Jackie, Dave and Ronnie and her family live in Coventry. Coventry is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county.
Grandfather has terrible nightmares about the war and his brother. Some characters mention that November 14 is the anniversary when the cathedral was destroyed. The city was bombed many times during the Second World War by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe). The most devastating of these attacks occurred on the evening of 14 November 1940 and continued into the morning of 15 November. At around 20:00, Coventry Cathedral was set on fire by incendiaries for the first time. The volunteer firefighters managed to put out the first fire but other direct hits followed and soon new fires broke out in the cathedral; accelerated by a firestorm, the flames quickly spread out of control.
The Baxters (Annabel and her family) live in Richmond. Richmond is a town in south-west London. It stands on the River Thames, and features many parks and open spaces, including Richmond Park, and many protected conservation areas, which include much of Richmond Hill.
Annabel has converted a tithe barn, which is what they want to use for Chelsea’s wedding reception. A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the village church or rectory, and independent farmers took their tithes there.
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