Falling for the Highland Rogue - Cover

Getting the cover of an upcoming book is always filled with excitement and trepidation.

At least for me.

This one is for my December 2013 book.  Falling for the Highland Rogue.

I am delighted, I must say. It captures the dark streets of Edinburgh where much of the plot takes place, and I have no doubt this is my whisky smuggler hero, Logan.

Of course, its too early to be telling you too much about the plot: the book won't be out for a good while yet. But getting a cover is always the first sign that the book is a reality, and no longer just a figment of my imagination.

I'll be posting more about the story in the coming months. In the meantime, enjoy the cover.

Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Saltram Below Stairs Part 2

Moving on to:
The Great Kitchen at Saltram was described in 1811 by the Lady Boringdon's brother as, immense & in the utmost order of neatness. The Borigdon's must have been very proud of this kitchen if they were showing their guests around. Or perhaps he was thinking of doing something new at his own house and was looking for ideas.

I have to say that I always have difficulty deciding what pictures to use. And how much is is too much. As always I have far more pictures that I have room for in a blog and have not wish to bore my reader. Here is the first of a selection that I thought gave a really good idea of this part of the house.

This one was built in 1779 and modernized in 1913.

This hearth incorporates an open range which dates from about 1810.  Very modern. As you can see, it has roasting spits driven by heat from the fire and a huge dripping pan to catch the fats. This would have been the centre of cooking during the regency. I must say I find it rather daunting, but I guess it depends what you are used to.

Something I loved about the Saltram kitchen was the large windows, all of which could be opened. The room was bright and airy, though I can imagine how hot it would have been too when cooking a meal for a dinner party on a summer evening.

This kitchen required a staff of ten to keep it running smoothly beneath the watchful eye of the cook, the housekeeper and the butler.

 The other thing that is always a classic in a kitchen of this size is the long central worktable.

If you are wondering about the black range in the middle of that table it is Victorian, and therefore ignored. At least by me.

Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Saltram Below Stairs

Ever since I wrote Lady of Shame, part of the Castonbury Park Series, a Regency upstairs downstairs, or Downton Abbey, I have loved visiting the kitchen areas. Not the least because my hero in that story was a French Chef. I had to smile at one of the reviews which was quite positive about the idea of a Regency hero with a real job.

I digress.
Here we are exploring what at Saltram is called the Wet Larder. Not because of the sinks, called salt tanks, but because this is where wet work is done.(Not the kind you see in the mob movies, but it was used  for raw meats. And nothing else.

Joints of meat to produced bacon, ham and joints of beef to make salt beef for boiling would have been brought here. If they were to be wet salted they would have been immersed in water, salt, saltpeter and coarse sugar. The same ingredient were used as a dry rub. Some meats, salt beef for example, was kept in the tanks or in the wooden barrel, other meats like ham or bacon were hung in the cool and the dry.


The ready the meats were stored in earthenware dished on the non absorbent slate table tops you can see in this picture. As you can see the window looks out on the courtyard we saw earlier



The scales were used to check that what was ordered had actually been delivered.

No space is wasted, this is a store cupboard under the stairs leading up to the bedrooms at the back of the house.

More on the Kitchens to come later, until then, Happy Rambles

Regency Fashions August 1817

 Oh its fashion time again.  I always love this bit.  Here are a couple of delightful summer frocks.
From the July 1817 La Belle Assemblee

Our first gown is advertized as a French fashion, and French was and is always considered tres chic

The official description is as follows:

Round dress of cambric, with two embroidered flounces, divided at about half a quarter of a yard, with rows of small tucks. Colerette body of fine cambric, ornamented round the bust and at the bottom of the waist to correspond with the border of the dress. Leghorn bonnet ornamented with puffings of pink satin. Lyonese shawl of grass-green with a narrow variegated border. Pink kid shoes, and Limerick gloves.

Puffings?  That made me chuckle. I was also smiling at the half a quarter of a yard.  Did she mean an eighth?  It is an interesting insight into language of the day. I quite like the bell shape of the skirt and the length is practical for walking, but not sure about the ruffle around the neck. But then my neck is not quite of the swan-variety. That green scarf is startling amid all the pale colours.



