Why I Find Country Houses So Fun to Use as Settings

Hi, lovely people. I hope you enjoyed my excerpts from Love Through Time and Weekend at Wilderhope Manor. This time I'm back because I'd like to talk about another thing the two books have in common besides ghosts – they're both set in country houses. There's a reason for that... I love 'em!

Seriously though, I'd like to dish the dirt a little bit on why I find country houses so fascinating and why they're so much to use as settings.

I spend a lot of time in country houses, or manors, or whatever you want to call them. It's what I do for fun! I'm lucky because I live in England, where we have an abundance of the places that are open to the public. I'm naturally a very nosey person (if I was being polite, I'd say inquisitive) so generally, the more rooms I can see, the better. Even if lots of rooms are open to visit, I'm still always intrigued by the doors marked 'Private.' I want to know what's behind the doors, is it still furnished, are there still elements of the past left behind... my mind works overtime.

Regardless of those things, though, the houses really do captivate me. I'm a bit of a history buff and I always find myself wondering what it would have been like to live in the houses when they were in their prime, how people would have behaved, what they would have done for entertainment. The naughty side of my imagination inevitably comes up with decidedly more mischievous ideas, like what people got up to in that four poster bed, was that carpet beater really only used for beating carpets...

Add that to the seemingly endless hiding places, dimly lit rooms and creaking floorboards and you have the potential to write lots of different stories set in exactly the same place!

I don't write historicals because I'm a wimp and too scared of getting important details wrong, but I adore using the houses in contemporary stories and allowing elements of the past to slip into my tales. And that's exactly what I've done with Love Through Time and Weekend at Wilderhope Manor. Both stories are set in country houses, which play a large part in the plot.

Love Through Time has a young woman going to work in a country house, working on conserving the books in their impressive library. But, without giving too much away, she stirs something up and ends up getting involved in the past events of the place and having ghostly encounters...

Weekend at Wilderhope Manor has a lesbian couple spending a weekend at a manor for a joint murder mystery and Halloween weekend event. They're going about their business and having fun with the events that have been laid on, but they soon find out that there's more to Wilderhope Manor than meets the eye.

*****

Westbury Hall is a stately home with a fascinating past, and when book conservator Emily Stone starts uncovering it, she’s startled by what she finds . . . .

Emily arrives at Westbury Hall with a job to do. She’s to clean and conserve all of the books in their impressive library, preserving them for future generations. Not long into her stay at the house, she bumps into the night guard, George. She’d expected an old, balding guy with a comb over, so the hunky chap she actually meets is a very pleasant surprise. The introductions complete, George leaves Emily in peace to get on with her job. But when a falling photograph sets off a chain reaction of ghostly events, Emily and George are thrown together in order to find out who—or what—is causing them. Their investigation uncovers a tragic past, a lost love, and a stunning secret.

Buy links: http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/love-through-time/

*****

When Stephanie and Jenny go to a Murder Mystery Halloween weekend at Wilderhope Manor, they’re expecting fun and games. But following creaky floorboards, spooky noises and an alarming encounter in the Manor’s grounds, the girls begin to wonder if there’s more to Wilderhope Manor than meets the eye. As they find frequent comfort in one another’s arms – and their bed – will the girls discover what’s causing the bumps in the night, or will they run scared?

Buy links: http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/weekend-at-wilderhope-manor/

*****

Lucy is a graduate of the University of Derby, where she studied Creative Writing. During her first year, she was dared to write an erotic story - so she did. It went down a storm and she's never looked back. Lucy has had stories published by Cleis Press, Noble Romance, Ravenous Romance, Summerhouse Publishing, Sweetmeats Press and Xcite Books. She is also the editor of Uniform Behaviour and Seducing the Myth. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Both books are on Goodreads, so if your bank balance is already groaning under the weight of all the books you're buying – please add Love Through Time and Weekend at Wilderhope Manor to your to-read list! If you follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook, too, as well as checking out my website, you'll be able to find out about any giveaways I'm running.

Thanks so much for popping by to read my posts. Don't forget to leave comments in order to be in with the chance of winning the prizes being given away as part of the event. Also, don't forget to head over to the Whipped Cream Blog where I'm talking libraries, as well as interviewing two of my characters.

