The Enid Blyton Society

I use the free version of Photobucket but it has adverts which slow everything down. Uploading takes ages!

Thanks, Anita! I'll check it out later when I've time. I used to have a desktop computer, but I hardly ever used it due to being out nearly all the time, so I got rid of it. On hindsight....

uploading a photo to facebook and then copying the link takes about 20 seconds at most, lol! And I thought it was time-consuming!!

Apart from a rare glitch, I have no problems using tinypic. I find it fast and easy to use.

Back on topic, as (pet) dogs are prohibited from Brownsea, I wonder what the island would be like if humans were prohibited as well. Of course, Waitrose/John Lewis humans would have to be admitted, as the large house is their holiday house!

Well, I should imagine Brownsea would revert back to the times of Mrs Bonham-Christie, if the Island became Human free. She owned the island from 1927 to her death in 1961. She expelled everyone from the island, except a few keepers to fend off would be visitors, & let nature take its own course. During this period, the whole island was virtually impenetrable. Thick Woodland & vegetation dominated the landscape, until one day a fire (1934) raged for several days, destroying the vast majority of the island's flora & fauna. Enid wrote about the recluse on the island in 'Five have Mystery to solve', changing the owners gender from Female to Male!

Up until recently, all John Lewis employees names were put into a hat & the lucky ones drawn out would earn a weeks(?) free holiday at Brownsea Castle. I'm not sure if this still occurs today!

number 6 wrote:Well, I should imagine Brownsea would revert back to the times of Mrs Bonham-Christie, if the Island became Human free. She owned the island from 1927 to her death in 1961. She expelled everyone from the island, except a few keepers to fend off would be visitors, & let nature take its own course. During this period, the whole island was virtually impenetrable. Thick Woodland & vegetation dominated the landscape, until one day a fire (1934) raged for several days, destroying the vast majority of the island's flora & fauna. Enid wrote about the recluse on the island in 'Five have Mystery to solve', changing the owners gender from Female to Male!

Fascinating bit of history there — I didn't know about that, or the Blyton connection (having not read that particular book)!

Incidentally, another significant thing about Brownsea Island is that it was where Lord Baden Powell held the first ever Boy Scout camp. There's a marker at the site — I was thinking of walking to it the one time I visited the island, but it was right up at the furthest end of the island and the weather was wet, so I didn't get that far!

Courtenay wrote: Fascinating bit of history there — I didn't know about that, or the Blyton connection (having not read that particular book)!

Mystery To Solve has a lot of real life Blyton settings - Brownsea Island, the golf course Enid owned, the cottage on the hill nearby. Apart from that, I don't rate it much, but because of the real life settings, its fascinating in other ways.

I agree with you, Rob. For me, It's the real life settings, rather than the story, that holds my fascination.

Been to the Baden-Powell marker stone quite a few times, Courtenay. I don't think there's much of the island I've not explored over the years! The Wildlife is fab. Most years I've visited, I've been lucky to watch Sika Deer grazing on the island. They swim/wade across from the nearby Arne Nature Reserve!

I have visited Brownsea Island twice and the red squirrels were quite active, though a bit camera shy! I first heard of Brownsea Island through learning about the history of Guiding and therefore of Scouting, when I was a Guide. It was quite a thrill to make my first visit to the place where Scouting began, in the centenary year of the first camp there.

I agree that Mystery to Solve, isn't the most greatest F.F. book, but still worth a read with it's connection and descriptions relating to Brownsea Island. You really will have to catch up you with your missing Blyton books, Courtenay, you don't know what you're missing!

Julie2owlsdene wrote:You really will have to catch up you with your missing Blyton books, Courtenay, you don't know what you're missing!

True, but in order to have enough time to get through them all, I may have to wait till I retire...

You should have read more of them in childhood then!

Yes, I should have — and we did have a pretty big collection of Blyton books when I was growing up. But in the case of the Famous Five, I was originally trying to read them in order but left off after about eight of them (though we did have most of the titles), as I was becoming more interested in other books by then. We also had all or most of the Adventure and Barney series, but I figured they were for older children, and then by the time I would have been old enough to enjoy them, I was doing the big I'm Too Grown-Up for Silly Enid Blyton act. I got over that after several years, but just don't have as much time on my hands as I used to when I was little (and my family's Blyton books are all back in Australia!).

Courtenay wrote: True, but in order to have enough time to get through them all, I may have to wait till I retire...

Haha, you rascal!

I can't remember when I first read 'Mystery To Solve' - think I was about 28...but then I didn't really read a Famous Five novel until I was 23!