Flora and Fauna of Regency England

by Michele Ann Young



Our Naturist kindly tells us that rosemary blooms in April. Rosemary is a hardy evergreen plant and will live for up to twenty years, growing to a height of around three feet. It is a decorative herb originating from the Mediterranean and bears small, blue or white flowers in late spring. So this herb would be commonly found in kitchen gardens. My mum had a huge one. We had to fight with it to get the car door open in the drive. I loved the scent when you crush the leaves.

The nice thing about this is of course that we are very familiar with it today. I am going to pop it under food too.

April is the time for spring bulbs, tulips among them as reported by Robert Furber in his 1730 Twelve Month's of Flowers which could well have been a resource for an enthusiastic gardner in the Regency.


Tulips came from Turkey to Europe. Between 1634 and 1637, the early enthusiasm for the new flowers triggered a speculative frenzy now known as the tulip mania and tulip bulbs were then considered a form of currency.

This is a picture of an "old English Tulip" or a flamed tulip. The flaming or feathering apparently caused by a virus, and never the same two years in a row, if I understand my reading correctly. It is a variety which has almost died out, but this is what tulips would have looked like in the Regency. If you are interested in Old English Tulips, The Wakefield and North of England Tulip Society established in 1836 might be the place to start.

This bird exists and nests out on the heaths of England. It is a Stonechat. It is called a stone chat because its breeding and alarm call sounds like two pebbles being clinked together. Want to hear it? Go here. Isn't technology wonderful? This bird likes to nest in bushy shrubs like gorse in the early spring.

Well that is it from me. I have some writing to get done today. Almost at the end of this book, so I am hoping to finish it today. Always exciting. But then comes the editing.


Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Regency Fashion For April

by Ann Lethbridge
I hope you all had a Happy Easter. We had a very nice family time, as well as some amazingly warm weather.



From the Lady's Magazine

Our first gown is a full dress: Of white satin; headdress of the same; white kid gloves and shoes.


The second is a walking dress, of pale blue silk mantle embroidered with gold bonnet and shoes to correspond.

The classical style is very much in evidence in these two gowns, along with the furniture upon which one of the ladies reclines. This is right before the real Regency began, but it is often this kind of style that is most associated with the period.

While not as nice as some of our pictures, hopefully the description will help with the image. As always it is nice to have a male in the picture.

This is from Le Beau Monde 1807

For the lady: a morning walking dress, a manteline a la Castilliane; This is described as: a short mantle of orange and purple velvet, made to fasten on the right shoulder, and, crossing the bosom, is confined with rich cords and tassels under the left arm; rounded gradually so the bottom of the right side is a regular point; a body of the same, with sleeves and high full collar; the back and skirt are cut in one, with only one arm hole; the whole trimmed entirely round with spotted leopard fur. A train petticoat of clear India muslin, made full and quite plain, without any ornament of work whatever, is worn with this dress; white kid gloves, and shoes of the same colour as the mantle.


For the gentleman: A half-full dress is described as: a light olive double breasted coat, buttoned close up, with covered buttons of the same cloth as the coat; yellow striped toilinette waistcoat; light brown Angola pantaloons, and half boots; the hair cropped a la Titus.

That is it for April, Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Regency Food

by Ann Lethbridge

Just have to show what I cooked for Sunday's dinner. Comfort food. It was snowing again so pineapple upsidedown cake was the order of the day. Not that it is in any way shape or form associated with the Regency.

Definitely yummy though.

And while we are off topic, I receive my author copies of Wicked Rake, Defiant Mistress today. So it is true the book really exists. The cover is even nicer in the flesh than it is in the picture.



Just loving the colour of her dress.



All right so a bit of shameless promo. It just goes to show there is no such thing as a free lunch.






Now for the Regency food bit.


In the Regency during the Season in London, entertaining at home on a lavish scale was de rigeur.

There were dinner parties, card parties, routs, musical evenings, drums, venetian breakfasts.... and of course balls.

A ball had to be the best event of all. A chance for young men to flirt with the debutantes on the dance floor.

Every ball was expected to provide a supper around midnight.

So what did hostesses of the day serve to their guests.

