Paris - a post script

A couple of days ago I was at work and received an email from a colleague who I have done some videoconferencing with.  We have never met in person.  Lynette wrote the following:

'I wanted to tell you I was recently holidaying in Paris, and I visited the famous Shakespeare & Co Bookshop in the Latin Corner. I was perusing the children’s book area, and low-and-behold, there you were…two books signed by yourself.

I was excited for you to have TWO books in this globally well-known library/bookstore, and wanted to send my congratulations!'

Never for a moment when Ian and I left those 7 signed books in the store, did I imagine that someone from Australia - who knew me - would see them.  And if there were only 2 I hope that means Shakespeare & Co have sold the other 5.

So while my experience of leaving the books there was not quite the lovely moment I had imagined it to be, this email from Lynette made me realise that it was indeed a great thing to do - and once again the world really is a small place!

Hong Kong - the final leg of an incredible journey

Walking out of Hong Kong airport was something akin to wading into a bowl of warm soup.  Sticky, warm soup.  At 32 degrees and 95% humidity, it was certainly a shock to the system after the cool temperatures we’d experienced in the UK and Paris.

I’d never been to Hong Kong before.  Ian had, many times but in the 80s and 90s when he was frequently there for work.  We found the right taxi to get us to Kowloon – there’s a red taxi and a green taxi and I think the other was yellow and they all go to different areas.  I was amazed by the expressways and the incredible bridges.  And the container ships – there were masses of them.

On the way into the city, the heavens opened and we experienced a proper tropical rainstorm.  The streets were awash and it was almost impossible to see out of the windscreen.

We stayed at the Hyatt Tsim Sha Tsiu, apparently almost brand new and in a very central location in Kowloon.  We had a fantastic room on the 20^th floor with views of the harbor and over to Hong Kong.  Ian certainly saved the best bathroom for last – it was incredible.  With a wet room, shower/bath and enormous vanity, I was in love. 

We were keen to see if it was still possible to get some custom tailoring in five days.  We made some enquiries with the concierge and were given a few options.  Of course we could also have gone with one of the many touts on the street, ‘you wanna cheap suit sir, tailor made, copy bags, copy watch’.  'NO!' These guys were incessant.  I just smiled and said nothing and found that was the best approach by far. 

We decided to visit a lady called Linda Chow.  Okay, so she’s definitely not the cheapest tailor going around – and she will tell you that straight up, but I’m quite sure she could be the funniest.  She was happy to give us a price and there was absolutely no pressure whatsoever to go through with having the garment made.  But I did.  I’ve had a Cue jacket for about ten years that I love.  But the lining is worn out and it’s a little past its prime so I had Linda make me a replica jacket in slightly different fabric.  Ian decided to get a suit too.  Linda had a wall of celebrity clients including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hilary Clinton, Jamie Lee Curtis and our very own Deborah Hutton.
I found walking around outside somewhat of a challenge, not being at all acclimatized.  The many shopping centres along the harbour held a certain appeal (mainly for their airconditioning), although once inside I was fairly keen to get back to the hotel – they are so expensive.  I was amazed by the number of high end boutiques – seriously who can afford to buy Chanel and Prada and Valentino when they pop out to what is the equivalent of the local Westfields?  Apparently not many of the locals, as the shopping bags were few and far between. 

I had to laugh (and take photos) in one section of the mall where there was a row of high end children’s stores including Dior Baby, Fendi Kids, Chanel Kids, Polo Kids etc etc.  They went on and on.  So that’s where Suri Cruise buys all her clothes.  Even in New York and London we never saw such a proliferation of obscenely expensive kidswear stores in the one place.

We had a fun morning in the Ladies Markets and I learned that my husband is a superstar haggler.  I, on the other hand just kept my mouth closed.  We walked away with some great bargains.    

Our main reason for stopping in Hong Kong was to meet David Parrish from Random House UK, who we spent a day with, touring various bookstores and learning about the local book business.  We met Christa who runs the Blooming Club for Commercial Press.  She made us feel so welcome and took us for a fabulous lunch too.  The Commercial Press Shop in the Miramar Shopping Centre on Nathan Road is absolutely beautiful, as is their specialist children’s shop at the Olympian Centre.

