KING ARTHUR, HIS KNIGHTS & THAT ROUND TABLE ...

Linked to Scenic Weekends,Shadow Shot Sunday,Straight out of the Camera Sunday,Our Beautiful World,I heart Macro,Macro Monday,Monday Mellow Yellows,Blue Monday,Ruby Tuesday and Alphabe-Thursday where *K* is for

 *K*ing Arthur, Jane Austen & other denizens of Hampshire ...

Hampshire, a county on the south coast of the UK, has at its heart the county town of Winchester, the former capital city of England.

It has a number of points of interest (apart from being the setting of my latest thriller, Retribution (here and in sidebar opposite!) in particular:

The Great Hall & King Arthur’s Round Table (detail above & below inside The Great Hall)

 

The Great Hall, “one of the finest surviving aisled halls of the 13th century”, contains the greatest symbol of medieval mythology, King Arthur's Round Table, and is all that now remains of Winchester Castle. The Castle was originally constructed for William the Conqueror in 1067 to help secure his hold on the city after the Norman Conquest. It housed important aspects of government such as the Treasury and the Exchequer.

Whilst Lancelot and Guinevere were canoodling just good friends in Camelot, Cornwall (don't believe everything you read in medieval tabloids!), Arthur was secretly cavorting and playing away from home busy with his Knights of the Round Table here in Winchester.  

According to legend, the Round Table (inscribed with their names) is the the one around which King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table met, and famous for centuries for its associations with the legendary 'Once and Future King'. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status.

 Winchester Cathedral

God Begot House, Winchester

Highclere Castle – location of TV’s Downton Abbey

St Catherine’s Hill – an early Iron Age hillfort

HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson’s flagship (Portsmouth)

Jane Austen’s house/ museum

Ruins like: King Johns’ Castle, Odiham

Lots of thatched cottages like this one in Wherwell

Attractive villages like Hurstbourne Priors

And bluebells at dawn as here in Micheldever Woods

See sidebar or click HERE (Amazon UK), HERE (Amazon.com), HERE (Goodreads) and HERE for reviews and further shameless self-promotion! Thanks so much for your support!

Do check out other posts @ Alphabe-Thursday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday2, Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, I Heart Macro,Our Beautiful World &.

And, finally, thank you to all our dear readers who visited or commented.

Enjoy!

NORA & LOLA:)

IMAGES FROM DEBUT NOVEL: THE DE CLERAMBAULT CODE ...

IMAGES FROM MY FIRST PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE NOVEL

Set in the shadow of Regent’s Park, my very first novel - THE DE CLERAMBAULT CODE - throws a special spotlight on this pocket of North West London.

Firstly, let’s take a look at Regents Park itself, a favoured all-year-round place for reflection for the novel’s protagonist, Laura Hill.

The park has an outer ring road called the Outer Circle (4.3 km) and an inner ring road, the Inner Circle, which surrounds the most carefully tended section of the park, Queen Mary's Gardens. Apart from two link roads between these two, the park is reserved for pedestrians. The south, east and most of the west side of the park are lined with elegant white stucco terraces of houses designed by John Nash. Running through the northern end is Regent's Canal which connects the Grand Union Canal to the former London Docks. The 166 hectares (410 acres) park is mainly open parkland with a wide range of amenities including gardens, a lake and a boating area. The northern side is the home of the London Zoo. There are several public gardens with flowers and specimen plants, especially Queen Mary's Gardens in the Inner Circle - where the Open Air Theatre is also located (snapped below from an air balloon)

The seasons snapped by Laura in Queen Mary’s Gardens (within the Inner Circle):

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

           Laura, herself, lives at Redhill Place (below) off Albany Street:

                                            To the east of the Park: 

       She runs the Hampstead English Language Academy on West End Lane, 
                                         near the Finchley Road:  

      The local bookshop, West End Lane Books, has been the spot of many

                 book signings like this one for crime novelist, Ian Rankin:

  Hampstead Heath – another favourite destination for reflection and jogging 
                                      (the City in the background)

                          Later in the novel, Laura travels to Croatia,
                          specifically to the walled city of Dubrovnik

                                      Then to the island of Korkula

                              And to the medieval village of Mali Ston 
                              (and its ominous castle in the background)
                               on the edge of the Peljesac Peninsula

          Towards the end of the novel and in mourning, Laura travels to Venice

   And to Torcello, specifically, the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta di Torcello

 With its world-famous mosaics - which lead Laura to her ultimately fateful decision 
                                               (no spoilers here!) 

                                                                                          
As you know, all profits from the sale of all my novels, The De Clerambault Code, Soul Stealer and Retribution go to the charity Cudeca - see sidebar opposite (www.cudeca.org).

See sidebar or click HERE (Amazon UK), HERE (Amazon.com), HERE (Goodreads) and HERE for reviews and further shameless self-promotion! Thanks so much for your support!


N.B. Images from my two other novels are HERE (Soul Stealer) and HERE (Retribution).

And thriller number 4 - set in the UK's beautiful Peak District and the latest in the Alice Myers crime series - will be available soon both in paperback and on Kindle like its predecessors!

Enjoy!

NORA

ISLE OF WIGHT ...

This week, dear readers, we'll let the images speak for themselves: 

Linked to Scenic Weekends, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Our Beautiful World, Monday Mellow Yellows, Blue Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday and Alphabe-Thursday where *I* is for Isle of Wight, UK ...

Cowes Week Annual Regatta (top -and no, not selfies!)

Ventnor 

Sandown

Freshwater Bay

The Needles

Queen Victoria’s Osborne House, East Cowes

                                                                          Linked to Macro Monday2, I heart Macro
Ryde

Do check out other posts @ Alphabe-Thursday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday2, Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, I Heart Macro,Our Beautiful World &.

And, finally, thank you to all our dear readers who visited or commented.

Enjoy!

XOXO NORA & LOLA:)