Here is one menu for your perusal ~ From an 1808 cookbook

• Ten hot roast Fowls
  
• Almond Mould with Cream
  
• Cray Fish
• Ices Jellies (several dishes spread along the table)
• Mashed Potatoes
• Ham
  
• Escaloped Potatoes
• Apple Puffs
  
• Tartlets
• Scotch Collops
  
• Cold Chicken
• Savoy Cakes
  
• Blancmange
• Beans a la Crème
  
• Dressed Lobster
  
• Asparag
• Mince Pies
  
• Custards
• Escaloped Oysters
  
• Cold Roast Lamb
  
• Prawns
• Cheesecakes
  
• Sallad
  
• Beans a la Crème
• Fricasseed Rabbits
  
• Cauliflowers a la Crème
  

Each of these dishes would be repeated several times until there was sufficient for the number of people attending.

What I found interesting is that many of these dishes would not be out of place on our tables today. I do find it odd the way they mix the savoury foods in with the desserts, but they did seem to eat vegetables and salads too.

A couple of explanations:

Scotch Collops are a traditional Scottish dish created using either thin slices or minced meat of either beef, lamb or venison. This is combined with onion, salt, pepper and suet then then stewed, baked or roasted with optional flavourings according to the meat used. It is traditionally served garnished with thin toast and mashed potato.


Here is a Savoy Cake. The outside is crusted with sugar.

Hope I didn't make you feel too hungry, or maybe you feel as if you have just eaten far too much.

Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Regency Food

by Michele Ann Young

Labeled Food, this article falls under the drinking part of eating.

The Georgian era was a time of gargantuan appetites for the men of the nobility.

These men rode 40 miles hunting a stag, raced phaetons from London to Brighton, ate massive breakfasts and gargantuan dinners. They had a love of life and little more to do than enjoy it.

Needless to say their health suffered as a result. The Prince of Wales in his twenties suffered much from the effects of over-indulgence and often ran a fever, the remedy for which was bleeding.

What did they drink with all this food?

Claret was a very popular drink of the nobility.

And a favorite of the Prince of Wales. Here is his portrait as a young man.



The Prince of Wales brother Frederick could easily consume six bottles of claret at a sitting. Claret is a red wine from Bourdeaux.

In the 18th century drinking claret helped the rich distinguish themselves from those below them. Port a more traditional drink with the gentry, and far cheaper. For example: John Hervey, the first Earl of Bristol, spent four times as much on claret as on port, whereas the tradesmen who gathered in the Barbers Hall in the City of London spent a mere £2 on claret as against £850 on port.

In “Every Man His Own Butler,” published in 1839, Cyrus Redding, a wine merchant and author, wrote “claret for a bishop, port for a rector, currant for a curate and gin for the clerk”

Another of the Prince's brother's was considered a moderate drinker, since he would only drinking a pint of sherry at dinner.

Other drinks served at Carlton House were:

Maraschino -made from marasca cherries.

Introduced to widely to Europe in the 18th century it was a sweet liqueur and a favourite of Napoleon Bonaparte after dinner or supper. George IV sent a naval fleet to collect a hundred Maraschino cases for the Royal court in London and for the governors of Malta and Corfu.

Cedrate: for which I have yet to find a description other than to know it relates to lemon or citrus fruits.

The Prince of Wales joined the Beefsteak Club in April 1784

As the The Times said "he was known to be remarkably fond of rumpsteak" The club met at Covent Garden Theatre to "grill steakes over the original grate furnished for the purpose by the founder and to drink port, porter, punch and whisky toddy."

The Prince generously shared his own punch recipe with many of his contemporaries, and here it is.

* 1 bottle champagne
* 1 bottle burgundy
* 1 bottle rum
* 10 lemons
* 2 oranges
* 1 1/2 lbs. sugar

Chill the liquor before mixing.

Enjoy. But perhaps wait awhile for going off to ramble the countryside.
Until next time.

Stourhead ~ Continues

by Ann Lethbridge

First some writing news. Back in the summer Ann was invited to submit a story for a Mills and Boon Anthology. It will be out in the UK in August. My story is called The Governess and the Earl and it is already listed on Amazon. No cover yet, but you can be sure I will post it here the moment I see it.



This is the view of the portico ceiling. The attention to detail is truly amazing. While this portico was not added until 1838, replacing the frontage you saw in the drawing at the beginning of this series, it was part of the original design.

One of the things you may not know about Stourhead is the fact that it caught fire in 1902. So while attempts were made to reproduce the original house, the lack of detailed drawings hampered the craftsmen of that time.


