We’ll always have Durdle Dore

Thanks for all the brilliant suggestions for questions in the Mr & Mrs questionnaire last time. I made a note of them all … and then that felt like enough work before I went away for five days.  My nearest and dearest have spent the entire year complaining that I have been manic, and should calm down, so I have taken them at their word and am now so calm I am almost catatonic. 

The view was even better!

My stress levels have been reduced to sub zero by a lovely weekend on the Dorset coast.  We stayed in the most romantic little cottage right on the coast.  You can't see from this picture, but the bed was so high I had to climb on a step to get into it, and when we sat up in the morning and pulled the curtains, we could look right out at the sea. The state of my nose was rather less than perfect but apart from that, as romantic weekends go, it could hardly be bettered.

Aerial view of Lulworth Cove

The weather was beautiful, too, and in my current relaxed state I was happy to eschew long hikes for sitting on the beach listening to the sea on the shingle, or lying back on the tufty grass and watching the sky.  We were a bit more touristy on Sunday, and went to Lulworth Cove, which I’d never seen before, and which was much more spectacular than I was expecting.  I couldn’t get a good picture, so this is a postcard view, but the sea was nearly as blue as this when we were there, I promise you.

We'll Always Have Paris ... and Durdle Dore

Then we walked over the hill to admire Durdle Dore, where I made John pose with We’ll Always Have Paris so that I could take the perfect photo (after all the fuss, I haven't yet broken it to him that the best shot is the one I took one-handed).

This is the RIVA edition of We'll Always Have Paris and I am very ho-hum about it, I confess.  The girl on the cover is SO not Clara.  Clara loves musicals and is warm and energetic; this girl looks sulky to me - I certainly wouldn’t mess with her – while the cover hero looks barely out of his teens as usual.  I haven’t seen the North American cover for Harlequin Romance yet – actually, I’m not clear exactly when it’s coming out – so I’m awaiting that box of books with bated breath … or as bated as I can muster in my current slack state. 

We’ll Always Have Paris is out in the UK in January (I’m still trying to find out when it’ll be released in North America) so more about Clara and Simon’s story nearer the time. For now I really must, must, must get on with Frith and George …    

In the meantime, here are some more photos of the Dorset coast, since I have them on my computer.  Picture me sighing gustily.

The sea outside our window

The coast near Lulworth Cove

Durdle Dore, late November afternoon

Lulworth Cove