We also met the irrepressible Shonee, who with her sister owns a fabulous chain of stores called Bookazine.  They are very clever young women with loads of added extras instore to attract children back time and again.  I certainly look forward to returning to Hong Kong next year for some events in schools and working with both ladies.
David took us to see some of the Page One stores as well, which are huge and very well stocked.  Dymocks is a big chain in Hong Kong too.
We travelled with David on the MTR which is clean and efficient.  You cannot eat or drink on the train or in the station and what a difference that makes to the level of cleanliness.  We had a short walk around the Hong Kong side of the city and then caught the Star Ferry back across to Kowloon.

That night we went to dinner at a fabulous restaurant on the 31^st floor of a relatively new building called iSquare.  It was our last night of the tour so there was much to celebrate.

On Wednesday morning we had a final fitting with Linda Chow.  We were both pleased with our purchases and they arrived pressed and packaged at the hotel half an hour before our departure for the airport.  I love the fact that in Hong Kong, as soon as we checked in they asked what time our flight was and then extended our check out until 3pm so we could go straight to the airport from the hotel.

I am really looking forward to returning to Hong Kong (probably at a cooler time of year).  It was the perfect end to our incredible journey, as I spent quite a lot of time in the air-conditioned comfort of the hotel, working on Alice-Miranda’s Parisian adventure but there was just enough sightseeing to give me a taste of the city and most importantly, we met David and got some insights into the book industry as well as making some great contacts for the future.

Paris in Summer

Paris in the summer is a beautiful place.  I love the architecture, the food, the fashion.  Parisians are chic.  They know the meaning of understated elegance and even the young girls, the teenagers and women in their early 20s seem to be blessed with an innate knowledge that ‘less is more’.  By that though, I don’t mean less clothing as many of our Australian girls seem to interpret the notion, but ‘less flesh on display’.  I was surprised by the number of young girls and women wearing hosiery and generally covering up – not in a prudish way, far from it.  Perhaps we should have compulsory studies of Parisian style! 

We left London on Sunday morning having spent two days at the Hyatt Andaz in Liverpool Street.  It’s a fabulous hotel which I would highly recommend.  It wasn’t cheap but compared to many overpriced London hotels it was reasonable and beautiful with excellent service.  It was also really close to the uber trendy East End and the Spitalfields markets, where I spent a morning wandering while Ian caught up on his Rugby fix at the local pub. 

We travelled on the Eurostar to Gare Du Nord.  It was easy.  The trains are efficient, on time and very comfortable.  St Pancras station in London is also easy to navigate in terms of checking in, getting through security and immigration and at the other end, I recommend that you avoid the touts looking for ‘private cab’ business and head straight to the taxi line or a connecting train.

I had been to Paris once before in the depths of winter about 6 years ago.  So I was looking forward to seeing the city at a different time of year.  We had originally planned to spend five days in the city and then a couple of weeks touring the countryside.  But deadlines were looming (actually past) and I had to write so we decided quite a few weeks beforehand that it would be better to stay in one place in the UK and then head to Paris for five days of research.  The French countryside would have to wait until the next visit.

We caught a taxi to our hotel in St Germain, a far more central location in the Fifth Arrondissment than our previous stay in the Fifteenth.  But it wasn’t a completely unfamiliar area as we had done quite a lot of walking there on the last visit.  The hotel had recently been refurbished and I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the room and the bathroom.  At least we weren’t going to trip over our bags for the next few days!

I’d been working pretty much nonstop on Alice-Miranda In Paris (her 7^th adventure) while we were staying in Oswestry over near the Welsh borders and had managed to click over 30,000 words but our time in Paris was all about the details and making sure that the things I was writing were indeed accurate.  This would necessitate visits to several tourist locations including Notre Dame, Place Vendome, Sacre Coeur and not least, the Palace of Versailles, which we hadn’t visited previously.  Of course I was keen to soak up the general atmosphere too and the food!

The weather was cool and sunny, but still quite a lot warmer than the UK.  I was beginning to worry that I had a suitcase full of winterish clothes and our next destination was Hong Kong, so a little bit of shopping needed to be done too.  We visited the Galleries Lafayette but to tell the truth I found it all completely overwhelming.  The store is beautiful, quite possibly the most beautiful department store in the world (by their own reckoning and mine) but there was just too much choice and in the end I found myself desperate to get out.  Perhaps if there had been no language barrier, I might have found it easier but I wasn’t up for this big a challenge (and I didn’t feel like torturing Ian for hours either!).  So instead we found a taxi and headed to Sacre Coeur on top of Montmarte.  The view from the top is fantastic and shows just what a low rise city Paris is, except for a few small pockets of high rise in areas like La Defense.

