Today's bon bon: Amazing what you find when you look for your heroine's family's home in Paris! This!

Among the many ah-ha moments, I love when research brings me something I can smile about...and visit!

Here is a picture of Daisy Molyneaux's family home in the 1st Arrondisment of Paris. The Hotel de Toulouse, owned by her parents in the 1780s, is a building that still stands.  As I describe in BECAUSE OF YOU, this home was built by her great grand father who was an illegitimate son of Louis XV.

During the REVOLUTION, houses like this were seized by the Committee in Paris as national property. A few years later, Napoleon came to power and took this building and gave it to the Banque de France.

And there it stands today!

Travels with Cerise, Part I: How I get great tidbits in my historical romances!

Cerise at Ham House, outside London

 (All pictures are property of Cerise DeLand, 2016. 2017, 2018.) 

The biggest challenge to writing historical romances is getting all the facts right! The romance usually comes to you in a flash. The hero appears, the heroine startles or the conflict between them lives for you. But getting the details about their relationship correct and the setting is a huge challenge. Research, not just those facts found in the pages of a thick nonfiction tome, but those discovered on holiday abroad make my job as a writer a delight!

My latest book based on research trips to Paris and Montmartre!

Traveling to “imbibe” the setting and atmosphere of the period is a great way to spend a vacation. I think so. I know many authors do.  Some go alone. Others take their friends or spouses. Mine, thank goodness, is tickled to go. And because he speaks French (and I speak German), we complement each other and get so much done!

Pump Room, Bath, England

Door from library
to Duke's bedroom
Ham House

Luckily, he likes my choices of places to visit and things to do. All of them, we research on-line and in printed references at home months before we catch the plane. This May is our next vacation when we do the Loire Valley for 3 weeks (and 12 castles, a vineyard and a monastery!) and then back to Paris to eat well, walk and visit old haunts.

What can you learn by doing this kind of research on the hoof?

Briska de Voyage at Vaux le Vicomte, south of Paris
made by Fuller in Bath, England

For one thing, you learn how far a house was from the center of royal court! In this first photo, I stand before Ham House in what is now suburban London. But in the early 17th century, this grand estate was far enough from the capital to be serene and close enough to allow the owners (earls of Dysart and Lauderdale) to respond to any summons from the monarch.

What you also learn from such a trip is a sense of terrain and social intercourse. Ham House is on the river. Very close to two other notable country homes, Ham sits so close, you can look across the river and imagine how members of the families visited—or argued—or fell in love with those nearby. You can also stroll through the kitchens (like the one where I’m standing in Kenwood House) and marvel at the huge roasting pit. You can examine the kitchen garden where the lady of the house painstakingly grew her vegetables. You can enjoy the stillroom where cooks dried herbs or the dairy room where maids separated cream and churned butter. You can admire the dolls that were Queen Victoria’s when she was a child. Or note the splendor of her bedroom when she visited Syon House. Even more intriguing is to stand next to the figure of Prince Albert her husband in all his court regalia (as he is in Kensington Palace) and note that he was rather short!

Queen Victoria's
doll collection,
Kensington Palace, London

Regency Town House,
Brunswick Square,
Brighton

You get to admire the true colors of a Regency library as at Kenwood House. Or the splendor of the dining rooms in their formal table service as in those at Syon House (owned by the dukes of Northumberland) and in the Imperial Palais de Compiegne (Bourbon kings and Bonaparte emperors) in suburban Paris. You go to Bath, as Jane Austen did, and have high tea in the Pump Room, drinking ‘the waters’. Tasting it, you discover it’s rather metallic and very unpleasantly warm! You go to Montmartre up on the windy hill in Paris and note that the Moulin Rouge beckons. So does the Moulin de la Galette where Parisians went to dance each night to escape their small rooms. Today, a restaurant stands there, but you can imagine yourself waltzing…and you can dream that your characters do too.

