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Dartington Hall

Dartington Hall, with its mellow grey stone walls, glorious gardens full of birdsong and ancient trees, is a favourite Devon gem I return to again and again. Set in rolling south Devon parkland near Totnes, it is now a stunning centre of heritage, culture, entertainment, hospitality and innovative sustainability. 

The medieval hall, together with the Grade II listed garden that wrap around its grey stone walls, evoke a strong sense of times past and an air of peace and tranquility. What we see today has been shaped by many hands, a legacy of …

A sixteenth century Christmas

A sixteenth century Christmas

We know quite a lot about how the wealthy spent Christmas in the sixteenth century.  Surviving account books from Royal, noble and gentry households paint a picture of lavish feasts and costly entertainment.  For the less well off Christmas must have come as a welcome holiday, relief from the drudgery of life in the long, cold winter season.

On Christmas Eve men, women and children went out into the woodlands to cut greenery such as holly, ivy and mistletoe to decorate …

Farthingale Sleeves

I’ve always wondered how those huge sleeves worn by Queen Elizabeth 1 in all those fabulous paintings were created. Those sleeves were part of an elaborate ensemble designed to display the Queen’s magnificence, as seen here in the Armada portrait.

 In the later years of Elizabeth’s reign similar voluminous sleeves were an important part of court fashion. Ladies like Sir Walter Raleigh’s wife, Bess Throckmorton — pictured here in 1595 — wore these rather uncomfortable looking sleeves, which must surely …

Who was the other Katherine Champernowne? Who was Kat Ashley?

(Portrait sourced via Wikimedia commons from the collection of Lord Hastings  - thought to be Kat Champernowne/Ashley (Astley).)

It’s well known that a woman named Katherine Champernowne, later the wife of John Ashley (Astley), was governess for the future Queen Elizabeth I. Many people recognise her as ‘Kat’, although those closest to her may have actually called her Kate. I have therefore continued to use Kat, both here and in my novel A Woman of …