Prior to the ill-fated shopping expedition we had breakfasted in a café quite close to The Louvre, then walked to Place Vendome, home of The Ritz Hotel among many other high end luxury boutiques.  We wanted to look in the foyer at The Ritz so, like any other hotel I’ve ever been to, we simply walked in.  I was wishing that I’d traded my jeans that morning for something a little less tell-tale tourist as we were ‘greeted’ by a rather disarming chap who clearly knew that we weren’t about to check in.  When he asked if he could help us, I said that I wanted to look at the restaurant menu.  But having already checked that out online, I knew it would be a quick scan as we couldn’t afford to eat there either, not if we wanted to eat and have a bed for the remaining week and a half of the trip.  But I really needed to see this place as Alice-Miranda and her school group are going there in the story – just for a quick visit, certainly not to stay.  Anyway, the brusque fellow at the door was quite helpful in terms of character development, as was the lovely doorman.

Last time we were in Paris I remember there were a couple of pet shops along the Seine quite close to The Louvre.  Clearly trade has been booming as there are now more than ten of them.  The shop assistants all wear lab coats and the places are very clean and professional.  The dogs and cats cost a small fortune too.  Which brings me to one little (and sometimes not so little) thing that I wish would change in Paris.  I simply do not understand why Parisians don’t pick up after their animals.  There is dog poop everywhere.  The first time we were there I don’t remember it being anywhere near as bad as this time.  I was shocked to see people allowing their dogs to go anywhere and everywhere, and not a plastic poop bag in sight.  We did see some poetic justice though one afternoon when we had stopped for coffee.  We were enjoying the sunshine sitting outside (which brings me to my second little thing – have the French heard about lung cancer?  It’s caused from smoking – which every second person seems to do).  Anyway, I digress.  While sitting at the café we watched a fellow walking his dog.  It was a cute little thing but decided to take a poop right outside the café on the footpath.  The man walked on ahead (leads seem to be optional too).  The dog poo was avoided by numerous passers by, until the man returned and stepped right in the middle of it.  Ian and I couldn’t help but smile. 

We visited the Jardins Du Luxembourg, which are beautiful gardens in the heart of the city and a gorgeous palace too.  It was a sunny afternoon and there were people everywhere, enjoying the outdoors.  It sort of felt like the Parisian version of Central Park – although the gardens themselves are far more formal in their design and of course not nearly as big.  There is a large pond in the centre where children were sailing model boats.

We visited the Palace of Versailles on Tuesday.  They say it’s not the best day to go as many tourists head there at the start of the week (the palace is closed on Mondays) but it looked like the best day in terms of the weather and we were willing to take our chances.  We negotiated the Metro, which wasn’t difficult at all, getting on the train at Notre Dame.  The trains are relatively clean and efficient and it took about 45 minutes to get there.

I was stunned by how many people were heading to the Palace but we were lured into the local tourism office where we could purchase our entrance tickets for two euros more, hence avoiding the ridiculously long lines at the ticket office within the palace grounds.  Our ticket lady also told us to head to the gardens and the rest of the estate first and go back to the Palace later in the afternoon.  This proved to be an excellent tip as we headed straight into the gardens – and the queue for the palace snaked around for miles.

I can now understand why the peasants in France hated the aristocracy.  We’d seen some beautiful castles and stately homes in the UK but nothing quite prepared me for the opulence of Versailles.  To think there were millions starving to death and the king and queen and their entourage lived in such luxury is almost unimaginable.  But I’m glad they didn’t burn it down as it truly has to be seen to be believed.

The gardens are superb and by far my most favourite part of the estate was the Petit Palace – essentially the holiday house at the bottom of the garden and Marie Antoinette’s estate.  The palace itself was so over the top I just couldn’t imagine people living there.The estate is dotted with cafes and restaurants and completely overrun with school groups.  Every child in France must have to visit, like our Year 6 children in Australia go to Canberra on the compulsory excursion because everywhere you turned there were groups of students, some as young as preschool.  I was imagining the possibilities of losing children in the labyrinth of gardens.  I think though they were more likely safer outside though than in the palace where even late in the afternoon when we didn’t have to wait in line, the crowds inside were crushing. 

