A Reader's Retreat in Wales

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the in the World” - Anne of Green Gables

October 2025 was an amazing month. My daughter got married and we went on a fabulous reader retreat. Today I am sharing about the reader retreat that my hubby and I attended in England and Wales. Mel and Dave, from A Strong Sense of Place, hosted a Manor House Weekend. I have been listening to their podcast since its debut. It is one of my favorite things and as soon as they announced the retreat, I was all in.

Getting tickets was no easy feat so I have Steve to thank for snagging us a room at Trevor Hall. What a fabulous event! Twenty four book lovers met in Manchester, England on a Thursday evening and of course our first event was a book exchange at a pub. We stayed overnight at the pub and the next day we traveled to Elizabeth Gaskell’s home. She is a Victorian author who lived just outside of Manchester and while she is famous for The North and South, she also loved a good ghost story. After our tour (plus tea and cake) we traveled on to Trevor Hall in Llangollen, Wales. The home was built in 1742 and has since passed through a few owner’s hands. The latest owner was a music producer. While there were many antiques in the home, it was also decorated with a lot of strange collectables. Click here to see more photos and information about Trevor Hall

Here are a few highlights:

1. Everyone was lovely and it was fun to talk about books and reading all weekend.

2. So many personal touches. Each morning we awoke to a sealed letter placed under our door (on personalized Trevor Hall stationary that Dave designed). It contained a poem and our schedule for the day. Dave also created a collection of pins to commemorate our weekend.

3. The food was amazing; locally sourced and cooked by a talented chef and his crew. Having everything freshly made was wonderful. The traditional English tea, full breakfasts, and craft cocktails were standouts.

4. We took a stroll one morning and I felt like I was in a movie. The landscape was so green, with fall just beginning to show on the trees. I bravely crossed an aqueduct while watching hot air balloons lift off in the distance. A lovely man with a darling dog stopped to give us a short but fascinating history of the area.

5. Mel and Dave read us ghost stories one night.

6. Before leaving Sunday, I learned to play Whist. It is so much fun and we proceed to play it for the next half of our trip in London. Whist is mentioned in many Austin and other Victorian novels. We also played The Minister’s Cat and it was hilarious. (Note: The Minister’s Cat holds a special place in our family’s heart as we watch Scrooge every Chrstmas.)

7. We had a book club discussion of The Remains of the Day - one of my all time favorite novels.

A few snapshots from our amazing weekend!

I am thankful for all the effort Mel and Dave put into the weekend. I am seeing a lot of bookish retreats advertised on Instagram that mostly involve getting away to read, but this was truly something special. It is clear how much care and attention to detail was put into the weekend. While there were many planned activities, none of it felt “too much”. There was plenty of time for walking, reading, and chatting. I know Mel and Dave read this newsletter and just want to give a big shout out to them. They are absolutely as delightful in person as they are in their podcast, perhaps even more so.

Book Recommendations befitting a Manor House Weekend:

1. Remains of the Day - Mr. Stephens takes a road trip and looks back at his life as a butler. In retrospect, things do not seem as certain as they once did. This short but dense novel is charming and insightful. Though written 30 years ago, it holds up perfectly. As a fan of Downton Abbey, it was hard for me not to visualize Mr. Stephens as Downton’s Mr. Carson. Ishiguro is at his best here and this is a modern classic. [Published:1990, Pages: 245]

   

2. The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion - My newest obsession. These short novels are an absolute delight. We follow Emma through the highs and lows of being a very smart but poor woman with connections in Victorian London. She lives in a charming and slightly mysterious house named Lapis Lazuli. I have read three of the eight in the series and forced myself to pause in order to read other things. For fans of Jane Austin, the Bridgerton Series, or basically anything that is clever and of good cheer. Also these are G rated and can be enjoyed by almost anyone. There are currently eight volumns but they pretty short and are quick reads. The audio versions are also wonderful!

   

3. The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson’s classic novel is very different from the Netflix series that came out a few years ago. Here four people meet to spend the summer in an old home to monitor any supernatural activity. You can see Jackson’s influence in so many of our current haunted house books and films. Gothic and a bit odd, I read this for my spooky season read in October. It is highly entertaining with a climactic ending I did not see coming. [Originally published in 1959; Pages 208]

   

   4. Peril at End House - We recently listened to this classic Agatha Christie with a home at the center of the story. On the Cornwall Coast, Nick, an heiress to a grand home has narrowly escaped death more than once recently. Hercule Poirot fears these are not random accidents. This held our attention on a recent road trip and I can never seem to guess the guilty party in Christie’s work. [Originally published: 1932; Pages: 240]

   

   5. High Season - This propulsive summer thriller takes place at a crumbling family estate in the South of France. Decades earlier the teenage daughter died during a party and the blame was put on the babysitter. She was convicted and ended up serving 20 years for the crime. Now she has been released from jail and the victim’s younger sister, whose crucial testimony put the babysitter away is beginning to second guess herself. But if the babysitter didn’t do it, then who did?[Published 8/25; Pages 384]

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   In September I sent out a short reader survey. If you didn’t get a chance to fill it out, I would really appreciate any feedback. Thanks so much!

And yes, the wedding was wonderful….