{"id":5024,"date":"2021-06-28T16:19:34","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T20:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sawpublishing.com\/?p=5024"},"modified":"2021-06-28T16:19:34","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T20:19:34","slug":"behind-the-scenes-of-highbank-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawpublishing.com\/behind-the-scenes-of-highbank-castle\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes of Highbank Castle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IsAs Adelaide and Richard were hurried through the castle grounds, they caught their first glimpse of the fortress to which they were bound, standing tall and firm against the eastern sky. . . The mighty slabs of stone, the heavy double windows, the thick, iron-studded door, even the gigantic lock with its yawning keyhole\u2014all impressed the mind with a sense of the imposing authority which resided within. \u2013 Chapter 11, As the Heavens Are Higher<\/em><\/p>\n

While Adelaide\u2019s story is fictitious, I have drawn heavily from factual backdrops in creating her 19th<\/sup> century world. Today, we\u2019re going to take a peep behind the scenes and explore the real-life location that inspired Highbank Castle.<\/p>\n

\"IsIs Highbank Castle a Real Place?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

As I have noted in my preface, you will not find Highbank Castle on a map of Northumberland. Neither, (as I verified this morning) will you discover it by doing a google search. It is true that you will pull up images that very closely match the Highbank of As the Heavens Are Higher<\/em>\u2014but that is SAW Publishing\u2019s fault, and you will see they bear our watermark!<\/p>\n

Highbank Castle is<\/em> modeled after a factual location. For several reasons (not the least of which was that the real Highbank is owned by an entirely different family than the Bradstocks!) I have chosen to refer to it by a fictional name. Oddly enough, the connection between the word high in Highbank and the reference to God\u2019s ways being higher than our ways in Isaiah 55:9<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>was entirely accidental. (At least from my perspective.)<\/p>\n

The Highbank Exterior and Courtyard<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The outside of Highbank castle, with its four grim towers and the \u201cshell keep\u201d that connects them, is drawn from real life. Even the ancient clock, that had to be adjusted every couple of days because it lost time so quickly, really looks down from the tallest corner.<\/p>\n

And when it comes to the castle courtyard\u2014where the one idea seems to be putting the word \u201cgrey\u201d into as many different forms as possible\u2014I think I have actually backed off a little in the description. The place certainly exists, but it is, if possible, three or four times more desolate than I\u2019ve described it in the story.<\/p>\n

In fact, the shivering disagreeableness of it all really contributed quite directly to the final chapters of As the Heavens Are Higher<\/em>. One of the first pictures that came together for the book was the daydream of what Highbank might have been, if all that gloom and grime could be driven away by light and warmth and comfort.<\/p>\n

Adelaide\u2019s Tower Bedroom<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Yes, I have had the amazing experience of staying (as an ordinary \u201chotel\u201d guest) in Adelaide\u2019s bedroom at the top of the endless flight of narrowing stairs\u2014with a tapestry curtain instead of a door, and a view straight down into the castle court on one side, and out across the top of the tower on the other.<\/p>\n

I am obliged to confess, however, that if the carved headboard had any foundation in real life, the foundation came from a recreated historical site in Jamestown, Virginia, not from the Northumberland border country\u2014and even that prototype, although beautifully executed, does not contain any allusion to Isaiah 40:8<\/a>. It fit well into the story, though, so I\u2019m not really sorry I put it in.<\/p>\n

My actual bedroom had a very plain, unremarkable bed with a red scalloped spread, a single chair, a narrow nightstand\u2014and the electrical wiring (very much an afterthought!) running in pipes along the inside of the walls and ceiling. There was also, oddly enough, a small, darkly-tinted painting representing a vase full of red and blue flowers, hanging above the bed.<\/p>\n

Transforming the Real Highbank Castle<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I still believe that the Highbank Castle of real life needs the power that Adelaide brought to Lady Bradstock\u2019s ancestral home.<\/p>\n

It needs, quite simply, the power of light and restoration and hope which is embodied in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Adelaide and her friends are not real and living people\u2014but the power of that Gospel is a real and living power. A power that can bring life and hope from dead and hopeless stone\u2014whether that stone is the ancient walls of a forbidding fortress, or the unyielding flint of the heart inside each one of us. He is able\u2014and He is willing! Is there any power stronger than that?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in more glimpses behind the scenes of As the Heavens Are Higher,<\/em> see our previous post:<\/p>\n

\"Hymns<\/strong><\/a>You might also enjoy:<\/p>\n

\"When<\/a>

When I completed my first draft, As the Heavens Are Higher did not include Richard\u2019s pet squirrel. By the time I sent the final manuscript to print, he starred prominently in the opening scene. Here\u2019s the story of how Rufus became part of the novel.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Two<\/a>

Two days isn\u2019t very long to soak in a panorama of historic events. Will our heroine\u2019s whole attention be absorbed by the vivid scene, or will she find time to delve deeper and discover the motives which give the pageant its soul?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"After<\/a>

After a 2019 study revealed that over a quarter of Americans didn\u2019t read a single book in the past year, is it fair to conclude that reading just isn\u2019t a relevant topic?<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Adelaide and Richard were hurried through the castle grounds, they caught their first glimpse of the fortress to which they were bound, standing tall and firm against the eastern… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adelaides-orphans"],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Scenes of Highbank Castle - Sheep Among Wolves Publishing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is Highbank Castle a real place? While you may not find it on a map of Northumberland, Highbank Castle is certainly not purely fictitious. 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