Farther up the Butte in Montmartre, you can enter the house that Auguste Renior once rented. Now a museum, the house displays the atelier of many an artist who gladly lived up in the suburb of Paris. Here the breezes cooled them and wealthier citizens came to buy their paintings and their sculptures.

Walking along the streets of Paris, you can imagine what hardship it must have been to walk the cobbles for miles in wooden shoes. Or how comforting to climb into a smart Briska Voyage carriage (made in Bath, England and now on display at Vaux-le-Vicomte, south of Paris). You imagine sitting in the library at Spencer House looking out on Green Park, so close that people would walk up and wave at the earls inside!

Atelier of artist,
Musee de Montmartre, Paris

You can see the effects of candles and smoke on the bright Regency colors of the walls, turning them dingy. You can smell the old, fine leather of the chairs and marvel at the original volumes of Ivanhoe and Pride and Prejudice on the library shelves.

You can imagine your hero and heroine waltzing in the ballroom at Syon House. Or see them strolling along South Moulton Street in London to go to the dressmakers or the tailors. Or climb into the high tester bed swathed in yards of stiff brocade as they retire for the night.

Painting with words without such rich sensations would be creating from whole cloth, poor representations and bland.

Travel abroad adds color, enrichment and accuracy to our novels. And aren’t you glad, authors take such time and care to show you what life was like for those characters who ‘existences’ we choose to enrich by having them fall in love?

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Who is Cerise?

Cerise DeLand loves to cook, hates to dust, lives to travel, read and write!

She pens #1 Bestselling Regencies and spicy romances starring SEALs! Yep. She loves a dashing, hunky man paired with a sassy woman.

Find Cerise:

Cerise DeLand's Website:  www.cerisedeland.com

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Cerise's MASQUERADE WITH A MARQUESS, #3 in #Regency Romp series, videos of hero's home!

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Victor Cameron, the hero in MASQUERADE WITH A MARQUESS, is a nobleman with wealth and a few fabulous homes. One is in London, one near the border in Yorkshire, but the other lies in Berkshire. And a fabulous abode it is, too.
Want to take a look?
Of course you do!
This picture is the National Trust's photo of Basildon Park in Reading, Berkshire.

YOUTUBE OF HOUSE (28 minutes long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovA1lQeRx5E

Missed it in 2005 Pride and Prejudice? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep7NVFZbEPY

The real house of Basildon was built beginning in late seventeen hundreds for the then current owner. In the Palladian style which conforms to very strict standards of elevations and dimensions of apertures such as doors and windows, this house is nonetheless a late example of the style brought from the Continent by those noblemen who took their grand tours.

During the Regency period, the center block was the main house for the owners, with ground floor used as wine cellars, servants quarters and service rooms. The rooms opened to the center court, hall or stairs and were in a row, one leading to another. The wings would have served secondary functions.

Do watch the videos of the house. I think you will enjoy seeing the true "Cameron Park" as much as I!
I also hope you are reading (if you haven't already) the other three novels in this series. Each stars a man who fought, served and spied for the Crown during the wars against Napoleon.

What does Cerise's Marquess Cameron look like? MASQUERADE WITH A MARQUESS out now!

We imagine what heroes look like and drool over delicious descriptions of their features. Long ago, when I first began to write about Victor Cameron, the Marquess Cameron, I found a picture of a marvelous Italian male model.
Here he is.
http://lookbook.nu/marianodivaio
This is fabulous Mariano Divaio.
I thought his brooding looks, especially in this photo, typified Victor not merely in looks but in temperament.
In MASQUERADE WITH A MARQUESS, Victor lives alone and with another birthday to be celebrated, he is pressured by his step-mother to marry. It is the farthest thing from his mind.
But when Contessa Sophia di Contini shows up impersonating a maid, Victor recalls one night when they were together in Italy. One night in each other's arms. One night after which Sophia betrayed him...or so he always assumed.
Now she's in England, searching for treasures stolen from her family by Pauline Bonaparte. And Victor is wary that what she will steal will be his heart...again.
MASQUERADE WITH A MARQUESS is #3 in my Regency Romp series. I hope you enjoy this...and looking at Victor/Mariano!!!