As usual one is not permitted to take pictures inside the house, but I did buy the guide book and can tell you that the house contains wonderful pieces of furniture from the eighteenth century.

Some examples are som beautiful console tables with fox supports made in the 1740's. I must put those in a book.

There are beautiful hall-chairs and bronzed torcheres made by Thomas Chippendale the Younger.

Of particular note is the Library. It survived the fire. Built in 1792 it is a magnificent example of a Regency library . Some of its most interesting features are: a lattice work barrel ceiling (Wikipedia provides an example at the link), but the ceiling at Stourhead is far more elegant and the beautiful shelving let into the plasterwork walls are works of art, having curved tops to match the curve in the ceiling at each end of the room.

I do wish I could show you, but I could not find any copyright free pictures.

All of the furniture was supplied in 1804-1805 by Thomas Chippendale the Younger.

The massive writing-desk has legs carved with the heads of philosophers and Egyptians. The armchairs have round seats and yoke-shaped backs and are very much in the French style with Egyptian heads carved into the arms so popular after Napoleon conquered Egypt.

If you can't visit Stourhead and would like to see the interior features, I highly recommend sending for the guidebook just to see a watercolour picture of the library drawn in 1804.

Our last picture is our last view of the house looking back.

And so we say farewell to Stourhead, with much regret.

Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Flora and Fauna of Regency England ~ March

by Michele Ann Young
I am beginning to forget what I have posted on this topic and when I go back through my posts I am quite startled by the amount of information I have gleaned from here and there. What I would really like to do, is to spend a year in England, travelling the highways and byways taking pictures. But then I would never get any stories done, would I? A writer's lot is a hard one. (Joking)

This little fellow is a Wheatear, also known as an English Ortolan according to our naturalist who says.

This bird

again pays its annual visit (leaving in September). They are found in great numbers about East Bourne, in Sussex, eighteen hundred dozen being annually taken in this neighbourhood. They are usually sold at sixpence a dozen

Today, this bird is rarely found in the south of England. I wonder why? Quite sad really.

Since the quote was from 1820, I thought the price interesting.


Of interest to our regency people, the brown trout begins to rise. This is a freshwater fish, found in brooks streams and rivers, and delicious eating, then and today. It is a member of the Salmon family.

I'm sure poachers had a field day.

By this time, England is already greening up in the hedgerows. And of course the grass is nearly always green. And what are the farmers up to?

According to our naturalist:

In March the farmer dresses and rolls his meadows; spreads anthills; plants quicksets, osiers, etc. sows flax seed, artificial grasses, beans and peas, broom and whin seeds and grass seeds among the wheat. About the 23^rd he ploughs for and sows oats and hemp and fax.

That's all from me, Until next time, Happy Rambles

Regency Fashion for March

by Ann Lethbridge

Hardly a day goes by without something going on these days. Here is the UK cover for Captured For The Captain's Pleasure.

I love that her gown is pure regency, and yep bare-chested guy is good for me too.

Indeed the gown could easily feature in one of these monthly articles. I wonder what they will do for the North American version. The differences for the book out this February, and coming across the pond in May are marked. It is like getting a large box with a ribbon around it. The anticipation is almost better than the gift.

Fashions

I wandered back through the blogs to see what we had done already and saw that this time last March, we were about to change our clocks. The first sign of spring.


As usual I find plates with both a gentleman and a lady of particular interest.

This one is from Le Beaumonde 1807

A MORNING WALKING DRESS, for Gentlemen is composed of a dark brown superfine cloth great coat, ends of the collar in the front cut into a heart; dark blue under coat only visible in front; toillinette waistcoat blue striped with a white and yellow ground, fawn coloured pantaloons, and half boots.

The description says it all and the cane is an interesting accessory. You can see where there half boots come on the calf by looking closely.

Our Lady is equally fine.

AN ELEGANT WALKING DRESS, a straw gypsy hat, tied down with a white silk or a rich half lace handkerchief; a muslin gown, ornamented with knotted work crossing the shoulder to correspond with the bottom of the dress. The body is made quite plain to draw round the bosom, and fulled in the back to imitate the frock waist, with a light yellow sarsnet or camel hair scarf, richly drapered at the ends with various colours; the scarf is worn so that the dress may be exposed, tastefully tied with a careless knot in front. Lilac gloves and half boots made of kid, a beautiful white down muff, adds much to the elegance and splendour of this much admired Walking Spring Dress.

