(** This is where I answer questions that readers send me!)
“I would love to know if you have based Meadowford-on-Smythe on a real village around Oxford, or is it a mixture of the many beautiful villages around?”
Yes, the village of Meadowford-on-Smythe in my Oxford Tearoom Mysteries is an amalgamation of several Cotswolds villages that I’d visited during the time I lived in Oxford… although a lot of it is probably inspired by Burford, one of the most beautiful villages in the area and one which has a very quaint tearoom! 🙂
Here is a real-life picture of Burford:
One of my favourite things to do on a Sunday morning was to go for a long walk in the Cotswolds countryside – and then finish up in Burford and have a treat at the tearoom there. Especially on snowy winter mornings…
…it was wonderful to walk into the cosy tearoom after a chilly hike through the fields and be served a lovely pot of hot tea and rich, indulgent cakes and buns, whilst you warmed your fingers around the tea cup!
You can find out more about Burford here: http://www.cotswolds.info/places/burford.shtml
Got a question for me? Maybe you’re curious about something in my stories or about me or have a question about my books and how I write them… don’t be shy! Just drop me a line at contact[at]hyhanna[dot]com and I’ll try my best to answer! 🙂
I am glad you decided to do a blog. Australia has always fascinated me. As a native of southern Arizona I revel in our dessert heat. My dream would be to have enough money to spend our summer here and your summer there. That way I would never have winter.
Thanks for commenting, Elaine! I’m pleased that you like the idea of a blog.
I think a lot of Australia may be similar to Arizona, with the desert climate – especially in the “red interior”. It’s certainly incredibly hot & dry in Western Australia in the summer months – temperatures up into the 40’s C (which is I think is 104+ F).
And that’s a great idea about staying in “eternal summer” – ha! ha! I always thought it would be wonderful to be wealthy enough to travel and have multiple homes around the world so that you can always pick the nicest time of year to live somewhere. But I do wonder if after a while, you’d get tired of that and crave staying in one place with 4 seasons! 🙂
Best wishes,
Hsin-Yi