Category: Travel

brochure for Chedworth Roman Villa
Posted in Travel, Writing

My Inspiring Research Trip to Chedworth Roman Villa

Posted on by Debbie Young

Following an afternoon out at Chedworth Roman Villa this week, my head is still full of ancient Rome, and in particular of Roman mosaics. 

I went to Chedworth Roman Villa as a research trip for the novel I’m currently writing, Death at the Village Knitting Circle.  As all my novels are set in the present day, the relevance of the ancient Romans may not be obvious. However, the knitting circle meets in the education room of the new Roman museum in Little Pride – the setting for my Cotswold Curiosity Shop cosy mystery series.

Continue reading “My Inspiring Research Trip to Chedworth Roman Villa” →

drawing of Wendlebury Barrow by T E Shepherd
Posted in Personal life, Travel, Writing

Funny Village Names in the Cotswolds

Posted on by Debbie Young

You don’t have to go very far in Britain to find funny village names, nor on my own patch in the Cotswolds. One reason is that many names have evolved from ancient forms of English and other languages. Over time, they take on new meanings that bear no relation to their original designation.

For example, whereas Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter sound like villages you might encounter in a Hammer Horror film, they’re idyllic beauty spots, whose name derives from the Old English word “slohtre”, which means “wet land”. That meaning makes much more sense, given that they are set on the River Eye, and include a ford.

photo of ford and cottages at Upper Slaughter - a classic funny village name in the Cotswolds
Upper Slaughter – with not a drop of blood in sight (Photo attribution: Bs0u10e01, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons)

Continue reading “Funny Village Names in the Cotswolds” →

photo of my reading chair surrounded by other interesting artefacts
Posted in Reading, Travel, Writing

The Joys of Armchair Travel

Posted on by Debbie Young

After having to cancel a planned mini-break in Bruges due to illness, I’m now settling down into near-hibernation mode for the winter, at least in terms of travel. Not that I have travelled much this year, with short breaks in Norfolk and Scotland. Even so, I’m glad to raise my metaphorical drawbridge and spend a few months on my home turf.

Physically, that is.

Continue reading “The Joys of Armchair Travel” →

cover of vintage hardback of Graham Greene's The End of the Affair
Posted in Events, Reading, Travel, Writing

The Fascination of Secondhand Books

Posted on by Debbie Young

Despite my house already being full of books, with multiple shelves in every room, I can never resist the draw of secondhand books, whether from a dedicated seller of used books or from a charity shop. Whenever I go on holiday, whether for a long or short break, there seems to be an unwritten rule that I must return with at least one book for every day spent away from home.

My recent trip to visit my aunt in London resulted in a five-book haul from charity shops, plus one volume purchased from a purveyor of new books, to salve my conscience for buying so many secondhand. It’s important to support independent booksellers too. (That’s my excuse, anyway.) Continue reading “The Fascination of Secondhand Books” →