A meme and photos of Dunster in Somerset

I was tagged in a meme by Pat at Here There and Everywhere. It's fun but I honestly don't think I know 11 more people to tag and ask 11 more questions of. What I'll say is that if anyone feels like doing it, let me know and then I'll think up some new questions.


1. Post the Rules

2. Answer the eleven questions that were asked of you by the person who tagged you.

3. Make up eleven new questions and tag eleven new people to do the meme!

4. Let them know you tagged them!


So here are Pat's question for me:


1. What are your most favorite books that you have read more than once.(name at least two)

Hmm. Well there aren't all that many as I'm not a huge rereader. But here're a few:

The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (must be due a reread of that soon.
Howards End is on the Landing - Susan Hill
The Harper's Hall trilogy - Anne McCaffrey
Sylvester - Georgette Heyer
Frenchman's Creek - Daphne Du Maurier (due a reread as it must be 40 years since I last read it.)
The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett

2. Who is your favorite male character from a book?

I don't think I can name just one!

Robinton from Anne McCaffrey's Pern books.
Adam Hauptman from Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series.
Matthew Shardlake from C.J. Sansom's books.
Sherlock Holmes

3. Who is your favorite female character from a book?

Again I can't just do one.

Jane Rizzoli from Tess Gerritsens' Rizzoli and Isles series.
Ruth Galloway from Elli Griffiths' series of the same name
Anna Pigeon from Nevada Barr's series of the same name.
Flavia de Luce from Alan Bradley's series of the same name.
Merrily Watkins from Phil Rickman's books.
Shan Frankland from Karin Traviss's W'ess'har sci-fi series.


4. What is the last book that you read that is out of your comfort zone, and did you enjoy it?

I feel quite ashamed to say that I rarely read out of my comfort zone. The last one was probably Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Zoer, which I read in Feb 2011. The background to it was the 9/11 tragedy and although I couldn't say I *enjoyed* it, it was a brilliant book... just been made into a film I believe.

5. If you could have gone on the movie sets of any movie and watched it being made, which movie would you choose, and why?

Oooh... hard one. Um. I think the sets of the new Sherlock Holmes movies, filmed in London, would have been fun to visit. Just to see how they do all the Victorian stuff, not because I like Robert Downey Junior you understand...

6. What food is your most guilty pleasure?

Crisps (potato chips). I probably eat too many and they're not great for you, but according to a recent programme I was watching, lots of things have more salt than them (including sliced bread) and they're high in potassium so I've stopped beating myself up over it so much.

7. If you could travel somewhere (money is no object) where would you go?

Definitely back to America. I'd like to spend a couple of years going all around the USA and Canada too. Trouble is I'd probably miss England at some stage.

8. If you could change one thing in our world, what would it be?

The lack of tolerance displayed by so many people towards the old, the disabled, different sexualities and religions, and so on and so on. Lack of tolerance or lack of open mindedness: I hate it.

9. What is something that you'd like to accomplish this year?

At the start of the year I decided I wanted to read more non-fiction this year. I'm happy to say that I'm doing exactly that. :-)

10. What are 3 things that are very important to you?

Family. Books. My own space.

11. If you could go back in time, where and when would you be?

Oooh, good one. I read somewhere that the ancient Egyptians had a wonderful library - their scientists or physicians had control of it I seem to recall. And then it was lost when their civilisation declined. I'd like to go back and take a look at that library, even if its contents would be right over my head.

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I recently came across this post from Cathy at Kitling Books: A Sunday Stroll in Somerset. Over here we see these lovely nostalgic paintings by A.R. Quinton a lot on calendars and such and they are so pretty. This one struck a chord with me as we used to live not far from the beautiful village of Dunster on the Somerset coast, and it's quite unusual as Dunster is one of those villages which has hardly changed since this painting was done. I thought Cathy and a few others might like to see several photos I took a few years back. Double-click for a larger view of the photos.



This is a similar view to that in the painting. The National Trust were working on the castle at the time but that work is all finished now. Dunster is extremely popular with tourists for obvious reasons.




A closer view of the yarn market, built in 1590 for the purpose of selling textiles.




The Luttrell Arms, seen to the left of the painting, is a 14th. century inn, named after the family that owned the castle for many centuries, and is still a hotel and restaurant to this day.




Dunster Castle of course. Not a terribly good shot of it to be honest. I'll have to see if I can get some better ones in the spring.

So there you go, some things never do change, and thank goodness for that.
~~~oOo~~~