The second offering is English.

And classified as an Afternoon Dress. Just what I would be wearing to afternoon tea with the local lord of the manor, and lounging about in during a country house party.

The official Description goes as follows:

Round dress of fine plain India muslin, with triple flounces richly embroidered; the upper flounce finished with a bouillone run through with ribband of ethereal blue. Open spenser of ethereal blue sprigged satin, lined with white; the part that turns back and the falling collar elegantly finished with find blond; macherons of white satin surmount the sleeves, trimmed also with blond. Elphinstone cap of blue and white satin, with a plume of white feathers.

I have some more to share about August fashions later in the month. Some fun observations, but next time we have to move on with our tour of Saltram.
Until then, Happy rambles.

RWA 2013

My RWA conference started with the my Regency Chapter's mini conference.

The Chapter is called the Beau Monde and it is a
group of authors who write Regency Romances.

Each year, the day before the main conference, we get together to talk about research in our era and in the evening we dress up and learn to dance the way they did in Jane Austen's time. Umm ...  well sort of.  We have fun pretending anyway.

As you can see, some of us dress for the occasion. I didn't this year, because I was up for an award and had to attend another event at the same time the soiree got going.  While I didn't win the Bookseller's best this time, it was a great honour to be nominated.

I attended a great many RWA workshops and learned a great deal about the business side of writing in this changing publishing world as well as catching up with old friends and making new ones.

 This is me with my editor, Joanne Grant from Harlequin Mills and Boon, at the Beau Monde Soiree, and Michelle Willingham who also has Joanne as her editor.  Michelle writes about Vikings as well as the Regency.

Always a big hit for Harlequin authors is the annual party where we celebrate our successful year with our publisher.

The goodies were amazing especially the design your own cupcake bar and we all got to make little flip books as a souvenir of our

evening. A sort of flicker film. Fun.

If you are wondering what that is hanging on the wall behind me, that is the wall of socks. Everyone got a pair of pink wooly socks so we could kick of our shoes and dance the night away. 

  Everyone gets up to dance, even Nora.  And if you don't know who I mean, you are so not a Romance reader, vbg.

One of my favourite events is always the booksigning.

It was busy this year as I was giving out trading cards and albums and was thrilled to have so many readers of my books drop buy to say hello.  I also signed at the Harlequin signing event.

Oh and now its back to the real world of trying to get my ideas on the page, so you can enjoy my stories. 





Until next time, Happy Rambles

Saltram Part 8

 The kitchens always fascinate me, perhaps because I know that's likely where I would have ended up. Either that or as the wench that lights the fire before anyone gets up. 

No beautiful carpets here, stone flagstones are the order of the day.  You will also notice that the corridor to the kitchens flanks a courtyard and is separated from the house.

The food had to travel across this open area to the dining room.  The idea of course is to prevent the main house from catching fire as well as keep cooking odours contained where the inhabitants couldn't smell them.

This configuration was put in place after a fire destroyed the original kitchens in 1778. Lord Boringdon saw it as an opportunity to rationalize the domestic arrangements. He had the brew house and the laundry, which had been destroyed in the fire built as a separate block away from the house.


I do wonder how warm the food was after it travelled outside in the winter, but I expect they had food warmers in the dining room.  You can also see part of the orignial house here in this courtyard, and area likely never seen by guests and so not rendered like the frontages we saw earlier.

More to come on the working part of the house next time. Until then Happy Rambles.

Saltram Part 7

 Hope I am not boring you to death with all of these visits of mine.  I could spend hours wandering the lovely houses and I am so grateful to those who maintain them in such beautiful style.

These are the North Stairs, a quick retreat to upstairs from the dining room. They are not the main staircase, but very grand with an overhead skylight and support columns.

This hall also lead off to the heart of any house.  The kitchen.  Which will will visit next time.



Until then Happy rambles.

Her Highland Protector

In stores now, and online everywhere.