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Cerise visits #London with 10 BURNING Questions About #Regency #England!

Every author and many readers often wonder precisely what is real and what is true fiction in any novel.

As I walk around London, I am asking myself these often overlooked aspects.

See if any of them are also your burning questions!

1. If I live on Brook Street, is it really a friendly walk to Oxford Street?

2. If I want to buy a hat at a milliner's shop or visit a dressmaker on Half Moon Street, must I hire a carriage, say, if I live in Grosvenor Square?

3. And if I do hire a carriage, where would mine be housed? Is there a mews behind many of these famous squares in Mayfair? Or were there?

4. How do the numbers run around a square? Might not seem like a Burning Question, but when one writes a series (as I do) about folks who live and work in one, it helps to know how the numbers run or ran so that I'm not sending people helter-skelter.

5. In the rear of grand squares do alleys run? Or are they something else? Named something other than alley or access or lane?

hmmm.

6. When I go to Rules, opened in 1798, what's on the menu that a lord and lady might have ordered for their meals?

Think I'll ask my waiter!

7. Where can I get bangers and mash? (And why?)

8. I also need a pasty. My mother made them often and I yearn for a good one. Question is where do I go?

This pix of the TOWER gives me chills because it shows the poppies,
one ceramic flower for each man lost in the Great War
from each country in the Empire.

9. Finally, when I go visit the TOWER for my empty-umpth time, will I still get that little shiver of excitement...and will Mr. DeLand (who frankly seems addicted to the place!) once more swear he was there long ago with William, his pal?

10. In Bath, can I find one superb little gift for my new granddaughter? And in London, I must find a really good set of English buses or trains for my grandson. Question is where?

Ta Ta! Talk soon! When I get answers to these I will post them! Yes, I know. You think I am thorough but a little barmy, too, eh?

Cerise gives you her #England #research trip schedule! #knights #Lords #castles

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I'm packing my bag (small, black, within airline weight), for England! Want to come along?

I'm doing Major Research and I have an Agenda. Want to see? Bring your walking shoes, umbrella, raincoat (could be chilly too), and a sweater. Also do bring your camera because I take a picture of ANYthing which appeals. Your shoelace. The waiter's tie. Notorious. Yes. And sad. I need many cameras for shots so I can write other blogs like this one! With GOOD pictures...we do pray.

YES! I'm off for England soooon for 2+ weeks!!! Our trip this year is to London, Windsor, Reading and Bath. I am so tickled, I am silly with it.

Yesterday at a day-long FB party (Hey, forgive spelling here, I'm still recovering), I "served high tea." My mother was of English origin and tea was served at our house the English way in a pot, mind you, milk and sugar on the side with a homemade scone or good shortbread cookie.

Mr. DeLand chuckles at my English tea. He needs his java. But he says he will partake. While in England, do as they do, you see.

I am going with superb expectations that I will cram everything in I need to do and see to satisfy my historian's soul—and my writer's heart. This means, of course, that Mr. DeLand knows how to amuse himself while I shop (that verb to him is dawdle) in a museum store or the palace bookshop. (He has decades of experience with me, so he is primed.)

This year I have research goals, as ever. But they are a tad different than in past. This year we do a LOT of Regency and another shot of Victorian areas and experiences. Why? Well, I am excited about Regency architecture. This is for my series that began with HER BEGUILING BUTLER. (See here.) DELIGHTFUL DOINGS IN DUDLEY CRESCENT is my series about lords and ladies (rom com, mystery, and tons of history to titillate) who fall in love with servants. Of course, none of the servants is of that class, else what is a Regency romance for, eh? It must focus on noblemen acting in extraordinary ways to achieve the ultimate goal, marriage. I digress.

Ready for that schedule? 

