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The Exham on Sea stories began when I looked at the Low Lighthouse on Burnham on Sea beach and thought, 'What if I found a body there?'
Dunster Castle stands high in Exmoor, looking out over the Bristol Channel. Allow plenty of time to visit as it's crammed with history.
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Glastonbury Tor, the centre of myths and legends, rises from the Somerset Levels. Climb up to see Somerset laid out before your eyes.
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Wells Cathedral, in the smallest city in England, is full of beautiful masonry - and an ancient chained library.
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Gallox Bridge (a corruption of Gallows Bridge) is a picturesque stone bridge in Exmoor National Park.
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Clifton Suspension Bridge spans the Bristol Channel at the northernmost part of Somerset.
The Somerset Levels support so many wild birds, including short-term visitors, that they are a magnet for birdwatchers.
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Lower Hembrow is a fictional village in Somerset, near to the (real) Ham Hill, where Imogen and Adam, the detectives in the Ham Hill Mysteries, live.
Wincanton Racecourse features in A Racing Murder, out soon.
Cleeve Abbey is at the heart of Murder at the Abbey, due for release in November 2021
Use the interactive map above to discover the places that inspired the Exham on Sea and Ham Hill mysteries.
Or take an imaginary day-long tour around Somerset, setting out on one of Somerset’s beautiful late spring days, when the daylight lingers and the fields are green and full of sheep. Our visits will take all day, for there’s plenty to see…
We’ll tour the places mentioned in the stories, beginning with the Low Lighthouse from book one, just to check that there’s no body underneath.
We’ll climb Glastonbury Tor (book three) to admire Somerset stretched out before us.
Once we’ve got our breath back after the climb we’ll drive on to England’s smallest cathedral in Wells, central to book four, Murder at the Cathedral, and view its ancient chained library, one of only a dozen in the country.
After coffee and cake in the cathedral tearoom, we could take our binoculars and go bird-watching at Ham Wall, where an unfortunate cyclist came to a sticky end in Murder on the Levels (book two.) The police thought it might have been Libby’s chocolates that killed him.
We can enjoy a picnic by the river before driving out to West Somerset where Exmoor begins, to admire Gallox Bridge amidst the stunning countryside where a farmhand dies in Murder at the Bridge, book five in the series.
We’ll tour Dunster Castle, from book six, wishing we had more than one afternoon to spend on its myriad treasures.
Finally, we’ll drive east towards Bristol, park the car and walk across Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s spectacular Clifton Suspension Bridge, braving vertigo to gaze down into the depths of the Gorge where the Nursery Rhyme Killer in book seven, Murder at the Gorge, disposed of a victim and terrified Libby.
At last we’ll return, exhausted and hungry but happy, to the new Crumbs and Crusts Café in Exham for a well-earned cream tea.’
These are the locations that inspired my books. When you come to Somerset, why not stop a while and tour the sites of the Exham on Sea and Ham Hill mysteries?