The Grapes of Love

It might look as though I've been gallivanting again but... oh, okay, I have!

After an exciting week where I celebrated the completion of my first novel (you can read about it here) my seven friends and I went for a long weekend to Bordeaux. Usually we stay in England but this year we fancied some September sunshine... and that was what we got. It was glorious.

We stayed in an Airbnb apartment in the centre of the city with wonderful high ceilings with decorative cornices - but only one loo between the eight of us! Amazingly, we didn't have to resort to a rota ... but it was touch and go.

Bordeaux is a lovely city, especially in the early autumn and I particularly loved the Mirroir d' Eau (Mirror Pool). It's a giant slab of granite, covered with 2cm of water, set in front of the beautiful Place de la Bourse. The way it alternates between a mirror effect which reflects the 18 century facades of the buildings behind and a mist, is magical. No wonder it's the most photographed site in the city.

We also visited the lovely town of St Emilion and did a bit of wine tasting - well you have to don't you! 

It was a coincidence that at the same time I was touring the vineyards, my love story, The Grapes of Love, was in Take a Break Fiction Feast. The setting is a vineyard called Domaine de la Bergerie and the story takes place during during the vindage. I actually sold this story a year ago but missed the boat for last year's October magazine so they held it back a year.

'Below her, the vineyards stretched out as far as the eye could see until they reached the blue ribbon of the river in the distance. The air was filled with the musky scent of the harvest...'

I like to think that it could be describing one of the vineyards we saw.

Last week also saw the penultimate instalment of my People's Friend serial, Life at Babcock House. It's so exciting to see what illustration has been created for it. As it's about a year since I wrote the serial, I've forgotten a lot of it, so I've reading it again - this time with the eyes of a reader.

Now I'm back, I can feel some serious novel editing coming on and (surprise, surprise) I've come home with a short story idea or two.