Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus - Happy St David's Day!

Okay, I am a bit late posting a happy St David's Day  here, but as it isn't officially a public holiday in Wales - at least not yet - most people are celebrating it today, Saturday.  I imagine that many leeks and Welsh cakes are still being consumed even as I write, though sadly, this year, Dydd Gwyl Dewi Day has rushed up at me rather, and was gone before I knew it!

My publisher, Mills & Boon, remembered however, and put together this fabulous image for my Warriors of Wales series - the daffodils are my addition!  The first in the series, The Warrior's Reluctant Wife, was out in September 2023 and the second, The Warrior's Forbidden Maiden, will be out in June. This second book features the Abbey of Ystrad Fflur (Strata Florida) where the Life of Dewi Sant was possibly preserved after the Normans demoted the mother church of Llanbadarn, where it was written by Rhigyfarch, son of Bishop Sulien. The story features the Life of another saint, almost as revered in the period, St Padarn, who founded the mother church, probably in the 6th century, the golden age of Welsh saints.

 

 

I'm currently writing a new book for Mills and Boon, though this one isn't set in Wales, but just over the border in Ludlow in 1459, at the beginning of the Wars of the Roses. I've enjoyed revisiting this period of English history, as it's one that has always fascinated me, and I've also enjoyed discovering medieval Ludlow, the streets of the market place having changed very little since the 15th century. 

I'm also concurrently writing a side project, still medieval, but set in Shrewsbury in 1215, which most people know is the time of Magna Carta, and this one does indeed have a Welsh focus, with the story straddling the border and with the political relationship between King John and Llywelyn Fawr as a backdrop. 

Shrewsbury is a town I should know well but, like a lot of people travelling from Wales to England, I've gone through it hundreds of times but never really ventured further than the train station - unless I've missed a connection or the train is cancelled, at which times I've nipped into the town for a coffee and a quick mooch around. 

 

Fish Street

Last week,  however, I decided to visit properly and to stay overnight.  A key location in my book is Milk Street and the old market place, near the churches of St Juliana and St Alkmund, and imagine my delight to find the Old Post Office inn on the site of the imaginary tavern where my heroine sings of an evening! Of course I booked myself in and had a delightful two days exploring the medieval centre - Fish Street, Butcher Row, the Bear Steps, Grope Lane, St Mary's Church and of course the Abbey and the Welsh and English bridges. 

 

The 16th century Old Post Office inn

 

I came away not just inspired but with a very accurate picture of how Shrewsbury must have been in the 13th century, sure proof that all authors should visit the locations of their books if they can.  Needless to say, I'm already planning a second trip!