Historical Romance and Research

As I have mentioned here before, my current WIP is a historical romance set in Regency England. I've had so much fun researching, and yes it does take away from my writing, but I often find I pick up a few new tidbits that spark something for my WIP or for new ideas for other books. I thought it might be fun to share some of it and keep me in the “zone” for my story. I hope you enjoy the research! My favorite picture from my trip to London two years ago was this picture taken in St. James’s Park. I’m standing on the Blue Bridge and if you look one way you see Buckingham Palace and the other is the back of the Horse Guards and the Admiralty Buildings. From the angle I took the picture it looks like a huge palace, but actually it’s just the tops of many buildings set behind one another. St. James’s Park is what is known as a Royal Park and it is the oldest one in London. It is surrounded by three palaces, Westminster (now the Houses of Parliament) St. James’s Palace and Buckingham Palace. You can read more about St. James’s Park history here. This is a picture of the park from around the time my story takes place. And here is a picture of the map I took with all the places marked so you can see where everything is. You can see that so much and yet so little has changed. I was very surreal to stand there and know that I was in the same place that Henry VIII went deer hunting and where many royals held lavish parties. Oh, and in the 18th century cows were still grazing in the park where milkmaids provided fresh milk for visitors to the park! Hope you enjoyed St. James’s Park. Have a great week, Best, June www.junesproat.com