A visit to Versailles is a must for any trip to Paris and I would happily go back again to explore more of the Marie Antoinette estate.

My second attempt at shopping happened on the Boulevard St Germain where Ian and I walked for hours one morning.  And while I couldn’t afford to do any more than window shop for much of the avenue, I did find one boutique that was reasonable priced and had the most wonderful sales assistant.  She ran around finding me numerous dresses to try on and was very honest in her assessment.  Her English was about as good as my French but we had fun and I walked away with two lovely dresses.  That day ended up at the Eiffel Tower and then a boat cruise up and back on the Seine.  Paris from the river is lovely too.

Quite close to where we were staying is the Shakespeare and Co bookshop.  It’s an icon of Paris that was run for 60 years by a man called George Whitman, an American who found himself in Paris after the war.  It’s an amazing place with loads of books from all over the world.  There are also odd little ‘rooms’ where travellers who land there can sleep.  The quote on their website says, ‘Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise’.  We were both so taken with the shop that we decided that I should leave all of the Alice-Miranda books that had travelled with us across the US and the UK with them so hopefully she would find her way into the hearts of some children in Paris.  So the next morning (our last in the city) I wrote a personalized message in each book (7 in total) about the journey the books had taken and why they were now in Paris and we walked down to the shop to hand them over.  Unfortunately, our experience didn’t quite play out the way I had hoped it would.  There were two young girls manning the front room.  One was busy serving customers and the other was a little more hidden off to the side.  We were looking to see if she might be the right person to talk to when a young man, an American, with a backpack came into the shop, ostensibly to say goodbye.  The girl in question leapt from her chair and the two had a very jolly farewell in which he told her that he would be back in Paris again soon.  I didn’t get the feeling that theirs was a romantic connection but rather that he was an aspiring writer and had perhaps even stayed at the shop.

So we left them to their effusive farewells and then waited for her to return to her desk.  Then I walked over and told her that I had just been on a book tour in the US and UK for almost three months and I wanted to leave my books with them.  Mind you, all in pretty good condition; a full set of Australian series and the first two US books in hardback.  To say that her response was underwhelming would be putting it mildly.  I was under no illusion that she would have any idea what the books were or who I was, but a simple thank you would have been nice.  She took the books and set them on the counter and looked at me.  Now I would at this point have been thinking that perhaps she was French and didn’t speak English, except that when she was saying good bye to the young man, she was clearly American too and spoke perfect English.  Ian and I both sort of stood there for a second and I said a little more about having been away and spoken to over 6500 children.  She just looked at me, and then continued with her work.  Honestly I felt like taking the books back and walking out onto the street to hand them to children myself.  But I didn’t.  Because I wouldn’t have been that rude!  So, while I still love the shop, that particular shop assistant, perhaps not so much. 

I hope that Alice-Miranda will find herself in the hands of a child or children who pass through Paris looking for an adventure!  I’ve still got more of her Parisian adventure to write, but having been there makes such a difference.  It’s the little things, the quirks, the smells and the tastes that I hope make the writing all the more authentic.

We left Paris that afternoon enroute for Zurich and then Hong Kong.  Our flight was delayed an hour or so due to a huge thunderstorm, but no matter.  We got there safe and sound and our transfer through Zurich was smooth – the Swiss are nothing if not highly efficient.

Guest Blog for Random Acts of Reading In the USA

I was thrilled that during our time in the US I was asked to write a summary of our US experience for the Random Acts of Reading Blog, which is run by 9 of the sales reps for Random House in the US.  The post appeared a couple of days ago and I've linked it here.  http://randomactsofreading.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/an-author-joins-us-meet-jacqueline-harvey-and-alice-miranda/

The best (and not so much) of the US and UK

It’s been great to have some time to reflect on the trip lately.  While we  were staying in Oswestry, near the Welsh borders and I was working away on Alice-Miranda’s 7^th adventure, Alice-Miranda In Paris, Ian and I had some wonderful discussions about the best and not so best bits of the US and UK.  Things that make us want to be there forever and things that make us miss Australia.

