Althorp Literary Festival & Bill Bryson

I've been looking forward to today for ages - ever since I found out that Bill Bryson was attending the Althorp Literary festival. A few days ago I also found out that tickets were sold out for his event so I was mightily glad that I snapped two up the minute they went on sale.

Mum and I had a brilliant afternoon at Althorp. We arrived early and had lunch in the stable-block courtyard. There was a very genteel atmosphere...lots of people of a certain age, most of whom were carrying books and chatting earnestly about favourite authors. Stowe School Jazz Band played in the background, the sun shone and the coffee was delicious.

After lunch, with an hour to spare, we strolled over to the house, unfortunately shrouded in scaffolding and plastic. The entrance we used last year was for book sales only so we made our way around the back of the house to gaze at the sweep of beautiful parkland. There was a large marquee attached to the rear of the house and when we got up close I realised the whole thing was for Bill Bryson! Last year we saw Louise Rennison in a very cosy room so this was a bit of a shock! All ideas I had of a small gathering went out the window!

As it was still early we strolled on admiring the gardens and the plants. Althorp is a stunning house with fabulous grounds.

Realising that if we didn't get back we wouldn't get a seat anywhere near the front, we strolled back and were able to get seats about three rows back. While waiting I entertained mum with some extracts from the book, especially the bits about personal hygiene through the ages (almost non-existent!) and the origins of the word "crap" - NOT because of Thomas Crapper who designed the flush toilet! It's actually a very old word and it was just co-incidental that Mr Crapper was a plumber! The book is very, very funny in places and extremely interesting. Bill Bryson takes a journey around his own home and charts the history of houses and homes in general.

We were honoured with Lord Spencer's presence and he made a lovely speech (I think he's as much of a fan as I am) before Bill Bryson was interviewed by a woman from The Times newspaper. We were also given the opportunity to ask questions and then there was a book signing at the end. It was lovely to meet, perhaps, my favourite author and he wrote an insciption for me. I asked whether he had any plans to write more travel books which he said he had so let's hope!

Tonight we are off to Sarah and Liam's for the second wine evening which should be good. It clashes with the football so I'm not sure how much attention the wine will get, but it should be an enjoyable evening nevertheless!