DAY ONE (which is really Day 2 because the DeLands get JET LAG like the POX has arrived!)

Apsley House, London Regency walking tour; and TOWER OF LONDON

This makes the 6th or 7th or umpty-umpth time we have done THE TOWER. But Mr. DeLand's forefather (and mine) came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror and Mr. DeLand  gets crazy mad goosebumps every time he visits. Ergo, one must, eh? I say his ancestor helped to either build said castle, defend it or had a room there. Hmmm.

DAY TWO: Windsor Castle  

I do wish I could say I am taking tea here.
Alas, it is Buckingham Palace and this year,
HRM is busy when we arrive.

See us on the train, walking, dining there. I was there back in the my grad school days. Mr. DeLand has never been. I think that decades on, for me, I will get to see more of the castle than I did back in the day. So much more is open these days!

DAY THREE: Royal Mews and Cavalry Museum

I am up for the Mews! Last year, we were in Paris for our research trip and we went to the Palais Royale in Compiegne. We dined in a FAB 5 star place for lunch, made our way to the Palais and by the time we finished the main house, the mews was closed. I wept fat tears. Give me a carriage. Always. I get my fix here!

DAY FOUR: Spencer House. Regency Walk around London in which we amble along to haberdashers, Fortnum and Mason, a few squares to look at architecture and to dine and do high tea!

DAY FIVE: Hampton Court Palace or Blenheim. This choice depends on how we feel that morning. Why? After doing this self-guided touring for years now, we understand that occasionally we have to NOT run ourselves mad and do something simpler, not so strenuous. Especially if the weather is not wonderful, we want to be certain to be kind to ourselves, our feet and our health.

Blenheim is necessary to me as I begin a series about American Heiresses who married English noblemen in the Victorian era!

DAY SIX:  Banqueting House and Museum of London. The Banqueting House is a bit of an aside, one of those "must do-haven't been there yet thingies" but it calls to me. In my un-copious free time, I want to write (research) Restoration period. 

DAY SEVEN: Osterley Park.

This is my big Regency house tour day. Mr. DeLand will sigh and nod and humor me for hours. But he will love the train and the countryside. I know he will!

DAY EIGHT: Arundel Castle or Free

This is a bow to Mr. DeLand's delight in early medieval castles and my tendency to write a medieval now and then!

DAY NINE:  Sir John Soanes House, St. Paul’s, and Dinner at Rules!

Ah, yes. That architecture thingie? This is where I get to drool. Soanes was a major architect during the Regency period for many and I understand that the house alone is a treasure. See me dropping many POUNDS in the shop. Not weight, no. MONEY. 

Why St. Paul's? To be honest? While Mr. DeLand has been here often, I have never. I must go this time. 

And dinner at Rules? Ah. Mr. DeLand says we must take out a home equity loan to pay the bill, but go we will. Have you seen the menu? O.M.G. An Englishman's heaven. Roast beef and oysters and kidney pie and soups. I may never leave. (See me doing the dishes?)

DAY TEN, ELEVEN, TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN: BATH

We take the train. Love trains. Bought our tickets on line and let me just give a plug to British Railways who, when this American could not read their website well, did reimburse me for the 4 extra tickets I managed to purchase for 2 people on the same train, same day, and another 2 which went the wrong way immediately after the first 2 arrived.

Yeah.

Don't ask.

In Bath, we will go go go to:

1. Museum of Bath Architecture

2. Fashion Museum, open 10:30-5:00 every day, 

Tours at 1200 noon and 4:00 each day.

See Georgian Exhibit

Entry to the Assembly Rooms is included in the Fashion Museum ticket. - See more at: http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/assembly-rooms#sthash.VTqcQfzi.dpuf

3. Assembly Rooms, 10:30 - 5:00, every day

4. Jane Austen Center, open every day

5. The Circus

6. Royal Crescent

7. Roman Baths

Before we leave Bath, I will ship home my READER SWAG and goodies for all those FB Parties in 2015-2016.  I learned to do this years ago rather than accosting airline check-in clerks with my displeasure at their dislike of my weighty luggage!

