What can be more inspiring for Regency and JAFF writers than the great country houses where Mr and Mrs Darcy might have stayed in the delightful season of their courtship, or as blissfully happy newlyweds?

​As always, I find them everywhere I go, and I love to sit and scribble in some quiet corner and imagine them strolling along secluded paths or seeking refuge in some walled garden to steal a kiss or two. 

Many thanks to all the entrants in the Rafflecopter Giveaway for the launch of 'Miss Darcy's Companion' in Audible, on my blog page and at 'Austenesque Reviews', 'Just Jane 1813', 'From Pemberley to Milton' and 'Obsessed with Mr Darcy'!

Drum roll for the Winners!

Winners of the signed paperbacks (Leah and Glynis) and of the Pemberley, Bath & Chawton goodie bag (DarcyBennet) - please contact me on Facebook Messenger or via the 'Contact' tab on my website (www.joanastarnes.co.uk) with your mailing address.

Winners of the Audible download codes for Stevie Zimmerman's production of 'Miss Darcy's Companion' (Gabriela, Kasia, Sheila, Susanne, Denise, Laurie, Desiree, Bethany, Stephanie, Sonia) - please contact me by Facebook Messenger or via my website to let me know if you are using Audible.com or Audible UK, and I will send the site-specific codes by email, at the address provided in the Rafflecopter giveaway (or please let me know if you'd like me to use a different email address).

Many thanks again for taking part in the giveaway, have a wonderful December and a very happy New Year!

Now that the days are short and they start with mist and end with rain, and you’re wondering how on earth you’ll be able to finish everything that needs doing at this time of year, maybe a little spell in our happy place will take your mind off the festive season conundrums, and drive the winter chill away, too.

What works for me every time is Pemberley and the Darcys (now that’s a surprise – not!)

Will we ever tire of their beautiful love-story, and of imagining all sorts of ways their courtship could progress towards the happily ever after?

I don’t think so – after all, we haven’t managed to in 200 years, and the what if’s are so tantalising!

I can’t wait for the holidays, so that I finally get the chance to catch up with my ever-growing TBR list, and thank goodness for audio-books!

One amazing Christmas present in 2016 opened the door into that magical land for me (WOW, Mira!), and in 2017, thanks to Rita Deodato and Stevie Zimmerman, my own books made it into the world of Audible.

​In her narrations, Stevie Zimmerman brings the story and the characters to life, her inimitable style enhances their every emotion, and her Mr Darcy is utterly irresistible! ​She portrays      his trademark blend of passion and restraint to perfection, and in doing so, touches every chord of your heart.

That was the case for all of my books that she has narrated, and the sample from the latest, Miss Darcy’s Companion, will show you what I mean.

You can listen to it here, to hear Darcy’s reaction when he discovers his true feelings, in a moment of crisis.

Exploring the premise of Miss Darcy’s Companion was very rewarding. I always love to imagine them cutting to the chase, bypassing some of the obstacles and getting to bask in their happily ever after just that little bit sooner. Take for instance the Meryton Assembly. It was masterful, from beginning to end: the embarrassing Bennets, the arrogant newcomers (except sweet, lovely Mr Bingley) and of course the gratuitous insult that, from the very beginning, tainted Elizabeth’s view of Mr Darcy. But I must admit, I love the variations where they don’t get off on the wrong foot, which is one of the reasons I couldn’t resist the temptation to write one where Elizabeth meets Darcy at his best, not his worst. She sees him on his own territory, where he isn’t weighed and measured as a potential prize, where he has no need to play a part, and is free to be himself: a loving brother, a fair and considerate master, and an eminently nice man (albeit a little too masterful and self-confident, but who can blame him?)
 
Of course, that premise introduces other obstacles, such as the even greater disparity in their stations, which would influence the battle between head and heart.
 
Stevie Zimmerman exquisitely gives voice to Mr Darcy’s dilemma, as both he and Elizabeth embark on their separate journeys of self-discovery, while alongside them Georgiana blossoms from a shy girl into a confident young woman (and Wickham can’t resist throwing a few spanners in the works).
 
For a chance to sit back while Stevie brings the story to life, or win a signed paperback of 'Miss Darcy’s Companion,' please enter the international GIVEAWAY, and the very best of luck!

Please follow the blog tour for more chances to win. The posts, kindly hosted by Meredith Esparza, Claudine Dimuzio Pepe, Rita Deodato and Mira Magdo, will take you on a trip into Darcy Wonderland, reveal a conversation with Miss Darcy, tell you more about the audio-book backstory and what comes next, and ensure you’re all prepared for THE Chocolate Rating.
 
