On location for What Happens At Christmas

A large part of the new Christmas e-book novella - What Happens at Christmas - is set in the Brecon Beacons National Park, in Wales. While the converted barn where the heroine stays for the holiday is invented, and I've also messed about with the weather, creating  some freak conditions to make sure I had oodles of snow on Christmas day, the hills and the scenery of the Beacons are real. As is the fact that the Park is a Dark Sky Reserve - making it an excellent place for star gazing. Very romantic, star gazing. At least, I hope it is. Abergavenny, the town where Lori, my heroine, does her last minute shopping for Christmas, is a real place too.

To give you a flavour of the setting - this week's blog has pictures. They wouldn't win any prizes for artistic impression, but they give you an idea. You just have to imagine it all covered in snow.

No - this one isn't Wales - it's Carlyle's House in Chelsea, in London.
This is the area where Drew, my hero, has a flat   

Now these are the Beacons - taken on a day in summer

Summer again.

This is a winter view, November and foggy.

You can see the fog over the hills to the right of the picture. 

And here we are, in Abergavenny

The hills lurk over the buildings of the town.

More lurk, and more fog.

The chickens in the roof of the Market Hall.

And this was the cake and gingerbread latte I rewarded myself with,
 after taking pix on a foggy day.

Never Coming Home - The Location Tour

A number of people have told me that they were saving their copy of Never Coming Home to take on holiday with them. I hope they all enjoyed it. Now that the summer and the beach holiday season is drawing to an end, I thought it was a good time for some arm-chair travel, either to remember places visited, or to plan holidays to come.

So, I give you ... 

Never Coming Home - The Location Tour. 

The book moves around the globe at a brisk pace. The settings for the action were important to me - a way of adding extra texture to the manuscript, and a chance to re-visit my own memories as I wrote. Thankfully, none of my experiences were as scary or heartbreaking as those I created for Kaz and Devlin. I've visited, or lived in, a lot of the places I wrote about. And taken photographs. Now I'm sharing them. I hope a glimpse of the locations which inspired me will add to your enjoyment of the story.

To see the tour, just click on the pages link above.

Bon Voyage!