Ladies and gentlemen, meet Endersley House

When I was commuting to my last office job, the long, straight road I took led up over the Downs. At the top of one rise there was a turn on the right, onto a very narrow lane which trailed up a very steep hill. I'd often wondered, as I drove past, where that road led to. One cool and sunny Saturday morning, when I was kicking about trying to come up with an idea for a series, I decided to go for a little drive. I headed up the narrow lane, taking my time so that I could admire the views over the windswept downs. It was one of those sunny/cloudy days where the wind drove fleeting shadows across the fields. At the top of the hill, I found a tiny hamlet. A handful of newer houses, a couple of farms and this beautiful old house. As you can see from the photograph, it's been around a while - 1599 to be precise, although it's highly likely that there was an earlier house there. 

Sadly, it's been broken up and converted into two separate homes, but the building remains intact, and comfortable in its setting, more as if it had grown there, rather than being built. But, there is enough of a house left to fire my imagination. I had the setting for my series. All I needed was a name. I found that when I was searching through some old emails for something. I found one from an Insurance Company, fiddled with the name and 'The Endersley Papers' was born. 

What I'd really love, is to see the inside of the house(s) but I can't bring myself to drive up to the front door, introduce myself and ask for a nose around. After all, I'm English. We don't do that! 

The first of the Endersley stories, 'Lord of Endersley' is available now for Total E Bound VIPs. It's on general release from 3rd October. If you want to see what I think the inside of the house is like, and read about the goings-on between Jacob Endersley and Marcus Billington, feel free to pick up a copy here