Lady Jenna Aleyne must marry well if she is to claim her lands…Only, there is a complete lack of eligible suitors in the Highlands! But then Niall Gilvry is assigned to watch over Jenna, and there's no denying she finds this handsome Scot most distracting!
Niall knows Jenna is too fine a lady for the likes of him—after all, high society has little time for a lowly third son—but he takes his duty seriously. With danger lurking in the shadows, Niall stays close. It would be just oh, so easy to pull her into his arms.…

Book Two in the Gilvrys of Dunross is fast paced, suspenseful and wildly romantic ~  Romantic Times  Check it out on Amazon.com. 

Fashion for July

I have a couple of July Fashions to share, one this week one next.  I am not being stingy, but all this takes a bit of time to get in shape, and I am supposed to be writing the next Gilvry's of Dunross story.  You did realize that Book 2 is out now I hope. Ahem, just a little reminder.

Oldenburgh Dinner Dress.

            French white satin slip, decorated round the bottom with a rich blond lace, and headed with a superb pearl trimming: a wreath of laurel leaves formed of pearls, in an angle in the front of the slip. The trimming is perfectly novel, and the effect of it is more elegant than can be conceived from the engraving which we have given. Over the slip is a short Russian robe of white crape, open front, edged round with a rich pearl trimming to correspond with the slip; the wreaths which ornament the robe is formed of pearls also, to correspond. The front of the dress is formed in a most novel and tasteful style, peculiar to the inventress, Mrs. Bell.

The back continues full, and the waist very short. Crape long sleeve, trimmed with pearl bands at regular distances. Small lace cap, superbly decorated with pearls, and finished with tassels to correspond; a fancy flower is placed to the side. The form of this cap is extremely elegant, exquisitely tasteful, and becoming. A white satin Chapeau Bras, ornamented with a spread eagle on the crown, worked in chenille, is indispensable. The hair is worn up a-la-Grecque on the left side, where it is fastened in a full knot.

Gloves and slippers of white kid. Plain ivory fan.

 This really is a pretty gown. Hope you enjoy, until next time, Happy Rambles.

Saltram Part 6

 Our next room at Saltram is the piece de resistance for entertaining.  The Salon. I should mention that the ballroom did not have the chandeliers during the Regency era. Instead when they were having a ball they put up lamps over the windows and candles over the doors and concealed them with wreaths and festoons of leaves and flowers.  Health and Safety would definitely not approve it seems to me. Talk about a fire hazard.  I still wonder how they managed to light the middle of the room if they were only lighting the perimeter. But this is what happened in 1810, so a nice description of a real event.

Other neat bits of information, the band played in a tent outside of the great window and playeddances all right. The floor was "chalked" in a design by the hostess by a celebrated artist from Plymouth and they had two rows of seats around the edge of the room for about 200 people.  What an amazing image.

By the way that window in the middle there, with two columns and a bit of a portico, is known as a Venetian window.  The concave ceiling is beautiful. I can only capture a bit of it, but hopefully you can get the idea.

The carpet is Axminster. It cost  L126 and was desiged to mirror the ceiling. the reason for the furniture going around the edge of the room is to show it off. And here is the other wall with the fireplace. I just love the these giltwood Chippendale sofas.


Finally, while there are lots of pictures of a collector time, I picked this one, as he is such a regency looking gentleman, though it is dated around 1785, a Baron and neighbour and friend. A very personal touch.  The walls were originally blue damask which over time faded to dove grey according to account.

Clearly there is much more to see and know about in this room, but on we go.

Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Saltram Part 5

This is the Velvet Drawing room, redecorated as it appeared on 1770, but missing most of its original red silk velvet hangings.

Quite stunning, I must say.  As you can see the walls are covered in pictures, just as they would have been in the late 18th century.

The smaller picture looks in the other direction towards the windows and shows a part of the ornate ceiling. I really like the gilded window seats.