DAY FIFTEEN: We leave Bath. Color me sobbing! We take the bus from Bath to our hotel at the airport!  I do love airport hotels. Means I can get up the next morning and look like a human being instead of this mad woman who has to get to the airport through wild traffic only to stand in line...again.

DAY SIXTEEN: We fly home!

Need a nibble of HER BEGUILING BUTLER? Of course you do! Cerise DeLand's charming servants #1 in Series out now!

 I'd like a butler, please. Especially one like Mr. Finnley. Tall, dark, handsome, mysterious and oh, so obliging!
He's out everywhere and I will get you the links. In the meantime, here is the AMAZON link:
http://www.amazon.com/Her-Beguiling-Butler-Delightful-Crescent-ebook/dp/B0135ZLZAU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438449574&sr=8-1&keywords=Her+Beguiling+butler

He is the first in a series about delightful, impertient servants in Dudley Crescent, London. Others to come include a FAB.U.LOUS group created last month by so many readers who came to a FB Party I gave with my buddies.

Look for them in coming months.

In the meantime?

Here's your nibble:
Copyright 2015, Cerise DeLand.

She should not undo him. But she did.

“Wallace Finnley. You have education and breeding. I can tell. Do you know how?”

He shook his head, her nearness a magnet to his body, his soul. Her lips, his only lure.

“For one thing, you own that very fine, very French Ferdinand Berthoud pocket watch. My great-uncle owned one similar.” She dropped her eyes toward the point on his chest where he kept his treasure. “I can hear the delicate chimes when it rings every quarter hour.”

He should have left it in his rooms. But it was the dearest memento he owned from his grandfather. Besides, he ran his daily duties by the precision of it. “I cannot part with it. It keeps me on task.”

“It does. I see it.”

“May I go now?”

“No. Certainly not. I would learn more. You say you come from Yorkshire. But I detect no hint of it in your pronunciation. You went to school. Some fine institution that weaned you from your native speech. Where?”

Good god. She was perceptive. He set his jaw. He’d not reveal his year at Edinburgh. He never told anyone of that, he’d hated it so. “The Army was my schooling. Taught me responsibility.”

“Your rank?”

“Captain.”

She smiled at him, her face around her eyes crinkling in appreciation. “So then your family purchased a commission for you?”

My father gave me nothing of value. “I ran away. Began as a recruit.”

“Noble of you.”

“Necessary, ma’am.” He shook his head, thinking them done, moving to rise.

She caught his hand. “A moment, Finnley. There is more to your story. From your time in the Army, I see then when and how you acquired your demeanor with those under your command.”

He wished to escape her touch and her sound perception. “The Army gave me a good education.”

“And war is a demanding teacher,” she concluded.

“It was. I wish to never fight again.”

“Nor do any of us. My brother died. At Waterloo.”

He schooled himself to remain placid. Her brother had been his best friend. What he did here for Alicia was as much for her as for Jerome.

“I find it intriguing, dear Finnley, that with such rank in the military, you now offer yourself in domestic service.”

Her statement, he knew, was a question and he had to avoid the whole answer of his origins. “Being a butler is an honorable occupation.”

She fell back to her cushions, her hand dropping and freeing him of her hold.  Her expression told him she was dismayed with his obstinate ways.

He stepped backward and rubbed his wrist.

She stared at him, clear-eyed and assured. “Finnley, I will be forthright. I look into your endearing blue eyes and can see that when you speak truth to me, your pupils darken and enlarge.”

What?

“And when you lie to me, your pupils constrict and your body tightens like a drum.”

Well, damn. Foiled by my eyes?

Once more, she took his hand and put his open palm to her soft cheek. “Might you care for me, Finnley?”

Might? There was no might.

“I see in your eyes that you do,” she whispered. “Tell me who you really are, dear sir.And then we can begin again. Anew.”