I’m so excited – you can now download Molly’s Millions
Happy Hens!
I love having hens! They are such a delight to watch and it’s been a week of firsts for our ex-battery girls. The spring sunshine finally decided to come out and play and so did our hens – enjoying their first taste of sunny weather. Here’s Minnie exploring the garden for the first time:
Later on, Alice and Minnie enjoyed their first proper dust bath – in our vegetable patch! Dolly Clare also joined in, getting a goodly amount of dirt everywhere!
And here’s Molly wondering what all these new arrivals are doing in her garden!
I love seeing all their personalities coming through. Shy Dolly Clare, who is at the bottom of the pecking order, is now turning into a real adventurer. She’s first out into the garden each morning and loves climbing the wall of the herb garden and having a peck around. Alice is more sedate and has a favourite spot amongst the lemon balm. Dotty comes out for a bit but then goes straight back in and Minnie is nuts about anything green. You have to watch your fingers when offering up a piece of dandelion!
Something else that’s fascinating me is the variety of eggs we’re getting. Just look at these two laid by Alice and Dolly Clare!
The Perfect Hero (the perfect cover!)
It’s always an exciting moment when you see a new cover for the first time and I have to say that I’m delighted with the one for The Perfect Hero. It’s by the same artist who did A Weekend with Mr Darcy and I think the two books will sit very handsomely together!
This is the second book in my Jane Austen addicts trilogy and is set in lovely Lyme Regis in early summer. I love the freshness of the cover and the pretty beach huts and wait until you see the very cute ginger cat on the spine of the book! It’s published on 21st April so not long to wait now but the really exciting thing is that you can pre-order a copy of The Perfect Hero
Introducing our girls!
We have now been hen owners for one blissful week and our four ex-battery girls have settled down wonderfully well although it’s been very hard for me coping with the dreaded ‘pecking order’. We have two dominant hens: Dotty – who emerged as top hen very early on, and Minnie – who surprised me as she started out quite shy.
So that leaves poor Alice and Dolly Clare at the bottom of the pecking order and Alice, in particular, is a favourite victim although she’s the bright one – always eager to explore and try things first.
And, if you’re wondering about the choice of names, I took them from the Miss Read books I love so much!
When we first got the hens, they’d never been outside before and so knew nothing of day and night. That meant that we had to give them a helping hand when it came to bedtime. But, I’m pleased to say that the girls have now got the hang of things and happily make their own way up the ladder to bed each evening.
Not only have we been enjoying watching them grow in confidence but we’ve had a regular supply of fresh eggs too! We’ve made omelettes, scrambled eggs galore, a cake and meringues.
So, after years of dreaming and months of preparation, we are now smallholders and I couldn’t be happier. If you fancy giving it a go yourself – and I highly recommend it – take a look at the British Hen Welfare Trust website. And don’t forget to buy free-range eggs! We can all do our bit to make sure that these wonderful animals are treated with the love and respect they deserve.
Literary Ladies who Lunch!
Today might have been bitterly cold but it didn’t stop me from meeting fellow Janeites Jane Odiwe, Juliet Archer, Monica Fairview and – all the way from America – Abigail Reynolds.
The beautiful church of St Marylebone was the perfect rendevouz for literary fans as it was where Lord Byron was baptised and was also the setting of Robert Browning’s marriage to Elizabeth Barrett.
We enjoyed a warming lunch in the crypt and then continued our chat on a walk around Regent’s Park, all of us agreeing that it was lovely to get away from the keyboard and talk to real people every now and then!
Then it was back home to check up on my lovely chickens who are all settling in really well. I’ll post some more ‘chick pics’ soon!
Batteries Included!
Today was a very special day indeed. 750 ex-battery chickens were released and rehomed by the amazing British Hen Welfare Trust and we had the pleasure of bringing home four lovely ladies.
Before arriving at the collection point, we had a walk in the Surrey Hills with Molly, promising her that she wouldn’t be forgotten once we got chickens! It was a gorgeous spring day and the woods were full of snowdrops and there was a real warmth in the sun.
Then it was on to the farm where 350 ladies were being rehomed. Here they are:
There were quite a few who looked oven-ready, poor things, but all looked eager to embrace their new life. It’s hard to imagine the lives that they’ve had to endure: kept in tiny cages indoors with no natural light or earth to scratch around in – all in the name of producing cheap eggs. Looking at them here, it really makes you aware of how important it is to buy free-range eggs.