This is a Boulle writing desk in the Louis XIV style.  It was greatly sought after and many pieces left France after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo.  My final piece of furniture is the fascinating scagliola table top decorated with rompe-l'oeil playing cards and a letter dated 1713. It is thought the game being played on this table is piquet.

For all its beauty and columns, there is yet more to come which is even more beautiful and luxurious.

Until Next Time, Happy Rambles.

Goodreads Giveaway Countdown

Count down is on!  

You only have until June 19 to sign up for this giveaway.
If you want to know more about the book you can check it out on Amazon.com or on my website.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Her Highland Protector

by Ann Lethbridge

Giveaway ends June 19, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Saltram Part 4

It really is time to look inside the house. The entrance hall is just as pretty as the outside, don't you think?

This is a mid eighteens century space. I was quite fascinated by the pink and white checkered floor and those really uncomfortable hall chairs.

The table is Georgian with a marble top and cabriole legs.  There is a matching one on the opposite wall. The bracket clock is Boulle from the mid 18th century.





The next room is the Morning Room.  It was also occasionally used for small family dinners.

Apparently about two thirds of the pictures in this room are in the same positions as they were in 1819.

The dining table is mahogany as are the Gothick dining-chairs both dating to the middle of the eighteenth century, as well as a set of Chippendale-style dining-chairs.

I really took a shine to this gilded side table. there are a pair of them. They are English frames and the tops are Florentine, inlaid with specimen marbles and mosaic pastoral scenes.  I have to say that my pictures do not do these rooms justice, but if they give you a sense of what they are like, then I am pleased.

These rooms are laid out in the gallery style. There is no corridor, one simply moves through one room to the next and the next room is something to behold.

More about that next time. Until then, Happy Rambles.

Fashion May 1812

It has been a while since I posted any fashion and I thought it was time.  I have two gowns from two hundred years ago that I thought you might like a a break from our explorations of Saltram where gowns very similar to these would have been worn.

Both of these gowns are from Ackerman's Repository for May 1812.

The descriptions are as follows:

Promenade or Carriage Costume.
    A Round spencer robe of blossom coloured sarsnet, trimmed with tufted Chinese silk fringe; a drapery of deep Vandyke lace, continued round the back and shoulders to the bottom, in the loose Polonaise style; the spencer sitting close to the throat, without a collar, which is supplied by that of the morning robe of white muslin beneath. 
A provincial bonnet of the same material as the spencer, ornamented with two curled white ostrich feathers, placed in adverse directions in the front. Half-boots of blossom-coloured kid; ridicule to correspond; and gloves of lemon-coloured kid, or pale tan colour.

I do like this gown very much. That reticule is teeny tiny isn't it? And such an interesting shape. Not much more in there than a handkerchief I would think.

Domestic or Morning Costume.

    A French frock of fine plain India muslin, with demi-train, and long full bishop’s sleeves. Waggoners’ cuffs, with gaged front, and shoulders to correspond. Tucker of double-rolled muslin, which also finishes the cuffs round the hands. 
    A Parisian mob cap of fine lace, confined round the head, and terminating on one side with a celestial blue or silver grey ribbon. Sash of the same, tied in small bows and ends in front. Hair in waved curls, divided in the center of the forehead.
   Spanish slippers of lemon-coloured kid, and gloves of the same material. 
   The peculiar taste and elegant simplicity of these habiliments are further specimens of the graceful invention of the celebrated Mrs. Gill, of Cork-street, Burlington-gardens, from whom we have obtained them.


This young lady looks very much as if she has the die away down pat. I wonder if the note she is holding is from a beau?  I presume that by domestic, they are referring to the wearing of it at home. I can't say that I like the waggoner's cuffs much. I can imagine them getting in the soup. or at least in my soup. I am sure she would be much better at keeping them under control than I would.  This dress seems to have a bit of everything, a train, a sash, bishop sleeves, a gaged (?) front and shoulders, a tucker of double rolled muslin and something similar on the cuffs beneath those waggoners sleeves.  Remarkable. No wonder she looks so out of sorts. I definitely need to find a character to wear this one.

Until next time, Happy Rambles.