher, and have no interest whatsoever in the Harry-and-Meghan show, but I did watch the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank on Friday night (Australian time), and loved every minute of it.
Firstly: how beautiful did everybody look! All those gorgeous jewel colours, all that sapphire blue and emerald green (and those gigantic actual emeralds in the tiara!).
Secondly: this wedding was seriously romantic. Give me the goofy groom who can’t stop crying, looks like he’s going to faint half the time, and then puts the dorkiest glasses in the world on to watch his bride come down the aisle over the other royal grooms any day!
I doubt the dorky-English-groom trope is ever going to take off in romantic fiction, but it ought to.
My other favourite royal wedding was when (Australian) Mary Donaldson married the Crown Prince of Denmark, because he cried through that one, too!
And, thirdly, this was such a royal wedding, with all the beauty and class and traditions. Windsor looked absolutely gorgeous.
And boo to the downright rude Australian journalists who devoted their entire time covering the wedding to insulting Eugenie, her sister, her parents, and comparing it to the last one! Thank God the Royal Family has an official YouTube channel, and thank God they had a gorgeous livestream, sans terrible commentators!
Chatsworth
Chatsworth House probably needs no introduction for anyone who reads historical fiction or watches period dramas.
Here are some shots from our visit two days ago.
Jane Austen Territory
I have one week left of this trip, and it is being spent in a cottage in England’s Peak District. In the village of Bradwell, with horses riding up our street, the area looks like something out of a Jane Austen adaptation.
We had lunch next to Chatsworth today, and then stopped in Bakewell, where Austen allegedly wrote Pride and Prejudice.
This is one part of England I haven’t visited before, and so far it is even prettier than I expected.
Our cottage:
The view from my bedroom:
