Why a Booktrail?
1882: The first installment of the Windfell Manor Trilogy
The Windfell Family Secrets
What you need to know before your trail
Twenty-one years have passed since Charlotte Booth fought to keep Ferndale Mill and her home at Windfell Manor following her traumatic first marriage. Now, highly regarded in local society and happily married to her childhood sweetheart, Archie Atkinson, she seeks only the best for their children, Isabelle and Danny. But history has a habit of repeating itself when Danny’s head is turned by a local girl of ill repute, despite his promise of marriage to the far more respectable Harriet Armstrong.
Meanwhile, the beautiful and secretive Isabelle shares all the traits of her biological father, the notorious Joseph Dawson. And when she announces that she is to marry John Sidgwick, the owner of High Mill in Skipton, her mother quickly warns her against him. An ex-drinking mate of her late father who faces bankruptcy, Charlotte fears his interest in Isabelle is founded more upon self-preservation than any notions of love. What she doesn’t realize is how far he’s willing to go to protect his future .
Locations
Reset- England - Yorkshire
- A: Skipton - High Street
- B: Langcliffe - Main street
- C: Settle railway
- England - Yorkshire Dales - Mountains
- D: Ribble Head viaduct.
- E: Horton in Ribblesdale
- F: Whernside
- G: Pen-y-Ghent
- H: Ingleborough
Travel Guide
The Yorkshire Dales
If there is something Diane Allen does particularly well, it’s to describe and evoke time and place in her novels. The Windfell Trilogy is set in and around the Yorkshire Dales including villages of Langcliffe, Settle, and Skipton. All of these and more should be visited in order to fully immerse yourself even further into the time and place of these books!
Windfell Manor
Fictional but set midway between Stainforth and Langcliffe. At first, it needs some money spending on it but “it’s set in good grounds and has a grand view down to the River Ribble”
Ribblesdale
Ribblesdale is one of the Yorkshire Dales and many of the villages and hamlets evoked in the novel are in this area – Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Stainforth, Langcliffe, and Settle to name but a few.
The Yorkshire Three Peaks rise to the east and west of the dale. Also located here is the Ribblehead Viaduct, crossed by the Settle to Carlisle railway which offers great views of the landscape!
Langcliffe
Langcliffe is a village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire situated north of Settle, and to the east of Giggleswick. The Craven district is where most of the Windfell Trilogy is set. Cotton spinning was a major industry here – Plain cotton weaving could be done by a child of twelve and many parents preferred their children to earn money and removed them from school. Imagine the conditions of working in these mills and then not having an education to do more.
Skipton
A lovely town which is small but perfectly formed. There is a nice high street with shops on both sides, cobbled streets and alleyways leading from it and a church and castle at the top. Canals run through the town and you can enjoy a nice leisurely walk beside the barges, observing some of the old mill buildings still standing but now which house more modern businesses and apartments.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Windfell Family Secrets
Destination : Yorkshire Dales, Skipton, Langcliffe Author/Guide: Diane Allen Departure Time: 1880s
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