I've got a bit of a thing about Elizabethan stone-built manor houses, especially those with mullioned windows and so when I decided to invent my own for inclusion in Searching for Captain Wentworth - Monkford Hall in Somerset - you can imagine that I had a lot of fun doing the research. The photo above shows Owlpen Manor - a stunningly beautiful house in the Cotswolds which is the epitome of the type of house I love. You can visit virtually here , read all about its history and even stay in cottages on the estate . I wanted to include a knot garden or parterre in my novel where I could place a sundial that held a special motto for my heroine, Sophia, to find. They were usually laid out in formal designs with aromatic herbs and plants like marigolds, pansies, rosemary, thyme, lemon balm etc. A later addition enclosed the planting with low box hedges. My heroine Sophie goes back in time to visit the house her ancestors lived in before they travel on to Lyme. It's ca...