So we decided to compile some lists.  Of course it’s just our experience but if you’re planning a visit to the US or UK anytime soon, some of our tips for young players might come in handy.

Best of the US

·         The people.  Once you get through immigration, where I advise you keep a straight face and do your best not to make any jokes, the people are fantastic.  Although, this time, after I had berated Ian and told him to be sensible and not make any wise cracks, the San Francisco immigration official turned out to be lovely.  And funny too.  Most unexpected after my first visit to the US where I felt like a criminal.  The UK immigration official was horrible, but I’ll get to him later.

·         Cost of living.  While the Australian dollar is around parity with the US dollar, make the most of it fellow Aussies.  Generally the US is affordable.  Clothes are cheap, food is cheap and in many places (New York excluded) the cost of hotels is not too bad either.

·         Food.  There is an extraordinary range of food in the US and it’s affordable.  Portion sizes are ridiculously huge so you can go out for lunch and get a doggy bag which will also do you for dinner too.  Steak in the US is great and the steakhouses in New York (although not so much in the affordable range) are brilliant.

·         iPad menus in restaurants – fantastic!

·         Drivers in the US are generally very considerate, which is excellent particularly if you are from Australia or the UK where the steering wheel is on the right hand side and we drive on the left hand side of the road.

·         New York – there is no place like it on earth.

·         The ‘open all hours’ mentality in New York city (but in other places too like San Francisco and Chicago)

·         Central Park – the lungs of the city and my favourite place in New York.

·         Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity 3 – every bit as good as it sounds (and no wonder Alice-Miranda loved it). Sorry about picture on the side - for whatever reason I can't get it to rotate!

·         Extraordinary range of things you can buy in the shops – who knew that you could buy beer on tap in the pharmacy but Duane Read is in a league all of its own when it comes to chemist products!

·         Subways – highly efficient, and long distance trains that are clean and run on time.

·         Taxis in New York City – easy to get (except in the no man’s land changeover period around 3-5pm when getting a taxi is impossible).

·         Southern American accents – I could listen to them all day.

·         Salt water taffy – it’s delicious.

·         Friends – new and old – we met so many fabulous people in the US, who I have no doubt will remain friends for a long time to come.

Best restaurants

o   Boulevard in San Francisco – stunning food, beautiful décor and an all-round excellent experience.

o   My friend Diane’s house in South Carolina – her pulled pork was fabulous and while I’m still not convinced about grits, hers were delicious.

o   Cracker-barrel– now I know it’s a chain restaurant but for Aussies wanting a Southern experience, it was lots of fun and I loved my chicken fried chicken!

o   Viand – another chain in New York but the BEST GRILLED CHEESE sandwich I have ever eaten (so we went there at least five times while we were staying on the Upper West Side).

o   Philippe Chow – stunning Chinese in mid-town New York City.

o   DB Bistro Moderne – fantastic fusion food in mid-town New York City (the best burger I have ever eaten!).

o   Gallery Café at Pebble Beach – the best breakfast I had in the US.

Best hotels
o   Omni San Francisco – great room, best bed in the US, fantastic service and the friendliest hotel staff ever (and the most sensational chocolate brownie dessert which made me fall off the 'no sugar' wagon completely!)
 
o   The Lodge at Pebble Beach – stunning!

o   Hyatt Hotel Morristown New Jersey – a really lovely room and a pretty town too.

Ok, so I’ve detailed the best, now for some of the things we didn’t love quite so much

·         Coffee – it was horrible.  Percolated sludge with milk froth is not a cappuccino!  There were two places we found good coffee, Urban Table in Morristown (I could have hugged the girl who made it!) and Joe’s on the Upper West side in Manhattan.

·         Intersections with 4 stop signs – a little hard to get used to.

·         The sheer number of fast food outlets.  I don’t know how they survive but I do know why there are obesity issues in the US.

·         Bureaucracy at Yankee Stadium – ‘yes ma’am you can take your iPhone in but not your iPad’.  When I pointed out that they did the same thing, I was told to check my bag at the sports bar a mile down the road.

·         The exorbitant cost of hotels in New York City.

·         Added taxes – just when you thought you knew the cost of something there are a whole bunch of extra taxes laid on.

