Rachel Knowles's Blog, page 16

St George's Hanover Square

The most fashionable church in Regency London was without doubt St George’s Hanover Square – the parish church of Mayfair. Its most famous parishioner was the composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) who regularly worshipped there.

History

As the population of London grew, the nobility and gentry moved away from the business centre of the City. Mayfair, to the west, became a fashionable place to live. Hanover Square, built between 1716 and 1720, was the first square...

Sophie Andrews aka Laughing With Lizzie becomes an ambassador for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation

Today, I welcome Sophie Andrews, author of the Laughing With Lizzie blog, to talk about her exciting new role in the world of Jane Austen.

Thank you very much, Rachel, for allowing me to visit your blog today, to make my very special announcement! In fact, rather than making my own announcement, I am going to let the wonderful Caroline Jane Knight, Jane...

Who would enjoy reading A Perfect Match?

How can I persuade you to read my book?

I guess that is the question that every author asks. Enough people have read A Perfect Match and told me that they like it for me to be sure that there will be others who will enjoy it too. But how do I find that audience?
Perhaps it would help if I tried to define who I think might enjoy my book. I think you might enjoy my book if:

• You like reading Jane Austen - and I mean reading the books and not just watching the film/TV versions. Not that I would da...

Goodreads giveaway of A Perfect Match

I have just launched a giveaway of my historical romance novel, A Perfect Match, over on the Goodreads website.


How can I persuade you to give my book a go? 

I guess that is the question that every author asks. Enough people have read A Perfect Match and told me that they like it for me to be sure that there will be others who will enjoy it too. But how do I find that audience?

Jane Austen Festival 2015 Regency Promenade in Bath

On Saturday 12 September, hundreds of Regency and Jane Austen fans gathered at the Assembly Rooms in Bath for the start of the annual Regency-costumed Jane Austen Festival parade. The weather forecast was not the brilliant sunshine we had hoped for and last minute decisions had to be made as to whether to carry an umbrella or not. A heavy shower of rain shortly before the parade was about to begin caught out a few latecomers,...

Dr Johnson's House Museum - a Regency History Guide

After walking a long way to visit various small museums in London, Rachel and I found ourselves around the corner from 17 Gough Square, historic home of Dr Samuel Johnson. It seemed a sensible opportunity to take a look at this Georgian relic and small museum.

Where is it?

Dr Johnson's House Museum is just off Fleet Street, on Gough...

A la Ronde – a Regency History guide

Where is it?

A la Ronde is a 16-sided house near Exmouth, Devon, owned by the National Trust.

The Parminters of A la Ronde

The story of A la Ronde starts in 1784 when a group of single ladies went on the Grand Tour. The party consisted of Jane Parminter (1750-1811), her sister Elizabeth (1756-91) (1), her cousin’s orphaned daughter Mary Parminter (1767-1849) and another single lady, Miss Colville. The tour was financed...

A Social History of Tea by Jane Pettigrew and Bruce Richardson - a review

This is a comprehensive study of the growth of tea drinking in England with added sections in this new edition from Bruce Richardson about the history of tea in America. The book starts with the origins of tea and takes you through the centuries, right up to the present day with the development of specialist tea houses like Comins Tea House in Sturminster Newton, Dorset, where I bought this book.
The book is divided up by century and within these chapters, it looks at different subjects such a...

A Royal Welcome - 2015 exhibition at Buckingham Palace

This summer’s exhibition at Buckingham Palace gives visitors a taste of what it is like to be an official guest at the palace. Andrew and I were invited to a bloggers’ breakfast last week to view the exhibition with a guided tour by curator Anna Reynolds. We were extremely privileged to be allowed to take photos in many of the rooms—not something that is nor...

Travelling chariots

One of the subjects I had to research for A Perfect Match was travel. Right at the start of my book, I needed to move Mrs Westlake and her daughter from Oxfordshire to London. Obviously they would travel by horse-drawn vehicle, but what type of carriage would they have used and how would this have been accomplished?

To help me with my research, I visited the National Trust Carriage Museum at Arlington Court in Devon and the Red House Stables in the Peak District in Derbyshir...