You can find out more on:
 
27 Nov 2017 – Austenesque Reviews
29 Nov 2017 – Just Jane 1813
30 Nov 2017 – From Pemberley to Milton
2 Dec 2017 – Obsessed with Mr Darcy
 
Thanks for reading, best of luck in the Giveaway, and have a magical December!

​Photos © J Starnes

​This time I ventured all the way to the battered western shoreline, to the famed Tin Coast near St Just, where to this day we can still see poignant and impressive monuments to industry, ingenuity and grim determination; where people have toiled for generations, and few – the very few and very, very lucky – have made staggering fortunes.

Such was the case of Stephen Harvey James from Botallack Manor Farm – “a local Poldark figure”, a National Trust information board tells us. When the mine workings at Botallack had apparently become exhausted, he stepped in to try to rescue the mine. For five years this seemed a dreadfully bad investment. The mine kept emptying the shareholders’ pockets and eventually the agent reported that “he knew not where to find two penny weight of ore in the mine.” Mere days later the tributers cut a rich lode of copper which over the following 12 months yielded a profit of £24,000 (over £2,400,000 in today’s money). Two decades later there were 500 people and 11 steam engines working at the mine.
 
It’s easy to believe that this story might have inspired Winston Graham when he wrote about Capt. Poldark’s changing fortunes. And what better location for the family mines of Wheal Leisure (in real life Wheal Owles) and Grambler (Wheal Crowns)? 

​If you have a good head for heights and aren’t particularly fazed by sheer drops you can make your way along a narrow footpath from the upper engine house of Wheal Crowns to the lower – both hanging to the cliffs in defiance of centuries of raging storms. 

​If you’d rather have a wider stretch of ground underfoot, you can still brave the extremely picturesque coastal path, where every step along the way entices you with glimpses of romantic coves (which, by the bye, are far too dangerous for swimming. If you’re thinking of the famous swimming scene you might wish to visit Porthgwarra Beach further south, on the St Aubyn Estates).

You can find out more about the filming locations here, and then arm yourself with a camera and a pasty and go on Poldark walks.

​​Or you could visit the delightful little port of Charlestown to see the ships at anchor, stroll along the Georgian quay and treat yourself to a jolly dinner at The Rashley.

Other locations are a long way from Cornwall. Trenwith (Chavenage House) is near the Cotswolds. Some of the Truro scenes might have been filmed in Charlestown, but others were shot 150 miles away in Wiltshire, in the charming market town of Corsham, not far from 1995 Meryton, a.k.a Lacock.

I have not visited Nampara yet, nor Godolphin House, used as the home of Francis Poldark in the original series, but they're both on next summer's list. By the way, did you know that you can actually stay at Godolphin, this hugely atmospheric 17th century manor house?

​​So what do you think, are you tempted to don your best apparel and have an Early Georgian house party at Godolphin? Or is your heart forever set on the Regency and Pemberley?

I am delighted to visit Joana’s blog today with my new book “Mr Darcy’s Guide to Pemberley”.

Joana is a very dear friend of mine and her support has been absolutely invaluable in bringing this book to you. Ever since I shared with her my secret about writing the book, Joana never allowed me to lose my focus or my heart about it. There were some tough times during the process when I felt like giving up, but Joana never lost her optimism and belief in the book and encouraged me every step of the way.
​
In two years that we’ve known each other we visited together so many wonderful Jane Austen–related places: from Lydia’s Brighton, to Mr Darcy’s Pemberley, from Catherine’s Bath to Jane’s very own Chawton. 

One of my fondest memories along the way is that of visiting Pemberley with Joana and Mira Magdo. I suppose, we just had to meet on that path one day, for all roads lead to Pemberley…

Indeed, they do. At least - for any dedicated (read - obsessed) Jane Austen and Pride & Prejudice 1995 fan.

And, you will not be surprised, I am sure, that a person, who started a Facebook Page about Elizabeth Bennet’s life after her marriage to Mr Darcy, and continues to work on that page religiously 5 years later, - is a dedicated fan. Or enthusiast – pick your own noun.

However, no matter how many times one watched BBC’s P&P and re-read The Book, life adds its corrections to one’s travel schedule. As it happens – I only managed to travel to Pemberley for the first time about 4 years ago.

I planned my trip meticulously: a train to Manchester, from there – to Stockport and Disley; all train times written down neatly on a folded sheet of paper, pages of maps printed from the internet, a sketchpad and pencils in my bag – everything ready for my big adventure at Pemberley.