Best of the UK
·         The people – we met so many wonderful people – some of whom I had ‘met’ on the Internet and others we met while there; great teachers, children, booksellers and people we ran into in various locations – and it was lovely to meet Anna and Philip who came up from Littlehampton to the Queen’s Park Book Festival to say hello.  Anna has been an Alice-Miranda fan since her grandmother in Australia started sending the books to her – the fact that they made the effort to come up was just wonderful and I adored meeting them both.  It was great to catch with old friends too!

·          The countryside – rolling hills, stone walls, picture postcard villages – simply gorgeous.

·         Playing golf in the countryside and being able to look for a lost ball without fear of running into a snake; also watching rabbits frolicking, pheasants stalking about and squirrels darting this way and that.   It felt like being in a Beatrix Potter story.  I had hoped to see a badger but alas the only one we spotted was in not such good condition on the edge of the road.  Apparently moles are quite prolific too – although I would have been expecting them to wear glasses and a waistcoat so potentially disappointing!  Friends told us they were like giant rats so perhaps I’m glad we didn’t meet one.

·         The Tube system in London – once you get used to changing trains it’s a very efficient way to get around – the Oyster card system works well too.

·         The history is wonderful – there is so much to see.

·         Castles and historic homes – beautiful and completely fascinating.

·         Finding Caledonia Manor (real name Brogyntyn) – what were the odds? (see earlier posts for details).

·         Patriotism and love of the Queen – we were there during the Diamond Jubilee and the English do love a good street party and a reason to celebrate.

·         Stoic English spirit – we were invited to a Jubilee party in a field.  It was freezing and wet and yet the hundred or so people in attendance seemed to have a great time without a bother about the weather.

·         The Children’s Book Team at Random House UK – what a fantastic group – felt part of the family and the ‘Random Moment’ is a wonderful way to make authors feel welcome.

·         The wide variation in accents – so much to practice!

·         Sunny days are like gold dust – to be treasured.

·         Closeness of cities – and convenience of larger stores etc even when you are on the other side of the country miles from London.

·         M&S Simply Food – why can’t we have something like this at home – stunning range of food and well-priced too.

·         Real custard tarts – delicious (although my waistline will be glad that I left the UK).

·         Narrow boats and canals – what a great way to get around.

·         Better newspapers with a wide variety of stories (not just tabloid rubbish) – sounds hard to believe given the press we get about the UK papers.

·         Spitalfields Markets in the East End.

·         London cabbies who know exactly where they’re going and if faced with a detour, know exactly how to get around it.

·         The Eurostar to Paris – easy and comfortable too.

Best restaurants (from the limited number that we tried

·         The Wollesley in London – a bit of an icon and great for breakfast

·         Sebastians in Oswestry



·         The Boat Pub in Erbistock


·         The Corn Mill in Llangollen

Favourite towns

·         Richmond Upon Thames (I could live there in a heartbeat but the bank manager might have something to say about that)

·         Salisbury – beautiful and historic

·         Chester – gorgeous

·         Bakewell and the Peak District

·         Shropshire – Oswestry and surrounding villages

·         Llangollen in Wales

Best accommodation

·         Lion Quays in Oswestry – fantastic staff, service, rooms, great bed, canal view and plenty to keep you occupied – also great value for money.

·         Andaz Hyatt Liverpool Street London – fantastic modern hotel with interesting quirks and touches including iPad check in and personalized greeting and room tour – also a good location – and free mini bar.

Now for some of the things we didn’t love quite so much 

·         The weather – it will come as no surprise to most people but out of 6 weeks we saw about 9 days  of sushine and 6 days that resembled summer temperatures.

·         Freeway traffic – insane and crazy parking the wrong way on the street - can be a little offputting!

·         Proliferation of powerlines over the countryside

·         Some crazy drivers (and sorry folks, not nearly as considerate as the US nor as they used to be)

·         Rubbish television coverage, particularly the news

·         Warm beer

·         Cost of living in cities particularly

·         Coffee – not as awful as the US but still not consistently good.  Had great coffee at lovely bookshop called Booka in Oswestry but not many other memorable cups

·         English immigration official – rude, rude, rude!  With an attitude like that, it makes visitors wonder why they came (fortunately the people from thereon in were wonderful)

Overall, the best hotel we stayed in on the trip was the first one; The Omni San Francisco for being the complete package including the best bed (and we have slept in 26 different beds so far with one still to go in Hong Kong!)

