Highgate East cemetery is one of the biggest and oldest graveyards in London. It's split into two sides, East and West. Both sides are open to visit for a fee - but the West requires a tour, whilst the East lets you wander at will. The cemetery was one of a number built and run... Continue Reading →
The Charles Dickens Museum in London is based in number 48 Doughty Street, where Dickens' lived from 1837 to 1839. It's where he wrote some of his most famous works including Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. It opened as a museum in 1925. The home is furnished with a lot of authentic pieces, many purchased from... Continue Reading →
If the darkness has found you, fear not. If it caresses your ears with cold, velvet words, you may listen without tremor. If it clasps and twists your body, you can move with it unbound. If it blackens your vision, close your eyes and make it blacker still. The darkness knows one path, so pull... Continue Reading →
Sat by a pool Walked A LOT. I mean a lot. We somehow decided that we’d get 10,000 steps in even though we were, you know, ON HOLIDAY. When I say “we decided” I mean I reluctantly went along with my boyfriend’s idea. Wrote the first drafts of two poems and one short story (woot!)... Continue Reading →
When I was younger, I was a bit of a hoarder. In my tiny bedroom, I kept a number of collections, from the usual (stamps, boxes, dolls) to the slightly weirder (sugar cubes from our family holidays). Everything was organised but there was still a lot of it and not all of it was really... Continue Reading →
I recently started reading Terry Pratchett's latest book 'Raising Steam', with a slightly heavy heart. Not because I didn't think I'd enjoy it, I knew I would, but because each new book brings us a bit closer to the time where there will be no more new books. He has a very rare form of... Continue Reading →
The classic horror aficionados amongst you will recognise the quote above from Bram Stoker's "Dracula". The tattoo and the arm it sits on belong to my friend Kasi. This is her favourite line from her favourite book, and it's now permanently embossed on her skin. Literary tattoos are hugely popular. There are plenty of websites... Continue Reading →
I'm a little late here, but I want to just talk about New Year’s Resolutions. We make ‘em, we break 'em – that’s true for me and I expect it’s true for a lot of other people as well. Every year we make ourselves all sorts of promises – to loose weight, get fitter, get... Continue Reading →
A while back I visited Lacock Abbey. Now yes it is well known as the place where William Talbot made the earliest known surviving example of a photographic negative in 1835 but more importantly, they filmed scenes from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Half-Blood Prince there. There are also a number of... Continue Reading →
Charles Dicken's birthplace lies tucked away in Portsmouth. The street is a sore thumb of nineteenth-century architecture in amongst a labyrinth of blocky sixties tower blocks. Dickens didn't live in the house long, moving to London when he was still a young child. The museum that is now in his old house doesn't include any... Continue Reading →
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