For weeks before the trip I was trying to imagine my feelings when I would see the gates of Pemberley for the first time, seriously believing that I might be in tears when it happened.

Well… I planned it all, but didn’t count on one simple thing – Disley is a small village and there is no taxi rank at the station. It might not be a deal breaker for the vast majority of people, but I, as it happened, had an injured knee at the time and walking was not my forte. In vain I struggled to connect to the internet and call a taxi, nothing was available. I had to resort to walking along the main road, following the directions on my map. It was an early summer’s day, warm and dry, large heavy loaded lorries passed me in both directions, lifting into the air clouds of fine road dust, leaving fumes of diesel in their wake. No matter how hard I tried to imagine myself being Elizabeth Bennet on one of her long walks – the image was repeatedly ruined by the next heavy truck speeding along the road.
​
It took me a while to reach the gates of the Lyme Park (Pemberley) estate, and I turned off the main road onto a smaller one, shaded by trees on both side, promising some respite from the sun and dust.

​One thing I underestimated, just like Elizabeth on her first visit to Pemberley, was the size of the vast estate. From the main gates the road continued for miles, as I felt it, or rather my knee did. I looked enviously at cars passing me on their way to Lyme Park, ready to partake in its delights. I carried on along the road, trying to ignore my aching knee and wishing only for one thing – to reach a place I could sit down and have some rest.
​
When, at last, I glimpsed the walls of Pemberley in the distance, the only tears to blur my vision were the tears of pain, bud – alas – not of sentimental delight. By this time I didn’t feel like a romantic heroine at all. I suppose, I could have pretended to be Marianne Dashwood with her twisted ankle, but as no handsome scoundrel rushed to my rescue, this scenario didn’t quite work.

This painful walk made such an impression on me that when, months later, I started working on “Mr Darcy’s Guide to Pemberley” I felt it necessary to warn my readers of the potential difficulties of the walk, writing something like “the walk from Lambton is quite manageable for an experienced walker”.

It made my husband laugh when he read it.
“You mean, it is OK, unless you have an injured joint or two?” he asked. “Exactly!” I replied, but removed the sentence from the book.

Nevertheless, I feel that I should forewarn any particular pilgrims of the future – the walk along the main road is not the most pleasant. There are some other back roads and paths however. They are all approximately 2 miles long, or just over. They are more picturesque than the road I took, but do wear comfortable shoes.

However, if you prefer to call a taxi, you can do nowadays!  On our last visit we used Lynx Taxis of Stockport (+44 161 480 5000), you can even download their app on your phone (http://www.lynxtaxis.uk/). They were pretty efficient and turned up quickly even at short notice. I am not on any commission from them, of course, just sharing my experience :) 

Many people asked me whether it is easy to get to Lyme Park without a car. It is, actually.

You need to take a train to Stockport – most trains from London to Manchester stop at Stockport. The trains go from London Euston and take exactly 2 hours. You change at Stockport and take a train to Disley. It actually goes to Buxton – that what you need to look for on the departure screens, but you alight at Disley after only 20 min. The train goes once an hour, so there might be time for a cup of coffee at the station café.

From Disley Station – as I said before – you either walk or call a taxi that will bring you right to Lyme Hall ( aka Pemberley House) in a mere 5-6 min. Easy!

Once at Pemberley, you won’t need my directions, because now its Master himself invites you to take a turn in the grounds of his house.

Visit Pemberley’s gardens, woods and lake sides, see the house from every angle, accompanied by Mr Darcy’s commentaries and explanations; learn about the history of his family, and share his memories of meeting Elizabeth by the giant lime tree back in 1812.
​
The book is available for pre-order: https://gumroad.com/pemberleybooks

About the book:

Sumptuously presented, to make sure it does justice to the stunning place it describes, this book is the first and only of its kind. It is only available as a hardback, wrapped in a smooth dustcover with gold emboss. Inside, the book is printed on high quality silky paper with full colour paintings adorning every page.

Hand-drawn maps help you to find your way around Mr Darcy’s extensive estate and perfectly imagine every detail as if you were walking the garden paths beside your generous (and handsome!) host.

I'll tell you a secret, when I brought my specifications to the printers their reply was: "Sounds like a nice book with every high priced print process known to man and the most expensive paper you can buy." That scared me a little, but I had to stick to it to do justice to the beautiful place this book is about.

Here goes:
- It is a hardback, landscape, 28x21 cm.
- Dust cover with gold emboss.
- Satin paper.
- Full colour throughout.
- 108 pages, with illustrations practically on every page.

