Something about this book, as opposed to "Sarum" "London" "Russka" and "Princes of Ireland" was so compelling in its tale and it characters, I made a 5 day trip to the U.K. and visited Bath-Sarum-Amesbury-Lyndhurst. The village of Lyndhurst is still just that, a village. And the Forest, the ponies and the ancient Abbey of Beulieu were stunning. You can walk for miles through the New Forest and not see anyone. As one of the characters in the book said "it just feels ancient". And it does. There are tiny and lovely B&B's all up and down the road right across from the Forest and compared to London are quite inexpensive. Nicer too. At times you sit under the huge tree at the entrance (also the road to the Abbey) which sits on top of a hill and just gaze out on the tree tops. You think about the book and you realize that what is missing are all the characters. As if you mourn for those long gone. It feels as if the Forest misses them as well.