We have see the muff many times before. This one is huge and looks exceedingly soft.

Our next picture is of a less cheerful not and comes from right at the end of the regency period.


A mourning gown from La Belle Assemblee for 1820.


This is labeled

Carriage Costume

Round dress of black crape over black satin with five fluted flowers of crape at the border. Spencer of black velvet, with the sleeves and bust ornamented in a most novel and beautiful style. Black velvet bonnet, with superb plume of cypress feathers. English antique triple ruff of white crape, black chamois slippers, and black chamois gloves.

It of course shows the fashion at this time for the wider heavier hemline. But also of interest is the use of chamois. We more often see kid for shoes and gloves. I assume by English antique, they are talking Tudor for the ruff. I agree that the ornamention is quite novel.

The rest of the article goes on to talk about mourning fashions. There has been much mourning among royalty during this period, and King George died January 29, 1820, throwing the nobility back into mourning for their King.

As the splendor of an unclouded sky will sometimes cheer the dark reign of Winter so Taste and Elegance will dart their bright beams even though the sable mantle of mourning, and the cloud of universal and unfeigned regret. We fancied but little could be said on the subject of fashion at a time like this; for in her diversified attire it is generally proved that
“Motley’s the only wear.”
As we walked through the tasteful shew-room of Mrs. Bell, we found our admiration continually arrested as we stopped before the retired cornette and bonnet, the sable plumed head-dress of majestic woe, the deep and unstudied weeds for those who, at the first awful period of Court mourning, mark by their costume their sorrowing ideas that Britannia sits like a widow, while the lighter white crape turban peeps through the gloom and indicates the white and halcyon days she hopes to witness in the reign of his present most gracious Majesty.
The most appropriate out-door costume for the first weeks of mourning, is a pelisse of black rosadimoi; a silk which is infinitely deeper than bombazin, and is worn only by widows in the very first stage of their weeds; it is also often appropriated to the fabrication of clergymen’s Court robes; the material, however, of the pelisse is entirely new; and forms a truly classical and unique costume for the present sad occasion. The rich rosadimoi is figured; it is thereby not only rendered lighter in appearance, but also it marks a distinction between the very deep mourning for the nearest and dearest of all individual connections, and that which should be adopted for the sire of the people. The pelisse is trimmed with crape in rich quillings; and with it should be worn a bonnet of puckered crape, ornamented with a full cluster of the blossoms of the mournful nightshade, without foliage and formed of black crape.
Black satin hats, with battlement edges, are much worn in carriages; they are ornamented with full plumes of feathers; the most elegant hat we have seen, but we must remark that it will only suit a lovely face, is the chapeau a la-Comtesse; it is somewhat in the Mary Stuart style, and is crowned by a superb plume of feathers; the hat itself is of black velvet. A large dishabille bonnet of the same material is well adopted to the promenade; it has a small curtain of black lace at the edge and is ornamented with two small dropping cypress feathers.
Little has been yet prepared for full dress, but the elegancies of half dress, the most becoming costume to almost every female, are so various at the Magazin de Modes we have above cited, that it is really more than our limits will allow us to record at present. We cannot, however, leave undescribed a most elegant and appropriate mourning dress of fine bombazine, handsomely ornamented round the border en carresux; each square finished with double crape a-la-veuvage, and the doublings headed by crape beadings: the dress is made high and is finished round the waist by an Arcadian jacket frill of crape, terminated by narrow crape puffings: the mancherons at the top of the long sleeves are trimmed to correspond with the frill.
Cornettes for the breakfast table are made of fine India muslin; the border, which consists of full quilling, has a very broad hem on each side; and the only ornament is a small bow of white love on the left side. For elderly ladies the cornette-a-la matrons is much admired, in the present close state of mourning; it is entirely of white crape, and the broad border with large plaits gives it an air of retired sorrow; these cornettes are well adapted for the very early period of widowhood; they are truly becoming and quite as mournful as the widow’s cap of the old school, and which diminishes the charms even of a very pretty face.
Amongst the head-dresses for evening parties, we beg leave first to introduce par excellance, the regal coronet turban of black velvet, surmounted by a superb chivalry plume of numerous small black feathers; this is one of the most tasteful head-dresses we have seen for some time. The private concert turban is also well adapted to musical parties, being light and without plumage; it is of black satin and crape, ornamented with real jet; a dress hat of crape and black satin ornamented with drooping cypress feathers, is much in estimation for dinner parties.
White crape and white love are equally expressive of mourning as black; the young, and the beauty whose complexion is dark, and which is by no means rendered fairer by the approximation of black next the face, have been already seen in turbans made entirely of white crape, slightly trimmed with white bugles; while those of equivocal complexions, to whom also black is not a favourable head-dress, do well to wear a white crape turban, entwined with black beads, and crowned with black flowers or feathers.
Black is not a colour wherein to tread the mazes of sportive dance; we hope, therefore, when our balls begin, that white or grey crape will be adopted for dresses, with the trimmings only of black; and as young ladies now wear nothing more than a bandeau of jet and bugles to adorn their beautiful tresses, such mourning, we think, will be sufficient; and not seeming to