Shropshire, Brogyntyn and Caledonia Manor revisited

For the past 16 days we have been holed up at a wonderful place just out of Oswestry called The Lion Quays.  It’s a fantastic hotel right on the Llangollen canal, with two restaurants and a function centre (there have been about 10 weddings since we arrived and one non-wedding – yes that really does happen), an amazing health spa including the most beautiful pool and gym facilities (completely underutilised by me) and lovely gardens resplendent with their own peacock called Eugene. 

It has been a great place to settle in and work on Alice-Miranda’s 7^th adventure, Alice-Miranda In Paris.  I’ve made good progress – hopefully by this afternoon it will be almost halfway there. 

There has been some self-discipline required on my part as although this is a quieter part of England, there are still many attractions close by and I could spend days just driving along country lanes and visiting villages.  So I’ve used a bit of a reward program – certain number of words attained in the morning, go somewhere in the afternoon.  We’ve visited Wrexham, Chester, Llangollen, Oswestry and Welshpool. 


We had a fleeting visit to Powis Castle and a much longer day out looking at the Pontcysylite Aqueduct, and Chirk Castle then a lovely long lunch at The Boat pub in a pretty village called Erbistock.  So while we haven’t done nearly as many things as perhaps I would have liked, I knew that this part of the trip would require a considerable amount of work, to be able to go back to Australia anywhere near ready for work, work (and still I’ll need to write every day from now until we go home and for the week we are home before I head back to the ‘real job’).  But I’m determined and 5 days in Paris next week should be great in terms of research and getting the facts right for the story.  Then it’s on to Hong Kong.

By far and away one of the highlights of being here has been stumbling on the house that inspired Caledonia Manor in the Alice-Miranda series - the derelict mansion, which up until a few weeks ago, I knew only to be somewhere in Shropshire.  Now we’ve not only toured the outside with a lovely bloke called Pete, we’ve had a grand tour of the inside too, from the bombproof cellars to the spectacular roof with Will, the young chap who looks after the estate.  Then yesterday afternoon we met Caroline, her husband Nigel and stepdaughter Jazzy, who live in the Victorian gardener’s cottage at the back of the stables.  On hearing from Will that there were some Australians sniffing about, Caroline emailed me and asked if we’d like to see the rest of the estate including the medieval castle mound, the Home Farm and Swiss Cottage as well as the walled garden and loads of other bits and pieces.  We were so thrilled to be able to head out there again – this place has cast a spell over us for sure.

Caroline is Australian, and within a minute or so of meeting we established that her sister had gone to Abbotsleigh  (where I work) and she knew one of my dear friends, Donna Moffatt, or Mrs Moffatt as Caroline still referred to her.  Caroline not only attended the school where Donna had taught, but her father had been the Headmaster too.  The world truly is a small place!  There were other people we knew in common too.

There are not many times that I wish I was obscenely rich.  Really, I'm not kidding.  I might write about a character whose family has it all and it’s nice to imagine that life, but really, I don’t want for much.  The days of thinking it was important to have a big house and designer lifestyle were thankfully left behind at the end of my 20s when I realized that happiness is not necessarily a natural consequence of being wealthy. In fact, often, quite the opposite.  However, since finding Brogyntyn (my Caledonia Manor) I have found myself wishing I had the sort of money that would be required to save this amazing place.  To love it and bring it back to its former glory.  There are so many derelict properties in the UK, once grand homes that have gone into spectacular decline, mostly due to the absence of wills I gather and the high percentage of death duties.  Brogyntyn is a victim of time and circumstance, a grand old lady crying out for love.  A lot like my character Hephzibah, who I imagine living there.

We just don’t build places like these today and to see gorgeous architecture literally falling down around you is rather sad and wasteful.  A development company currently owns Brogyntyn and they have had numerous plans for restoration.  We’ve heard differing stories from apartments, to a family home (that would have to be one big family) to an aged care facility and a hotel.  I can’t imagine the cost of bringing the house back to its former glory.  There is wet rot and dry rot and any other rot you can think of, leaks in places that are obvious and some untraceable, the plaster is falling off the walls and ceilings and the cellars are full of antique telephone equipment left over from the days when British Telecom used the house as a nerve centre during the war.  We were stunned to see plant rooms (with plant equipment still in situ), a whole room with what looks like an ancient computer, switchboards and typewriters and all manner of bits and pieces.  There are massive boilers and RSJs that have come out of the ceiling but are too big to take out of the house without chopping them up.  Apparently the legend is that when BT upped and left, they were meant to restore the house to its original state which would have been a vast expensive; however, the then owner, one of the Lords Harlech was a little stretched and took a (relatively) paltry cash sum instead.  Hence the house continued its decline and hasn’t been lived in for over 50 years.

