I’m back from my London adventures!

Last month I had a chance to spend several days in London walking the streets of Mayfair and visiting some of the sites frequented by the characters in my books.

In spite of zipping around on the Tube, the buses, and the riverboats, we walked about five miles per day seeing London at ground level. Whew! We’re exhausted! But I have lots of pictures to share.

Hatchard’s

In my novella, Liliana’s Letter, Liliana runs off to Hatchard’s bookshop one day where she encounters the hero, who whisks her off in his carriage and proposes to her.

The real Hatchard’s still exists on Piccadilly. I visited it on a busy Saturday morning and was sad to see it didn’t have a Romance section.

I did, however, spot a book by J.D. Robb and another by Karen Rose in the Suspense shelves.

Henry Poole’s on Savile Row

 

In my novel, The Viscount’s Seduction, the hero, Lord Bakeley, mentions that Henry Poole was his tailor. This is one tiny little line from the story, but imagine how thrilled I was to come across the shop in London!

Here’s my own personal hero savoring the idea of a bespoke suit from Savile Row. (Fortunately, all the shops were closed.)

Borough High Street

In my next release, The Rogue’s Last Scandal, the villain asks the heroine to meet him at the Talbot Inn on Borough High Street. The Talbot isn’t there anymore, but the George is, and a marker designates the location of the White Hart Inn.

Apparently, there were huge traffic pileups as Borough High Street dumped onto London Bridge, so many travelers stopped for the night at the inns along the High Street before crossing into the City of London.

Some other sights

Horse Guards

If you visit London, you don’t want to miss this daily spectacle of beautiful horses and handsome young men.

 

 

 

 

And I loved this sign in the Horse Guards museum. I had no idea Harry and Will use Wales as their surname.

St. George’s, Hanover Square

Site of many a Regency heroine’s wedding, St. George’s front steps sit right upon St. George Street. (I snapped this picture from across the street.) My husband insisted the street must have been widened after the church was built. Does anyone know?

The Burlington Arcade

Filled with pricey shops, then and now.

Bethlehem Hospital (Bedlam), Now the Imperial War Museum

The interior of this massive building in Southwark has been gutted and is devoted to military history, and those are two naval ship guns pointing out toward the street. We toured the World War I and British espionage exhibits.

You’ll find barely a mention of this building’s past tragic history. My psychic abilities aren’t much, but I almost passed out in here.

Apsley House

Even if you don’t find the handsome duke fascinating, if you go to London this is a MUST SEE. The family still uses this home when in London, so no pictures were allowed inside the Duke of Wellington’s home, darn it. I’ll try to find royalty free pictures of the interior for a future post.

The Church of our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory

We traipsed all over much of London and only saw a total of three Roman Catholic churches, so I guess all the Tudor pogroms were effective!

Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory is a small chapel on Warwick Street behind Golden Square that was originally the chapel of the Portuguese Embassy, and later the Bavarian Embassy. The church was destroyed by anti-Catholic rioters in 1780. This building dates to the 1790s, and the sanctuary to 1880. I’m thinking that this church will be making an appearance in the last book of the Sons of the Spy Lord series.

Jermyn Street

And how could I miss Jermyn Street? Here I am on a quite blustery Saturday afternoon with Beau Brummell.

And so much more

Soane House, Greenwich, The Churchill War Rooms, the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, the Blitz tour, the British Espionage exhibit, the A & E… we saw so much more! I’ll be posting more pictures next week, and setting up some boards on my Pinterest page.

Do you have a favorite place in London? Please share!

 

All images are the author’s