“Bear about the mockery of woe
To midnight dances.”

On that note, I will bid you happy rambles.

Stourhead ~ Continued

by Ann Lethbridge,

This is the longest walk known to regency enthusiast. We have been on the road together for months and months, but then it is all about the journey and not the destination.

Enough philosophy. Where were we?




Ah yes. The Stables.

How about this for a fancy horse dwelling? Yes this really did accommodate horses. There a some still in residence.

The stables are in a square formation and entered through a gate in a wall. I love the stonework, and you can clearly see how it has been altered over the years, arches removed, windows added.

You can see from the next picture that not only horses would have been kept here but their carriages too. And I have also added yet another stable. You can see that the horses in both of these went through a door into an sort of alleyway with three or four stalls rather that eight or nine stalls I would have expected.

Very pampered horses I would say.




The carriage and stable yard are thought to stand on the site of the original Stourton House which was around in the time of King Alfred the Great, i.e prior to 899.

There is a drawing of that family's fortified house drawn in 1685, but by our time it seems the stables had replaced it. To me a sad loss, but I am sure the new buildings were far more comfortable.

The guests of our time would not have stopped at the stables of course. They would have been driven up to the front door.

This is the view they would have been presented with.















Next time we will go inside. Until then, happy rambles.

Flora and Fauna - February

By Michele Ann Young

I am sorry to have been missing for a week. A couple of deadlines caught me up. Today we have a regular monthly feature.
The flower pictured is a snowdrop. I did mention it in a previous blog, but I thought this picture was worth a thousand words. And snowdrops are just so February.

Our naturist as this to say about February weatherwise:

The thermometer is often down below the freezing point, but is generally found at noon between 36 and 46 degrees; towards the end of the month it sometimes rises to 50 degrees or even 52 or 54 degrees. The severe weather, generally breaks up with a sudden thaw, accompanied by wind and rain; torrents of water pour from the hills, and the snow is completely dissolved.

Rivers swell and inundate the surrounding country, often carrying away bridges, cattle, mills, gates etc.

It seems to me this would make an interesting bit of drama in a book, so I will keep track of it, in hopes I can make use of it one day.

And the reason for our picture is this little snippet.

Many plants appear above ground in February, but few flowers, except the snowdrop, are to be found. This ‘icicle changed into a flower’ is sometimes fully opened from the beginning of the month.

My choice for the fauna is this magnificent hunter. A hen harrier. They are also found in North America. They are very much endangered in Britain. In winter found on fields and rough pasture, particularly coastal areas, marshes and often roosts communally in favoured reedbeds. The males are found in the Outer Hebrides and further south in the winter. Whereas in summer they are found in the uplands.

I hope you enjoyed this foray into the natural world.
Until next time, Happy rambles.

What Am I Reading?

Drop by the Pink Heart Society Blog, to find me today. I would so love to see you there.
http://pinkheartsociety.blogspot.com/

Comment for a chance to win a copy of Wicked Rake, Defiant Mistress.

Regency Fashion February

by Michele Ann Young

Here is a little bit of something fun for a cold February day!. Although if you are one of my Australian readers I gather you are having some pretty hot hot weather right now.


Head-dresses for February 1805 from the Lady's Magazine.


Here is how this plate is described.

