Thursday, June 23, 2011

Out and About.


Readers of my blog and Facebook Page cannot failed to have noticed that I'm out and about on book tour at the moment.  Actually I have quite a few talks lined up all the way to November dotted here and there, but at the moment I've got several lined up close together.  Last week was an event in Derby called Eat Your Words, where I gave readings in return for my supper at a restaurant The Wonky Table in the city centre. (I forgot my camera).
Monday I gave a talk at Bookmark in Spalding as part of Indie Bound - a week focusing on independant booksellers. http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/   It's a lovely bookshop with a great coffee shop attached and also sells gifts and cards.   This time I remembered my camera but forgot to take photos - sigh.
Yesterday, also for the Indie Bound celebration, I was at the the Castle Bookshop in the beautiful Shropshire market town of Ludlow.  I love this part of the country and if I didn't have roots and family commitments where I am now, I'd seriously consider moving to Shropshire.  Shadows and Strongholds is partly set there and is about some of the medieval lords who once held it.
My talk was held not in the bookshop, but in the owner's fabulous Georgian and late Medieval house just round the corner and opposite the castle wall.  The talk had been planned for the garden, but because of earlier unsettled weather, we held it in the sitting room instead, with me talking by the French doors into the garden.  Delicious sandwiches, tea, biscuits and cakes were provided and we all had a wonderful late afternoon.  The owner's black cat wandered in at one stage to twine around the audience and me, before going into the garden, much to the noisy alarm of a mother blackbird.  Kitty had to be removed elsewhere! 
This time - I remembered my camera, and took a few photos - see below. Click to enlarge.
Details of further dates on my tour are on the right hand sidebar.
                                                             To Ludlow and back  

Heading down the motorway
Jack and Pip en route in the footwell
Country roads
Black and white timbered houses
Stopping at traffic lights

On guard
Watching the world go by

More country roads
Are we nearly there yet?
Entering Ludlow under a medieval archway


The Castle Bookshop











 
It's all going on behind the red door!
Chairs for the audience!
Talking to readers
Another view of the readers.

The garden


The house where I gave the talk
The House next door to the talk house
Tall house on the way to the car park

View of the museum.  They used some of the upper rooms to film Moll Flanders

Ludlow Castle doorway

Exterior wall of Ludlow Castle

Cannon outside the castle
Going for a walk before setting off home
Ludlow walls again

More timbered houses
Going round the castle walls


Our old dog Taz still loves climbing on castle walls






Looking down a street off the square
half timbred buildings

Farewell to Ludlow, heading down to the Medieval arch again
Home James!


9 comments:

Jan Jones said...

Fabulous! Just like doing it with you!

Daphne said...

Great pictures - I especially love the buildings in town.

jel cel said...

Love the fact that you took the dogs, they looked very happy. Glad you enjoyed the castle as well.

Marilyn said...

Enjoyed your pictures so much. Loved the pixes of Ludlow Castle, and also your dogs. What a cute bunch. Shadows and Strongholds is one of my favorites and the next time I read it, I will have these pictures in mind.

Marg said...

Makes me wish I could visit England again!

Miss Moppet said...

I love Shropshire too. My aunt and uncle have a beautiful sixteenth-century house there and we sometimes go shopping in Ludlow when I stay with them.

Lesley Haycock said...

I visited Ludlow a couple of years ago - loved it! s
Stayed in The Feathers Inn.

The castle is wonderful. As is the church.

Aileen said...

What a terridic post. Thanks for sharing. I was just in Ludlow in June, and visited the Castle Book Shop. The owner highly recommended your books, but I had already read all your books.

tablet pc said...

Love the fact that you took the dogs, they looked very happy. Glad you enjoyed the castle as well.