Back Home Again

As John Denver would have said, I'm Back Home Again. We finally took a much deserved and much needed break after several years of not having one. And nope, it wasn't some sun soaked island in the Tropics, it was something far more interesting!

We took a bit of a literary break. Sort of. Having booked off just under a week to mooch about, we set off early on a Monday morning to visit The Harry Potter Studio Tour. I had no idea this even existed until a short time ago when I saw a scrapbook page about it on Shimelle's blog. It only opened in June this year and features some of the actual sets, props and technology used in the enormously successful films. One point that had me erring on the decision as to whether to go or not was the price. It is expensive to get in. Much too expensive. The only reason we did it was because this was our first proper break in 7 years.

Once inside, there is a lot to see. We didn't opt for the audio tour headphones that you can borrow (for a fee!) or the guidebook and found that we didn't miss out. There are a lot of information boards and videos around that give you plenty of guidance. It's well done and fun and even if you're not a total HP nut, it's very enjoyable. But there is that price, and this extends to the gift shop - which is huge! Everything was over priced and, in my opinion, not great quality at all. Throughout the week we visited several other places and all their items were about half the price of the items at this tour. With the amount of people that will go through that tour, and buy items, I think it's a little on the greedy side to charge £28 for an entrance fee for a 3 hour tour. But, having said all that, it was interesting, and fun and if you want to treat yourself, then I think you'll enjoy it.

Throughout the week, we visited Chatsworth, which I can't recommend highly enough. I'd wanted to see it for years, it having been alluded to being the 'Pemberley' Jane Austen had in mind when she wrote Pride & Prejudice. Then of course, it was used for that very setting in the 2005 film of the very same. We spent about 5 hours there, and had a really lovely day. It's a beautiful house, with a real feeling of being a home, despite its size, and the gardens are wonderful, even this late in the year.

Other points of interest were Lyme Park, another 'Pemberley', this time in the BBCs 1995 version, as well as the Bronte Parsonage. This was full of interesting bits and bobs, such as Charlotte's glasses and some clothing - goodness, she had the tiniest feet! It really struck us that we were walking around a house that held such incredible talents, but that all their lives were cut so short, and so tragically. The day we visited, it was a misty, Autumnal morning with a definite chill in the air - all of which seemed to add to the atmosphere of the house. Leaving Haworth we drove over the moors and, although it wasn't the most ideal weather we had in mind, it was easy to imagine Heathcliffe, Cathy and Jane Eyre running across these landscapes.

One of our visits had less of a literary bent, but was nonetheless interesting if you find yourself in Yorkshire on a rainy day, and this was the National Media Museum. We'd been watching 'Who Do You Think You Are' the evening before and Alex Kingston went to the museum to find out more about her grandfather, who had been a photographer. It had the most amazing collection of photography paraphenalia, and has a great amount of information not just on that, but on film, the internet, tv and video games. And for anyone who grew up watching Playschool, let's see if you can name any of these....

Right, well I was going to upload a photo there but it seems Blogger now doesn't want to let its users put images in via the HTML method now, having already seemingly disabled the 'Compose' method some months ago. Come on, Blogger! Get it sorted, please!

So, having dallied about with Harry Potter, Jane Austen, the Bronte's, we came to the conclusion that all the places we went to were well worth a visit, but out of everything, I think Chatsworth comes top of my list.

If you're reading this, thanks for your patience with the gap. Apart from the break, there are some other background things going on, but I'm hoping to get back into the blogging swing alongside them.

Also, the lovely Carol has given me a 'Super Sweet Blogging Award' - thank you, Carol! I will be passing this on via a post shortly!

I'd love to hear if any readers have visited some of the places mentioned above, and what they thought of them. Feel free to leave a comment below! Thanks!

50 Shades of Go Away?

Is it just me, or is anyone else a little teed off with not being able to turn around without bumping into this book, or something related to it?

As always, there are fads of things, and I'm pretty sure this is just another one as the reviews I have seen aren't actually all that good. Possibly the subject matter is more the draw for some than the quality of writing. I can't comment on it personally as I haven't read it, and frankly, don't have an inclination to. Several years back when Dan Brown was the rage with his Catholic Church conspiracies, I decided to try The Da Vinci Code, just so that I wasn't slating it without basis. I wasn't. It was dreadful. In my opinion, anyway. When dialogue needs to be held up with scaffolding, then personally I don't think that's such a great book. But the huge hype was much the same and people bought it by the droves because it was the trend.

The other issue with this latest trend is that publishers are frantically looking elsewhere to see what they can sex up and sell as Erotica. And, apparently, they have no boundaries, because they are going for the Classics! Yes, on your local bookshop's shelves shortly will be erotic versions of truly wonderful books like Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Jane Eyre - all great favourites of mine, and perfect just as they are! The relationships in them are of their time, although the feelings are just as relevant today. The moral and expected standards of the time heightened any emotions between the characters, exactly because they weren't able to just act on it! That's what makes us think - Oh! But he's nuts about you and he can't tell you! It drives us to keep turning the pages to see if he ever does get to tell her that - or her him.

Taking these wonderful classics and throwing them into the Erotica field is wrong in my opinion. I have absolutely nothing against the genre - but I think this is publishers taking an easy way out. There are plenty of great authors out there writing new erotica novels. Give them a chance instead!

I'm not slating 50 Shades of Grey, because I haven't read it. If you have, and enjoyed it, great! I'm just not a great fan of bookshops and publishers putting all their eggs onto one bandwagon - and trying to ruin wonderful books as they do it.

Books to suit the weather?

A (long) while ago I bought a lovely copy of Jane Eyre, in the black and white Everyman binding. I'd read the wonderful novel before but the copy I had was a secondhand one whose pages were far more out than in. For one reason and another I've only just got around to opening my 'new' edition and the other day whilst reading it, I was reminded again about how much I enjoy books whose contents echo the outside when it comes to setting or weather. The wind was howling and the rain was hammering at the windows. It sat perfectly with the young Jane shivering in her bed at Lowood Instituion, unable to wash on particular days because the water had frozen in the ewer. I read this and pulled the blanket further around myself, at the same time feeling a little odd that I could do this whilst Jane suffered with the cold. And yes, I know she's fictional but that's what good writing does to you, isn't it?

It's not just weather that I enjoy tallying with the contents of my choice of reading, I'm apt to do it for location too at times. Several years ago we were lucky enough to travel to Asia for my husband's job at the time (if he gave up the option of Business Class he could have two Economy tickets instead, which was good for the company as this was still cheaper and also us as I got to tag along!). The place we visited most was India - a place I already had a love affair with, only enhanced by our visits. I loved reading books set in the Continent, including one on the history of the Maharanis and another that was my late father in law's called 'Chasing The Monsoon'. He was an avid reader and although my Mum in law donated all his beautiful, immaculate books when he passed away, she put this one aside for me, knowing about my interest in the country. It was an older book and one I'd probably never have come across, and reading it was a joy. I think this probably was partly due to the setting I was lucky enough to read it in, but also because by reading it, I was able to have a link with my hubby's Dad.

So, is it just me who enjoys snuggling up as I read about the cold, rain lashed Yorkshire Moors? I'd love to hear whether you enjoy reading certain things in certain circumstances!