HEAD-dresses in hair and turbans are still in undiminished vogue for full dress. In undress, next to the hats of black velvet, or of the same colour with the great coat now generally worn, a capote of rose-coloured satin, trimmed with a wide tulle, is most fashionable. The velvet hats are usually ornamented with feathers and flowers, and some are lined with a different colour: Cassimere [also called kerseymere] hats, of the same colour with the great coats, are edged with black velvet.

The dress represented in the annexed plate is now much worn. --a great coat of blue cassimere with a black velvet collar, and a velvet edging of the same colour. (This great coat comes down to the shoes and is trimmed in the same manner at the bottom)--Colerette à la Medicis--Coral necklace and ear-rings--the head-dress of hair raised on the top of the head, and fastened with a gold comb.

The cloth great coats have always large collars with folds.The taffety douillettes, which are pretty numerous, have likewise large collars of black velvet: they are usually of a bright nut- brown. The number of shawls continually diminishes: Palantines, both white and striped, begin to make their appearance.

We don't see the coat in the annexed plate, but I thought the description worth including. I also notice the use of the word "great coat". I have heard this used for men, but not for women, so I was interested to see this here.

Until next time, Happy Rambles

Launching

by Ann Lethbridge


The excitement of a book coming out, never dwindles.

I am also really lucky, I get to celebrate new releases twice.

Once when they come out in the UK, and again when they come out in North America.

Wicked Rake, Defiant Mistress, is now out in the UK, probably on shelves around February 4, so if you live in the Britain, this is lots of notice that you can find my book there later this week. and to make sure you can recognize it, here is the cover (again).

Bear with me, I am excited.

For those of you in North America, you have to wait until May for this book. But I have posted the cover below just as a teaser, to whet your appetites.



Such a different take on the cover, but I find I like them both very much.

Oh, and by the way a little bird told me that Captured for the Captain's Pleasure will be out in North America in June!

Oh be still my fast beating heart!


and then it will be almost time for Michele's next book!



Watch out for my next newsletter, coming soon. As usual there will be a prize!


Regency Fashion for February, coming up next time here on Regency Rambles

Until then, Happy Rambles.

Stourhead Continues Some More

by Ann Lethbridge
Fascinatingly, at one point in time, Stourhead had its own hermit.

Now this picture of some ruins in the grounds is probably not it. The guide says the hermitage is no longer there.

But I had fun imaginingt some bearded elderly gentleman earning a living by sitting in this structure, just so those living in the house could say, there is a hermit living at the bottom of my garden.

And if you can have a temple and a parthenon and a gothic cottage, why not have a hermit?

That is it for the garden. There is a walled garden. There is also a tower. Since we wanted to see the house, we decided to save them for another day. And so, you will have to wait for those too.

Stourhead House





No, no, this is not it! This is just the gate.

But you knew that, didn't you?


Imagine driving up to the Stourhead house in your carriage or phaeton. Such an impressive entrance.

The gate was built in 1799 and was a replica of an earlier gate set between the village and the stable yard.

As you can probably tell I did not take the above picture, but I did want you to see the front of the gate. By this time my camera was misbehaving - I had to buy a new one, and so a couple of my pictures didn't come out.

I did want to share this one with you. Over the years I have seen lots of gatehouse, but I did think this was one of the prettiest I've ever seen.

There are a lot of things about Stourhead that makes one want to say that. But the reason I was so excited to find this gatehouse was that it is how I imagined the gatehouse in "Captured for the Captain's Pleasure" would look. Only I added a bedroom in the eaves.

Yes I know that title makes you think of ships and ocean, but there is a fair bit of dry land too. In that book, the house itself is burned down, but fortunately Stourhead while it did suffer a major fire in the early nineteen hundreds, much of the interior was either saved or replicated.





















A wide drive sweeps in a curve up to the house. It is bordered on the right by Spanish chestnut trees.

To give you an idea of the size and age of these trees, my husband kindly offered to stand next to one.

Did I say offered?

Well he suffered through it anyway, bless him.


Where is the house, say you?


But first we have to park our car in the garage. Ahem, take the carriage to the stable.

We will start there, next time. I promise you, it is worth the wait.


Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Stourhead Continues

by Michele Ann Young

We are in the middle of our January thaw, with a couple of days of very mild weather, but the weatherman kindly assures us it will not continue.

It seems appropriate, therefore, to resume our ramble around Stourhead and forget about the climate.

Here we have the Pantheon as promised.

