My
Welsh Inspiration
By Louise Marley
I was born in Southampton, which is a
busy city on the south coast of England. All my ancestors were born in
Southampton and I’d have been quite happy to have stayed in Southampton – except
I married a man with wanderlust in his soul and ended up in rural Wales.
When the sun is shining there is no
place more beautiful than Wales. When it’s pouring with rain there’s no place
more beautiful than Wales either, it’s just a bit harder to appreciate it.
Wales has snow-capped mountains that loom out at you from the mist, lush green
valleys and pretty little glens that look as though they’re missing a fairy or
two. You can hardly turn around without falling over a castle. There are 427 of
them – some built by the Welsh princes to defend their land from the English,
others built by the English to help conquer the Welsh. There are sandy beaches
that stretch for miles and an awful
lot of sheep.
This photograph shows one
of the most famous views in Wales. The cottage is called Tu
Hwnt i’r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) and it is a lot older than the bridge beside
it. As soon as I saw Tu Hwnt i’r Bont I knew I'd have to write a story about it
and I used it as the location for Kat's coffee shop and bookstore in Something Wicked. In my story the
cottage was home to a 17th century witch but in reality Tu Hwnt i’r Bont was built in 1480 before being turned into
a courthouse. Over the years the house fell into disrepair before being
acquired by the National Trust and turned into tearooms. If you were to see Tu Hwnt i’r Bont in the summer, the house
would be covered – and I mean covered – in lush green Virginia
creeper. In the autumn it looks even more fabulous, because the creeper turns a
beautiful scarlet.
Tu Hwnt i’r Bont is not the first real-life
place I’ve used for inspiration in my books. I previously lived in a house overlooking
the Menai Straits, which had a beautiful view of Penrhyn Castle and the
mountains beyond. Penrhyn started off as a fortified manor house with a tower
and chapel sometime in the early 1400s. Over the years it was enlarged and
improved until in the early 1800s it was completely transformed into the
massive Norman style castle you can see in this photo, although part of the
medieval tower and chapel still remain. The place absolutely fascinated me and
I used it as inspiration for Hurst Castle in a murder-mystery I wrote called Nemesis. I even mention the tower and
the chapel, as well as the walled ‘secret’ garden.
Wales is the kind of place
where it’s impossible not to be
inspired. I love going for walks in the hills and forests, and it was on one of
these walks I stumbled across a ruined Jacobean manor house, completely hidden
from view. Despite the trees growing through the floors there were patches of
elegant plasterwork to be seen on the walls and a cooking pot still left on the
stove. It was like Sleeping Beauty’s castle, just waiting to be discovered –
and a story, just waiting to be written!
About
the Author
Louise Marley writes romantic comedy and
romantic suspense, and sometimes she mixes the two. She lives in Wales,
surrounded by fields of sheep, and has a beautiful view of Snowdon from her
window. Her first published novel was Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes, which was a finalist in Poolbeg’s ‘Write a Bestseller’
competition. She has also written articles for the Irish press and short
stories for UK women’s magazines such as Take
a Break and My Weekly.
Website: http://www.louisemarley.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouiseMarley
@LouiseMarley
Something Wicked by Louise Marley
Evil can be tempting …
Katrina Davenport has opened a coffee shop and bookstore in the
notorious Raven’s Cottage, once the home of a 17th century witch known as Magik
Meg. The locals have told Kat stories, of how the cottage is haunted by the
witch and her demon lover, but Kat doesn’t believe in witches, or ghosts, or
anything that goes bump in the dead of night. Every strange thing that happened
since she moved in must have a perfectly logical explanation.
Unfortunately it doesn’t really matter what Kat believes, because
something wicked has returned to Raven’s Cottage.
And this time it’s come for Kat.
Buy Links
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beautifull !!!!!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree :).
DeleteThank you, Rosa!
DeleteSound like great books.
ReplyDeleteThey totally are, Tanya! ;-)
DeleteI agree. I'm from Sussex, but my family used to holiday in north Wales all the time when I was a child. Last year I took my own family back there (husband is Welsh, but had never been!) and they loved it. Favourite place? Beddgelert. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love Beddgelert, Wendy Lou! My friend Juliet Greenwood wrote a post about it for Novelista Ink: http://novelistasink.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/using-myths-and-legends-in-storytelling.html
DeleteI have lived in Penarth, South Wales for ten years now but, when we lived in The Midlands, we spent many wonderful holidays in North Wales. You are right that there is something magical about it even in the rain. Among my favourite places are Porthmadog, Beddgelert and, of course, Snowdonia. We did a lot of walking there.
ReplyDeleteI used to be able to see the sun glinting off the visitors' centre on the very top of Snowdon from my study window. It's truly beautiful here. I'm very lucky x
DeleteI'm in west Wales - my tenth year here and I count my blessings every day! We can just see the top of Snowdon from an upstairs window, but we overlook Cardigan bay.
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful place to live, isn't it Chris? I didn't realise you could see Snowdon from that far away! I 'climbed' it once (on the train!) with my son but sadly it was an overcast day so we could only see glimpses of Anglesey and not much else :-(
DeleteI envy you your view of Snowdon, even though I'm only a few steps away from a view of Pen Y Fan. Love the book, by the way- great blurb!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elizabeth! It is amazing, particularly when there is snow on the top (like last week) and the sun is shining!
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