Spooky Excerpt from M/F Erotic Romance, Love Through Time (PG)

Hi everyone, it's me again! I hope you enjoyed my previous spooky excerpt from Weekend at Wilderhope Manor. This time, I'd like to share some more creepiness, this time from my erotic romance, Love Through Time. It's a m/f contemporary piece, but with paranormal and historical elements.

Excerpt from Love Through Time

It took several trips up and down the ladder to clear the first shelf, but Emily didn't mind. She was already entering the zone. However, she was startled out of it on her last descent of the ladder. As she reached the bottom, carefully carrying her bundle of books, she knocked one of the framed photographs over. Luckily, it just fell over backward, flapping onto the shelf and doing no damage other than to Emily's nerves. Depositing her pile of books on the desk, Emily rushed back to put the photograph back in its rightful position.

Picking it up, she looked at it. Turning it over in her hands, Emily satisfied herself that the photograph was no worse off for its tiny ordeal. Then she looked at the image itself. It was a black and white portrait of a young man, whom she guessed was in his late twenties. Judging by the clothes he wore, she suspected the photograph had been taken in the late 1940s. There was nothing remarkable about the photo, except for his expression. She knew smiling in photos wasn't as commonplace then as it was today, but still. The guy looked incredibly somber, and there was a melancholy in his eyes that made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. If Emily had estimated the date of the picture correctly, it was entirely possible that he'd lost loved ones—and friends, as he could well have been enlisted—during the war. For that, she could completely forgive him his seriousness.

Emily stroked a thumb across the glass, just where his face was. It was an unconscious move, but when she'd done it, Emily wondered if deep down she was hoping to make him feel better. There went her imagination again. She shook her head at her own oddness and put the photograph down gently before moving back to the desk to get on with her epic task. Glancing around the room as she sat down, Emily suppressed a sigh. It was lucky she liked her job. This library contained an awful lot of books.

A while later, Emily was well and truly in the zone. After her delayed start, she was working through her task thoroughly and efficiently, and she was confident she could get several more books done before she left, especially if she remained uninterrupted. So far, she hadn't come across any pieces that needed any more than surface cleaning. This collection was well looked after.

Unfortunately, though, she couldn't switch off her bodily functions, and by the time she'd finished the book she was working on, Emily was desperate for a loo break. As she stood to go off in search of the nearest usable toilet a grumble from her stomach told her that now was probably a good time to have a proper break, too, and get something to eat. Pulling off her gloves, she resolved to do just that.

Emily found a toilet without too much trouble, did what she had to do, and made her way back to the library. She half expected to see George on her travels, but she remained completely alone. Probably just as well, she thought, it meant she could eat her food quickly and get straight back to work. It didn't stop a small part of her wishing he'd pop in and see her again. She mentally berated herself for even thinking it. She hardly knew the guy and yet she was thinking about him. The lack of sex had obviously sent her libido into overdrive. She needed to get laid—and soon.

After eating her dinner—an actually quite delicious pasta salad she'd picked up at the local supermarket on the way here—Emily tidied up, put her rubbish away, and settled back down at the desk to continue her task. Just as she was about to carry on, though, she noticed the diminishing light. Moving to the switches, which she'd noticed earlier by the door, Emily flipped them all, bathing the room in a glow that was gentle, but perfectly adequate for working. She sat down once more, snapped her gloves back on, and got down to it.

Emily worked in peace for a while longer . . . until she felt a draught on the back of her neck. Carefully placing down the book she was retouching, she fidgeted in her chair and moved her head from side to side and up and down, as if to erase the odd feeling. She forgot it almost instantly, until a few seconds later, it came again, as though someone was blowing on the back of her neck. Emily shivered, both at the sensation and at the thought that had entered her mind. Goosebumps crept over her entire body, and the third movement of air made her jump up out of the chair and spin around to face the source.