‘Few buildings exceed the magnificence, taste and beauty of this temple’
- Horace Walpole

The Pantheon is the garden's largest and most important building, we saw it in my earlier pictures. It sits on the edge of the lake and can be seen from all different angles as one walks.

Its interior is equally magnificent, with marble statues and reliefs set around the main circular hall.

It was designed by architect Henry Flitcroft, and built in 1753-4, and no doubt provided an impressive setting for Henry Hoare II’s picnics and summer parties. And yes, if you think you recognized it from Pride and Predjudice - you are right.



This is the temple, called after The Temple of Apollo.

Remember we saw it in one of my earlier pictures. It stands at the western edge of the garden up on a hill.

It was built in 1765 by Flitcroft, inspired by the circular temple of Baalbec in Syria.

Apollo is the sun god without whom no garden can flourish.

Actually I'm feeling a bit like a sunless garden myself at the moment. Roll on spring.

This last picture is of a cascade or waterfall. It is one of those things that one just comes across. Another one of Stourhead's surprises

There are more to come.

Until next time, happy rambles

Regency Food

by Ann Lethbridge

What can we serve for breakfast?

Toast and marmalade of course.

Last week I handed in two books, which left me at a bit of a loose end. So, since my husband sneakily bought home some Seville oranges, I decided to celebrate meeting the deadlines by making marmalade. I thought it particularly fitting, because marmalade was indeed Regency food since it was first produced in Dundee in 1797 and can therefore show up on our Regency heroine's breakfast toast.

This is something any Regency cook would be able to make in her kitchen, since it requires nothing but Seville oranges, which are sour and bitter and lots and lots of sugar. Along with a fair bit of elbow grease. I was lucky, my daughter was home and took an interest so I had my scullery maid to help out.

Here we have the squeezed skins already for chopping. These particular oranges turned out to be very juicy, full of lovely pips and the rind was almost perfect.

I added a couple of lemons for extra zip, but it could have been all oranges.


I like to use an old-fashioned glass squeezer, as you can see in the picture. The glass edges really make a good job of crushing the pulp out of the juice and it catches the pips. In making marmalade pips are very important.


Here you can see the juice in the pan along with a muslin bag full of... yes pips.

The sticky juices that come out of the pips is natural pectin, it requires 2 to 3 hours of simmering in the juice from the oranges and 15 cups of water, and all those peels we chopped. Pectin is what makes the preserve set, you know so it looks like jelly rather than juice.

That's a lot of simmering, my friends, steamy windows, cups of tea, and gossip. And of course you need to be sterilizing the jars and writing the labels during that time too.


And when you are done all the simmering there's this icky sticky job of squeezing the warm muslin bag. Such fun. And just to prove it here I am. Not looking my best, but by this time I'd been working for hours. Still, I am smiling. You can see the simmered peel in the pan. by this time it is soft.

Then 15 cups of sugar gets added, and there's a lot of stirring and putting drops onto chilled plates to see if it's set yet. Very nerve wracking trying to see if thick juicy stuff is actually wrinkling when you push it with a fork or not.


I must say I was a bit shocked at the amount of sugar that went in there. Almost appalled. But even with all that sugar the end result was not all that sweet. The other thing to remember is to only spoon a small amount on your toast, because it has a wonderful flavor and it is quite strong.

We made the final marmalade in three batches. And to one of them I added chunks of crystallized ginger. Yummy. the first picture at the top is the finished result of a whole day of hard work. I'm glad I don't have to make everything from scratch, I'd never get any writing done.

I'm going to try to keep some of it for hostess gifts, but we've already polished off one whole jar. It even ended up on ice cream as dessert the first evening - it was still warm too.

I wish I could share it with you. Nothing quite like home made, especially when it is authentic regency food. So if you ever pop by for breakfast don't forget to try the marmalade.

Until next time, which will be next week, happy rambles.





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New Story Coming Out

by Michele Ann Young

It is always exciting when you see a new cover, knowing one of your stories lies beneath the artwork.

This one is lovely, don't you think? I did look at it with a faintly jaundiced eye, wondering if that corset isn't just a bit too Victorian, but then I decided that the front-closing stays fit with the Regency. And the girl's face is lovely.

This is a compendium of twenty-five short stories due out in May and I am in such exalted company as Mary Jo Putney, Eloisa James, Loretta Chase and Mary Balogh. I feel honoured, I must say.