Upstairs on the main floors, it was fantastic to see that the staircases are still original – and the main one is unbelievably impressive with its carved timberwork.  There are two libraries still with original shelving and the marble fireplaces are all still there too.  The secret library door is less impressive in terms of where it leads to in reality than in my imagination, but it’s gorgeous just the same.  Upstairs the bedrooms go on for miles.  The attics are fascinating with their myriad rooms where the servants who ran the house once lived.  Some of the attic rooms are huge and there was one that leads to the roof which you could just imagine being the most gorgeous playroom.

The views from the top are stunning.  The day was hazy and you could still see for miles.

My favourite room was off the second library and apparently was the reading room.  With a domed roof and light streaming in, it is breathtaking even in its current state of dereliction.

Our tour of the grounds yesterday afternoon gave us more insights into this amazing property.  The gardener’s cottage behind the stable and the walled garden is Victorian and in very good condition.  Along the back of the walled garden there were once many more cottages, where no doubt the huge team of gardeners resided.  What remains now are some crumbling walls and evidence of fireplaces and cellars.  There were greenhouses aplenty too, with only one remaining now and an ice room built in under the earth and still chilly.  We walked around to the walled garden which is sadly completely abandoned.  The walls have suffered years of trees taking root, pressing their limbs through the brickwork and one section had been taken down to enable a tractor access to keep the long grass down.

We walked up to a larger paddock and then over to an area that up until a few weeks ago had been heavily wooded.  However, the trees have all been cut back to reveal an ancient medieval castle mound, with some evidence of what might lay underneath.  There was a moat around the circular structure and now there is a tunnel running through the middle, apparently a Victorian addition, from the years when the top of the mound was used as a bowling green.  British heritage are going to excavate the site.  It’s thought to be over 1000 years old.

Across an idyllic man-made pond is the Swiss Cottage.  A beautiful place built in a traditional Swiss chalet style with quartz crystal walls and intricate timber work, created by weaving tree branches together.  It too has a secret door made to look like a library bookcase.  The cottage is much bigger than it first appears and is currently rented out, as are all the habitable cottages on the estate.  It is grade 1 listed, which is an even higher grading than the hall which is grade 2.

We walked along the roadway to Home Farm, a huge complex of buildings, most in severe disrepair but with one home that is still livable.  We heard that this is where the developers were planning to create a range of residences.  The setting, with rolling hills in front and behind is very pretty and I can imagine why people would want to live there.  I would happily live there!

Walking back across to the hall we wandered (stalked though long grass actually) through what would have once been the main gardens.  Huge trees and stunning rhododendrons are dotted all over the place. It is a child’s paradise with so many trees climb and to make cubbies in, hides and the like.  I felt like I was eight years old again – imagining how many dragons there would be to slay, how many princesses (and princes) to rescue, camp outs and tea parties.  It was simply gorgeous.

We walked back around the outside of the hall, marveling at its sheer proportions, its dominance in the landscape, yet the deliberate tree planting in the fields, which, apart from where the stone wall has fallen down , ensure that the building cannot be seen from the road, making our discovery all the more amazing.

We heard some fabulous stories too of days when Eric Clapton lived at the gardener’s cottage and visits from Mick Jagger (who apparently rode a motorbike into the lake near Swiss Cottage and for all intents and purposes it’s still there), and George Harrison sitting in the garden where he may have even penned Here Comes the Sun. 

The story of Brogyntyn is a tragic one, with many family members over hundreds of years meeting untimely ends, often in horrible circumstances.  But it is a place with a fascinating history and surely deserves a second chance.  Having the financial resources to shower on a restoration project on a house that should be loved and cherished and shared with the rest of the world would be quite something.  And if I can’t do it, where is Sarah Beeny when you need her!