Because the book will be expensive to print - we are looking first of all to fulfilling the pre-orders. How many will remain available for general sale - I am not sure.

I will be donating 10% of any profit

made on this book to the
​
Jane Austen Literacy Foundation.

​Over the years I tried to visit as many places connected to Jane Austen as possible, but for quite some time I stayed away from Winchester, not really wishing to see the place where her journey untimely ended.

But I still approached it with the old reluctance on the day of the commemoration (as you might have gathered from my last blog post).

Thankfully I needn’t have worried. I didn’t even need the dark glasses in the cathedral, during the service – except for a minute or so, when Jane Austen’s prayer was read. Despite the solemnity of the event, it was a celebration of her life and legacy. The cathedral was full to capacity, the service was beautiful, heartfelt and warm, and the choice to include one of Jane Austen’s own prayers was a wonderful touch and deeply moving.

​If you’ve read them before you already know – if not, you can easily imagine – that there are no flourishes in them, no wordy embellishments, just the warmth and common sense we find in everything she wrote. Which is probably why her prayer spoke directly to the soul when she gave thanks for all blessings, for “all hours of safety, health and peace, of domestic comfort and innocent enjoyment” and prayed for mercy to all mankind and “the safety and welfare of family and friends, wheresoever dispersed.”

Just as I had hoped, a great number of friends were gathered there, and it was such a great joy to share this moment with them, and then see them again in Chawton on the following day.

​We had all sorts of thoughts for the rest of the day, like stopping in tranquil Steventon where Jane Austen’s earliest novels took shape, and if the house where she began to write First Impressions is no longer standing, at least the church where she worshipped still is.

​​I wish we could go there, and then finish the day with the planned pyjama party and some more Darcy champagne (yes, I had to stock up on that when I first saw it in the shops!)

But I simply couldn’t turn down the awesome opportunity to appear on BBC Breakfast News on the following morning along with my friend Sophie Andrews, Austen blogger at Laughing with Lizzie and Zack MacLeod Pinsent, the fascinating Regency tailor featured on My Friend Jane. So there we were, Sophie and I, hopping on a train to Manchester at incredibly short notice, so that we could be there, ready and waiting, on the following morning.
 
It was an absolutely surreal experience to arrive in the studios (not quite at the crack of dawn, but close enough), be treated to a session of professional styling and find ourselves on the very famous couch, talking to Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty about how Jane Austen and her world became a way of life for us. 

If the vast majority of people are incredulous, bemused or amused about our choices and her overwhelming influence on us and what we do, Janeites need no further explanation to understand what makes us tick, because the same great lady hugely influences them too.
 
So, just as most of us have always wished, this isn’t just the year when we commemorate her passing, but a time to remember that her legacy has endured for 200 hundred years, that her work is not merely relevant to us today, but celebrated more than it has ever been, and hopefully it will still be celebrated for many years to come. What she would have made of it all we’ll never know. Maybe she would have also been amused, bemused or incredulous. But I dearly hope she’d also be pleased.

By the time this post goes live I will most likely be on the way to Winchester for the commemoration at the Cathedral – and a few minutes into that I’ll probably be in floods of tears, so I’d better remember to pack some dark glasses.
 
I do wish this year was the one when we celebrate the birth of this wonderful lady, rather than the year when we commemorate her passing. Nevertheless, it’s wonderful to see her in the limelight for whatever reason, see her featuring on national news, on the new banknote, and also have adaptations and Regency documentaries broadcast in great number, which hasn’t happened over the last few years, and isn't likely to happen again until 2075.

It’s also very good to remember that I’m not going to Winchester just to witness a solemn event, but to meet with other people like myself, for whom Jane is a constant presence, and her world a way of life.

​I think that as well as a brilliant body of work, Jane Austen’s great legacy to the world is this wonderful ability to bring people together.

Few things are better than spending the day with friends – and one of them is spending a day with like-minded friends in a special place we all love.

A few days ago I had the great pleasure of finally meeting Christina Boyd face-to-face and visiting Jane’s house together, along with Mira Magdo from ‘Obsessed with Mr Darcy’.

It was a delight to work with Christina on ‘The Darcy Monologues’ and to chat with her online, but just as I imagined, meeting her face-to-face was even better.



​What a fun day of chats and giggles as we made lavender bags, explored the cottage and the exquisite Great House and made jaw-dropping discoveries in intriguing places!

​It’s always wonderful to walk down the paths Jane had walked and take in the magic of the place she used to call home.