My story is called Remember and is about two lovers meeting after a long, bitter separation.

Due out in May, at the moment the only place I am seeing the book listed is at Amazon UK. I am not sure if there will be a different North America date. Here is the link. The Mammoth Book of Regency Romance.
These books are also founds in bookstores everywhere.

Naturally I will keep you posted as more information becomes available.

Until next time, Happy Rambles

Flora and Fauna of Regency England ~ January

by Ann Lethbridge

Weather

The weather has a huge impact on Flora an Fauna, naturally. Duh, you might say. but since we all live in vastly different climates I thought a bit of weather information might be of interest during this discussion.

In January 1814 the coldest temperature each day ranged from 3 degrees Fahrenheit (-16C) to 21.5 degrees F (-6C) Remembering that it will warm up during daylight hours - what there are of them. This was an exceedingly cold winter for England. Quite often it is warm enough to walk outside with a sweater, other times you need to be well bundled up.

Flora and Fauna

Not much going on at this time of year you might say. And to be honest many of the creatures I have posted about before appear in the winter too. Our Naturist has, among other things, this to say:

Linnets (fringilla linota) congregate; and rooks (corvus frugilegus) resort to their nest trees. The house-sparrow (fringilla domestica) chirps; the bat (vespertilio) appears; spiders shoot out their webs; the blackbird (turdus merula) whistles; and the skylark sings. The titmouse (parus) pulls straw out of the thatch in search of insects. This bird is also very active in climbing and running about the trees for the same purpose, and the redbreasts search about the holes of walls for snails.

In other words he says there is a great deal of spring-like activity happening already.

As you can see, I picked one of my favorite birds, called the titmouse in the diary, it is also commonly known as the blue tit these days. It is very acrobatic.

The naturist also tells us that marauders such as the fox and the polecat invade farms when there is little to eat in the wild. Our Regency farmers would not be happy about them. Polecats are interesting creatures. They are mainly nocturnal and are found in woodlands, farmlands and wetlands. They often make dens in stream banks or under tree roots and feed l on small mammals such as voles and rat and also on frogs.

Until next time, happy rambles.

Regency Fashions for January

by Michele Ann Young

Before we get to the important stuff here is a bit of writing news! Michele has a story in the Mammoth Book of Regencies. The working title is Remember and it went in to the editor on Wednesday. More to come on that later.

These two gowns are so very January, aren't they? And with the weather in England the way it is right now, to me they look perfect. (It would just take the Thames to freeze over, and I would be over there in a heartbeat. Can you imagine, a 21st century frost fair).

Right, back to fashion.

This place comes from the Ladies Monthly Museum for January

Walking Dress.

A Green Velvet Hat, turned up in Front, and edged with White Swansdown, ornamented with a Green Velvet Flower. A Pelisse of Green Velvet, with Bishop’s Sleeves, trimmed with Black Lace. Habit Shirt of clear Muslin; Swansdown Tippet. Buff Boots.


Notr the habit shirt, these were worn under riding habits, but I suspect it is added here for a bit of warmth.

Full Dress.

Head fashionably dressed, ornamented with a Silver Wreath, and Heron’s Feathers. Walking dress of clear Muslin; a deep Lace let in round the Bottom. A Robe of Crimson Satin, edged round with White Swansdown, full sleeves, looped up with a Diamond Button. White Muff, Gloves, and Shoes.

The colour of the robe is gorgeous isn't it. Heron's feathers. My, whose for dashing out and tackling a heron. I bet we'd be in trouble.

And just for fun, for those who may not have seen this:



Snowy Britain on January 7, 2010. Brrrr.

Until next time, Happy Rambles.

Happy New Year

It is always difficult to get back into routine after a holiday, isn't it? But here we are.

Family is very important to us all when there are celebrations, and we were lucky enough to communicate with all of ours over the past two weeks.

There is also the surfeit of food to contend with and the odd glass of cheer, and those couple of extra pounds. All in all, though, it was a great holiday for us.

I am glad to be back with you all. 2010 promises to be an interesting year, with at least 2 full length and two (or is that three) short stories coming out. We look forward to sharing our research, travels and jubilations with you. (You won't find any snark here. Ever.)

For me that is the key to the New Year. Looking forward, making plans, tucking the regrets away in a private corner and rambling on.

Wishing you all the very best for a happy, healthy and rewarding 2010.