The Girl in the Photograph by Kate Riordan Weekend at Owlpen Manor

Owlpen Manor Invitation



A few weeks ago, I got contacted by the lovely Jessica Jackson from Penguin saying that she had an exciting invitation for me. I was obviously incredibly excited, so when I saw that it was an invite to go to Owlpen Manor in Gloucester for a weekend stay, I couldn't quite believe it. Seriously this was the best book related invite I had ever had. I saw that I had missed the deadline to reply though so quickly got onto Penguin to see if they had any spaces left and they did. I really couldn't wait. So on the day of the 15th November, I set off with my boyfriend (who had offered to come with me, didn't force him lol) on a three hour drive up to Gloucester. It is actually the furthest I have ever driven, so was a little nervous, but so badly wanted to go that I overcame my nervousness. When we arrived, we went down a very long, very narrow road and was starting to wonder if we were going in the right direction, but after a very sharp, hilly right turn we found Owlpen Manor and were greeted by Jess. The cottage we were staying in was a little further out than the others, so we followed Jess in the car where we had an hour to settle in. And wow! The cottage was amazing! We also got a really lovely welcome bag from Penguin :)

 

Once we settled in, we then heading off for lunch where we met the rest of the bloggers :), Sarah who was also from Penguin and the really lovely author Kate Riordan who had arranged this wonderful bookish getaway. After lunch we got a tour of the grounds and got to see Owlpen Manor (the setting of the story) in all its wonder. We got to meet Sir Nicolas who is the current owner of Owlpen Manor and learn all about it's incredible history and also heard a few ghost stories! We were also privileged enough to get a tour of the actual house. It really was like stepping back in time. We also went to see the church round the back of the manor.

After the tour we went to go have some tea and cake at one of the cottages that some of the other bloggers were staying at (shown below). Apparently it was the most haunted out of all the cottages so I was so glad we weren't staying there.

We then had a couple of hours to get ready for dinner and it gorgeously set up and everyone had dressed up so nicely. It really was wonderful.

The next morning we all met up for the last time and had a yummy breakfast and Kate kindly signed my book, I started it this week, so look out for my review.

A big big big thank you to Kate, Jess and Sarah for a truly special and unforgettable weekend.

Kate's book The Girl in the Photograph is out in January and you can pre-order it here: Amazon UK