There was nothing there. No one. Emily rolled her eyes. Why on earth was she getting like this? She'd worked in dozens of rooms, perfectly alone, and not once had she creeped herself out. Why now? When her gaze fell on the window, she rolled her eyes again. Of course. Old houses like Westbury more often than not had panes of glass that didn't fit into their frames properly. The draught was coming from the window. Emily crossed the room to the window, drew the curtains—she'd open them again before she left, and Mrs. Thompson would be none the wiser—and sat back down again. Shaking her head at her own stupidity, Emily continued working on the book she'd just abandoned, quickly becoming absorbed in her task once more.

A noise from over by the ladder startled her, making her jump and almost jab herself in the eye with the end of the brush she was using. Turning, she saw the photograph she'd righted earlier once more lying down. She'd obviously not fixed the stand properly. After downing her tools, Emily stomped across the room, cross at the seemingly endless interruptions, and grabbed the photograph. She checked it to make sure it held firm, wagging a finger at the man in the image.

"Just you behave. I've got too much work to do to put up with your shenanigans if you don't mind."

She didn't know she'd spoken aloud and giggled at the realisation, stopping abruptly when it hit home just how peculiarly she was behaving. This place was making her crazy, she decided, which could be catastrophic, considering she hadn't even finished one shelf of books yet, and she had considerably more to do. She'd be a wreck by the time this job was done.

Shaking her head again, Emily walked back to the desk and took her seat. She resolved to knuckle down, get the first shelf completed, and call it a night. Hopefully a decent amount of sleep would make her feel more herself and mean she could put this idiotic behaviour behind her and return to Westbury tomorrow with her sensible, hard-working head firmly screwed on. She hoped so, anyway, because this simply wouldn't do.

Emily was able to finish cleaning the first lot of books without any further interruptions. She heaved a sigh of relief and swapped her book cleaning tools for her shelf cleaning tools. All she had to do was clean the empty shelf, replace the books, put the library back to how it had been when she'd started, and be on her way. Tomorrow was another day, she mused, and she was determined it was going to be much more productive than this one.

Emily had just put her feet back onto the floor after her third trip up the ladder when she felt something touch her right leg, down by her ankle. She wore trousers, so if it had been some kind of insect it was doubtful she'd have felt it. Besides, it was moving up and down, as though stroking her. Still looking forward at the ladder and grasping its handrails, Emily froze in place. She couldn't move, speak, scream, or even bring herself to look around.

She'd never been so scared in her life. The stroking sensation crept higher and higher until it reached her hip. Finally, something in Emily snapped and she screamed at the top of her lungs, lurched away from the ladder, and ran out of the library.

She was gone before the photograph hit the shelf again.

*****

Westbury Hall is a stately home with a fascinating past, and when book conservator Emily Stone starts uncovering it, she’s startled by what she finds . . . .

Emily arrives at Westbury Hall with a job to do. She’s to clean and conserve all of the books in their impressive library, preserving them for future generations. Not long into her stay at the house, she bumps into the night guard, George. She’d expected an old, balding guy with a comb over, so the hunky chap she actually meets is a very pleasant surprise. The introductions complete, George leaves Emily in peace to get on with her job. But when a falling photograph sets off a chain reaction of ghostly events, Emily and George are thrown together in order to find out who—or what—is causing them. Their investigation uncovers a tragic past, a lost love, and a stunning secret.

Buy links: http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/love-through-time/

*****

Lucy is a graduate of the University of Derby, where she studied Creative Writing. During her first year, she was dared to write an erotic story - so she did. It went down a storm and she's never looked back. Lucy has had stories published by Cleis Press, Noble Romance, Ravenous Romance, Summerhouse Publishing, Sweetmeats Press and Xcite Books. She is also the editor of Uniform Behaviour and Seducing the Myth. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Love Through Time is on Goodreads, so if your bank balance is already groaning under the weight of all the books you're buying – please add it to your to-read list! If you follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook, too, as well as checking out my website, you'll be able to find out about any giveaways I'm running.


Thanks so much for popping by to read my post. Come back later for a post on why I like to write about country houses in my stories. Don't forget to leave comments in order to be in with the chance of winning the prizes being given away as part of the event. Also, don't forget to head over to the Whipped Cream Blog where I'm talking libraries, as well as interviewing two of my characters.