Darlington

I just visited Darlington, where I have a few scenes in An Unlikely Countess. In fact, that's where the weddings -- one and a half, or half and a one -- take place, in St Cuthbert's church. This turned out to be a fabulous old church. I love how in England one stumbles across these gems just anywhere. What's more, the action I had set in the book works with the structure, which is one of the things I needed to check. "St. Cuthbert's Collegiate Church, which, next to Durham Cathedral, is the most beautiful church in the county, is supposed to have been erected by Bishop Pudsey. In reference to this fine example of early architecture, it was said by the late Sir Gilbert Scott to be "on the whole one of the most uniform parish churches he knew anywhere, and one of the most beautiful." The church is a cruciform structure, with a tower and spire rising from the intersection of the nave and transepts." [From History, Topography and Directory of Durham, Whellan , London, 1894]" I'll have some pictures when I get home, but here's one oldish one I'm not sure when the spire went on, but it's not original. It was a square tower, and the spire almost wrecked the place. That end of the church has a shift from the weight. A lesson to all "improvers!" On to Northallerton today, where the book now opens. yes, if you've read the beginning in The Secret Duke it was Guisborough, or Gisborough. That's a lovely old town and I wanted to use it, but the travel logistics wouldn't work. Northallerton was an important place on the Great North Road. More later, Jo