Devon's Tudor Time Traveller
My first note !
Welcome to my Substack. Thank you for joining me on my adventures in 16th century Devon, and beyond.
My journey into Devon’s past started years ago when I volunteered with the National Trust at Compton Castle. Invited to create a suitable costume because the Gilbert family, who lived there, were doing well in the world during the time of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I, I became a costumed interpreter. An incident from those days at Compton inspired the name for my Substack.
After a long summer day at the castle, I waited under the trees at the gate while my husband, also known as ‘the peasant David,’ brought the car from the carpark. A vehicle approached along the winding Devon lane and slowed down. The driver wound down the window, and stared at me open-mouthed.
‘Are you a time traveller?’ He asked,
“I am,’ I replied, making a sketchy curtsey and laughing. ‘Greetings from the sixteenth century!’
That sums me up exactly! I travel in time. I’m more often in Tudor Devon these days than in the 21st century. Since that day, my passion for history has grown into a profession. I’m now an author, researcher, seamstress and popular West Country speaker.
I’ve immersed myself in research into Devon’s history, focussing on one family — the Champernownes. I found soldiers, courtiers and explorers among the men of the family. As I delved into the records, it occurred to me that the names of Devon’s explorers — men like Drake and Raleigh, Hawkins and Grenville — are still well-known today. We rarely hear about the women who stood behind those famous men; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who also lived important and interesting lives. My Daughters of Devon novels draw on my research to tell the stories of some of those forgotten women of history.
Making an outfit for Compton sparked my interest in the clothes they wore, and after years of research and a lot of trial and error, I’m now a practised 16th-century seamstress. I found I loved bringing history to life for visitors and after many comments like’ I could listen to you for hours’ and ‘if only my history teacher had been like you’ I accepted invitations to speak to local community groups. I now take my unique blend of history, reenactment and theatre all over the west of England.
I’m currently working with Pen and Sword Books towards publishing my first work of non-fiction. It’s about another Champernowne woman who many fans of Tudor history know as ‘Kat Ashley’. Queen Elizabeth’s Childhood Governess is on the way!
My search for the Champernownes and the women’s stories has introduced me to many ‘person’s of interest’ and I’ve visited many of the places they knew. This seems to a be good time to start sharing more from my Tudor World. From January 2026, I’ll be sharing regular updates, with insights from my research into this prominent Devon family, Devon history, and people and places I’ve come across in my Tudor world.
I want to reach as many people as I can as I bring some of the often overlooked women of history out of the shadows and put Devon on the Tudor map. So it will be free to subscribe to my Substack.
Thank you again for joining me. Please help me bring these forgotten stories from history to life by sharing my SubStack with your friends.
