Living the High Life

I spent last weekend in London with a group of Georgette Heyer fans, following up Heyer and Regency connections in the capital. I met some wonderful, interesting people with a wealth of knowledge on history and Heyer. Members of the group came from Canada, USA and Australia as well as England. We had a super time living the high life during London's heatwave, the only small cloud being the lack of air-conditioning in our hotel (however, since we were there to experience Regency life, we shouldn't complain about the lack of one modern convenience)

We visited the Regency exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, looked at the magnificent paintings and interiors at the Wallace Collection (including a superb display of snuff boxes) and enjoyed a wonderful tour of Spencer House. We dined well, with dinner at Rule's (which was an oyster eating house in Regency times), high tea at Durrants hotel and lunch in a swish restaurant in Piccadilly.

On the Sunday we paid homage to Beau Brummell at his statue on Jermyn Street and even walked up and down St James's Street, a thing no self-respecting Regency lady would dream of doing. It was a weekend of sheer indulgence, and gave me lots more ideas for novels!

Melinda Hammond
Gentlemen in Question – pub. July 2006 by Robert Hale Ltd