A Day Out

Met a friend for a coffee yesterday at The Coach and Horses in Rickmansworth. We then visited the museum in the High Street, which was once William Penn's House, and found lots of things to interest us, as we are historical novelists. After lunch at an excellent Italian restaurant, we toured the charity shops where I found a couple of books for historical research and a copy of Two Under the Indian Sun by Jon and Rumer Godden. And, of course, we chatted about our writing, tossed ideas backward and forward, throughout the day. We concluded with a coffee and a snack at Café Nero, (my snack was an almond croissant stuffed with marzipan - naughty but nice.  Thoroughly content, we then made our separate ways to our homes.

 

Day Out

Recently, I wrote about The Coach and Horses in Rickmansworth. A friend, who is a novelist, wants to see it so we are meeting there  this morning. Afterwards, we might visit the local museum and then have lunch. We also intend visiting the charity shops. One of them has a huge selection of out of print books from which I might find one or more to add to my non fiction collection of history books.

' Zoe & The Ancient Egyptians ' 16/10/2013 18:00:38

My 8 year-old granddaughter, Zoe, is studying the ancient Egyptians at school. When her parents went with her eldest brother to watch her younger brother perform in Macbeth at Watersmeet Theatre in Rickmansworth, I looked after her. She had taken books from the library, copied pictures onto the computer and added several pages of text. "Would I like to see her project?" she asked, and smiled enchantingly. My dainty, curly haired granddaughter then spared me no details of mummification. I have and extremely weak stomach. At the end of her gruesome presentation with extra verbal comments she said: "I'm hungry, grandma, time to have dinner." Dinner! My stomach heaved. Food! Would I ever be able to eat again. I deserve a medal for grandmotherly love.

Historical Pub

Yesterday, a friend and I met at one of The Coach and Horses, one of Hertfordshire's most historical pubs, in Rickmansworth.

I liked the ambience of the original tap room. Low, beamed ceilings, and flames leaping in the old fireplace warming the flag-stoned room. My imagination had not difficulty occupying it with people from times past.

According to the brochure: "To discover the history of the Coach and Horses, we must trace our steps back in time to the late 1600's and the Salter family of Rickmansworth.

"At around 1720, a Samuel Salter arrived in Rickmansworth. Born in 1695, this young man married Elizabeth Robinson in 1724 and settled in the town. ...

The Coach and Horses itself dates back to at least 1722, with the foundations of the building dating as far back as the end of the 16th century. Salter's brewery emerged at a later date beside the pub."
To discover more visit: www.thecoachand horses.info