Jane’s house was as charming as ever. Perhaps even more so, because now two of the rooms in the house have been restored to their Regency glory.

Thanks to some very fortunate finds it was possible to recreate a look that Jane Austen would have recognised. Fragments of the original wallpaper were discovered behind wood-panels and on the former site of a built-in bookcase. They were analysed and found to match patterns available in 1809. Then they were painstakingly and lovingly reproduced as faithfully as possible, using the original method of block-printing – so that now we have the joy of seeing those two rooms just as they were when Jane lived there.

There is a lovely story about the wallpaper in the upstairs room, and you can read more here about missing rosebuds and wallpaper hung upside down. I was particularly surprised by the soft colours. I once read that, for dresses and home décor alike, the colours were much stronger and vibrant (some would even say garish) to compensate for the low lighting levels. What would look garish in a modern spotlight was soft and pleasing to the eye by candlelight.
 
The newly refurbished rooms in Jane’s house pose no such conundrums, and to say that they are pleasing to the eye is an understatement. I haven’t had the privilege of seeing them by candlelight, but it’s an incredible feeling to think that as she sat to play the piano or write a letter, this is the pattern her eyes had drifted to.

​Equally amazing it is to think that some of the many scraps of cloth incorporated in the famous quilt might have come from dresses she had worn – or at least from dresses that were fashionable at the time when her busy and very clever pen gave us Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.

If there’s a more beautiful and engaging love-story, I haven’t found it yet – and chances are I never will, because I’m far too engrossed by this one. Time for another pilgrimage, I think. Yes, definitely! And I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for visiting Chawton with me – Christina and Mira for real, and everyone who came to read this and join us on the virtual trip!

Bath is one of the places closest to my heart, one I could go back to over and over. Not only because it's exquisite in itself and has a very strong connection to Jane Austen, but because this is how I imagine Regency London might have looked like, were it not for 200 years of inevitable changes.

Today I had the great joy of visiting it again, in wonderful company: Beau North and her friend and travelling companion, Crystal - two amazing ladies who made the trip an absolute delight. I wish I could have stayed all day, but this time I couldn't stretch it too far beyond the end of school hours. Still, the few hours that we had there together couldn't have been better! Bath greeted us with brilliant sunshine that made the beautiful buildings glow - and none more than those in the Royal Crescent.

We walked up the usual route, past the famous bow window in Milsom Street, up the hill towards the Assembly Rooms, stopped to admire the Circus and made a beeline for No. 1 Royal Crescent.

What an amazing place!! You can absorb Georgian lifestyle in every room, but the dining room is out of this world - literally. To say that it's exquisite is simply not enough. I love it! And even more so because every detail of the beautifully ornate table and sideboard brings to mind an elegant, yet quite intimate dinner that our dear Mr and Mrs Darcy might have hosted. You can almost see them sitting to partake of the confectionery that can't fail to please the eye (the palate - not so much; the display is made of silicone and other materials. There are fascinating details in the house about the project undertaken several years ago, when real moulds from the kitchen were used to make working moulds, and the latter used to create the beautifully intricate confectionery).

Across the entrance hall there is the morning parlour, with the table set up for an even more intimate breakfast, and beyond it there is a room where Mr Bennet might have sat to read the paper in peace and quiet whenever he came to visit his favourite daughter - usually unannounced ;) . And alongside there is a writing desk Mr Darcy might have vacated, for Mr Bennet to write home. Not that Mr Bennet would trouble himself to. But he must have used it, because this is where he left his spectacles.

If you climb the very elegant staircase you'll discover the drawing room, and you might be treated to some musical entertainment (this time we weren't; the photo on the left is an older one, from last year's Jane Austen Festival).

The tour then takes you down a far less glamourous staircase towards the kitchen and the servants' quarters. The kitchen is a delight, full of all manner of implements, from moulds to sugar clippers, coffee roaster and spinach mashers. And nearby is the housekeeper's parlour, where we can picture Mrs Reynolds sitting to do the household accounts or have a well-deserved rest and a cup of tea when the day's work is done.

It was a lovely tour, and great fun to share it with Beau and Crystal! I wish I could have joined them for lunch at Sally Lunn's, but we enjoyed the No 1 Royal Crescent tour SO much, we simply couldn't just zoom through it, and soon after that I had to catch a train back.

Lovely ladies, I hope your lunch was delicious, that you enjoyed your time in Bath as much as I did, and that you come back soon. Nudge, wink, I hear Bath is fabulous at Christmas, and real and very yummy goodies are baked in the kitchens of No 1 Royal Crescent!