Welcome to my world?
The house – Ty Newydd* – began as a setting for an historical series (smugglers, revenge, gorgeous men, wearing lace and velvet – you know the sort of thing) which is currently trapped in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet, but which I’m sure will escape one day and refuse to go away until I write it/them. When I was thinking of a discreetly out-of the-way site for my new branch of the security services – more world building – the house popped into my mind. It’s been through love, marriages, children, Victorian modernising, two world wars, the hint of a ghost or two – and I get to work all that out. It may not all make it into the final books, but it’s enjoyable, if time consuming. And I have to say my ability with drawing plans and maps leaves a bit to be desired, so my attempts at explanatory doodling leave a bit to be desired too. 🙂
My security service also needs a London HQ. Which is why I was wandering around the side streets near St Paul’s on a recent away-day, looking for suitable locations. It was tipping down with rain, so I have no photos and my explorations had to be curtailed as I was in danger of being soaked to the skin, but I now have a sense of the atmosphere of the part of London I want to use. I think I’m going to have to invent the tiny Georgian Square I have in mind, so that’s another to add to the list.
At the risk of drowning by torrential rain, I took refuge at the Wallace Collection, one of my favourite London galleries/museums. And one with a large number of exhibits from in and around the time that my Ty Newydd would have been built. I may well be pinching some of their fireplaces, and I’m pretty sure that the original owner of my house is going to have a small collection of paintings by Canaletto, mementos of a youthful Grant Tour …
World building is complex but so much fun. And all that lovely research – such a wonderful way to procrastinate …
* New House, in Welsh.