With our four chickens chosen, it was time to head for home.
And they soon settled down in the boot of the car, making a chickeny cushion in the corner of the cage – sweet!
Once, home, we introduced them to their coop and it was straight in for a bite to eat and a scratch around.
One of them even climbed the ladder and found herself a nest box. We had to give the others a hand but there weren’t any complaints after what must have been a very big day for them!
Chicken countdown …
I’m so excited! We’re finally rehoming our ex-battery chickens this weekend! The poor dears will be travelling all the way from Devon where 750 battery hens are being released for rehoming. They will then travel to Surrey where we’re picking them up to bring home to the London suburbs.
In preparation, I’ve been reading some lovely chickeny books with titles such as Hens in the Garden, Eggs in the Kitchen; Chicken Coops for the Soul; and Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance. But enough theory – bring on the practical!
The coop is ready, there are galvanised feeders waiting to be filled and a very anxious author who is finding it very hard to concentrate on her fiction right now! I want to meet my gals!
Coming soon…
Last week, I was sent a sneak preview of the cover for my new book, The Perfect Hero, and it’s gorgeous! It’s in the same style as the cover for A Weekend with Mr Darcy and I can’t wait to show it to you here. Just a few more tweaks at the publishers and I can reveal it to the world!
I’m currently writing the third in the Austen addicts trilogy, Mr Darcy Forever, and have just reached the half-way point which is always an exciting moment. I have some pretty tight deadlines this year so I won’t be leaving my keyboard for the forseeable future!
Gilda O’Neill
Today was a special day – remembering writer and historian, Gilda O’Neill, whose sudden death last year shocked so many of us. At The Grapes in Narrow Street, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in her memory.
The Grapes is one of the oldest pubs in the East End of London and was frequented by Dickens and Pepys. There was a real fire blazing which was very welcome as there was sleet about, and there was a lovely crowd of people to celebrate Gilda’s life.
I’ll never forget Gilda’s warmth and kindness when I first moved to London and was new to the world of publishing. She was always there with advice and was wonderfully supportive when we set up the London/South East Chapter of the RNA in 2001.
I have a special book of writers’ inspirational quotes. This is what Gilda wrote in my book: ‘My dear Victoria – you can write, you have things to say and you have readers out there just waiting for those books – don’t ever forget that!’
One thing is for sure – I shall never forget Gilda.
2011 – bring it on!
Happy New Year, everyone!
I’m so looking forward to 2011. It’s a very special year for Jane Austen fans as it’s 200 years since her first publication – Sense and Sensibility – and I’ll be doing my bit to celebrate this. In June, I’ll be speaking at the Worcester Literary Festival and, in July, I’ll be giving a talk at Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton.
I’ll also be kept busy with publications. The Perfect Hero comes out at the end of April in the UK. It’s my second novel about Jane Austen addicts and is set in Lyme Regis. This will also be the first year that I’ll be published in the US with A Weekend with Mr Darcy coming out in July and Dreaming of Mr Darcy (the US title for The Perfect Hero) coming out in October. Very exciting!
And, on the home front, we should be rescuing our ex-battery chickens soon. They should be arriving any day now …
Oh, and a house move is on the horizon too. At long last, we are swapping the London suburbs for a more rural setting: beautiful Wiltshire!
Favourite reads of the year
Well, it’s the end of 2010 and it’s been another year of great reads. Some of the titles were published in 2010 but there are some great titles from yesteryear too.
So what were your favourite reads this year?
White Christmas
I can’t remember if I’ve ever experienced a white Christmas before so maybe this year was my first! Christmas Day was very special and, after a scrummy lunch, we headed out to Oxfordshire where the snow was thick and powdery and the sunset had painted the sky in delicate pinks and blues.
We met some sheep and ponies which had just been fed with hay which scented the icy air with its sweetness. The ponies had gorgeous thick winter coats and I couldn’t resist removing one of my gloves to give them a quick pat!
The snow in the suburbs has turned into treacherous ice now but, the countryside fields and woods, it was still gloriously deep and crunchy.
And look what I got for Christmas! My lovely hubby commissioned one of his artist friends, the super-talented Liam O’Farrell, to paint Molly and some chickens for me. Isn’t it wonderful? I’ll definitely have to get those chickens now!
