Geographically #barchester has always lain inland somewhere to the west of #london . My novel anchors it somewhat by making it somewhere where the dubious and fictitious #northwessexdefenceleague - also known as the #neerdowells - operates. It is also put beyond easy daily commuting to #london - another anchor. The existence of a chalk ridge to the north of it - which includes a grove of #elmtrees - matches up with both.

Some of this also reflects more an urban focus - reflecting population shifts over the last century and a half. Writers from a more right wing perspective would have minimised this . However my #barchester is not one of the larger urban centres - which is which it forms the bulk of a single parliamentary constituency.

There is also a #romancatholic bishop of #barsetshire - resident not far outside #barchester itself - not to mention a rabbi, an imam and a tantric guru - the last based outside #barchester in part of the former #palliser estate. There are several restaurants in #barchester which offer a wide range of cuisine - #chinese ,
#easternmediterranean , #italian and #southasian - not to mention a fish restaurant . Meals also available elsewhere - in local pubs.

Contemporary #barchester retains a railway station and a bishopric of the established church but has developed and grown in many ways since the Victorian era when it was first described. It even has had its own university since the 1990s - although this has had to make redundancies in recent years. The #palliser dynasty appears to be around no longer although its legacy remains pervasive. After a gap of generations there is a bishop #grantley in place .

In the new novel all characters and most locations are fictitious - although some of the latter are famous as well as being fictitious. The most obvious of them is #Barchester - which is in #England at some considerable distance from #london and featured in novels of the nineteenth century of the current era. The main thread of the story is political but there is much else there as well.