Blytonesque Places

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Rob Houghton
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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by Rob Houghton »

Here's a photo of a cottage where we stayed on holiday in about 1980, when I was 9. Its not a great snap, as it was taken with an old '126' camera by me - my first camera. Its a cottage in Taly Bont, North Wales, near Barmouth, where we stayed for a weeks holiday.

We called it 'The creepy cottage' because it was so shrouded by bushes and trees. It was down in a hollow below a road, and footsteps could be heard as people walked along the path above the cottage - which sounded like people were walking in the attic. The staircase was wooden panelled and twisty, decorated with pewter plates and grotesque masks and tankards etc.

It always struck me as quite a Blytonian place - and its the cottage that I based 'Rawlins' Reach' on when I wrote my Barney mystery. :-)

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'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

That's a lovely-looking cottage, Rob. The staircase sounds super!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Rob Houghton
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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by Rob Houghton »

It was quite funny actually. I found the cottage scary on our first night there - and as a 9 year old child, my imagination ran away with me somewhat! My sister (6 years older than me) and I were in two single beds in one room, my mom and dad in the room across the landing - and I scared my sister so much - hearing noises and seeing shadows - that she called dad because I wouldn't let her go to sleep - so dad came to sleep in my bed while I went to sleep with my mom. I then managed to scare my mom so much that she couldn't sleep, by telling her that there was a man on the landing, and I could see the shadow of the old antique pistol he was holding (there was an old fashioned highwayman's type of pistol hanging on a wall in the living room).

So then my mom was scared too, lol. I think none of us got much sleep that night, but luckily I was much better the night after and everyone slept soundly! :lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Stephen
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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by Stephen »

Well of course I'm lucky enough to live near actual places mentioned in the books such as Burnham Beeches and Marlow, as well as Beaconsfield and Bourne End where Enid Blyton used to live. Certainly walking through some of the leafy streets of Beaconsfield, you can imagine the Hiltons living next door to Lady Candling. Peterswood is meant to be based on Bourne End and while it's rather spoilt by the busy main road these days, there's a charming village called Flackwell Heath just a couple of miles away just up the hill. While perhaps unremarkable by itself, it's always reminded me of the sort of place Peterswood might have been like in the 1940s. And, bizarrely enough, the town where Mister Meddle used to live! Probably busy and bustling for its day, but rather quiet by today's standards.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by Rob Houghton »

Sorry - I thought this thread was about ANY places that had a Blytonian feel to them. My mistake.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by number 6 »

The cottage is absolutely beautiful, Rob! Loved your description of your first night & how you scared the living day lights out of your Mum! I've been to Barmouth on numerous occasions, but I've never spend the night there. I wonder if the cottage is still an holiday let? I used to love walking on the long Railway bridge over the Barmouth estuary, where the public were allowed to walk along side the railway for over a mile. This was made even more enjoyable if you were lucky & a train passed you mid-way over the bridge! :D
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by Rob Houghton »

Thanks Number 6! It was a beautiful cottage, and we went back to look at it about 10 years ago. I think its now a private dwelling, and many of the bushes around it had been cleared...it looked more normal! No one can remember the name of the cottage, or else we could look it up! :-(

I was trying to locate it on Google maps but its slightly off the road, so we couldn't get a good view of it on there. It was on the road to a place called Cors y Gedol (as kids we called it Gorsey geddle) where there are ancient burial stones etc - another place I found creepy at the time.

We spent many summers in Taly Bont at a caravan owned by my aunt, when I was a child and around Barmouth. We used to love the fair, and there were some four-wheel 'bikes' like carriages that you could peddle along the sea front!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by Chrissie777 »

Rob Houghton wrote:Here's a photo of a cottage where we stayed on holiday in about 1980, when I was 9. Its not a great snap, as it was taken with an old '126' camera by me - my first camera. Its a cottage in Taly Bont, North Wales, near Barmouth, where we stayed for a weeks holiday.
It always struck me as quite a Blytonian place - and its the cottage that I based 'Rawlins' Reach' on when I wrote my Barney mystery.
Rob, that was a beautiful blytonesque memory. Thanks for sharing it. 8)
Sounds like the kind of cottage where I sure would enjoy to stay. Or one located in the middle of the woods like the one in "Ring 'O Bells"...
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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by Chrissie777 »

Stephen wrote:Well of course I'm lucky enough to live near actual places mentioned in the books such as Burnham Beeches and Marlow, as well as Beaconsfield and Bourne End where Enid Blyton used to live. Certainly walking through some of the leafy streets of Beaconsfield, you can imagine the Hiltons living next door to Lady Candling. Peterswood is meant to be based on Bourne End and while it's rather spoilt by the busy main road these days, there's a charming village called Flackwell Heath just a couple of miles away just up the hill. While perhaps unremarkable by itself, it's always reminded me of the sort of place Peterswood might have been like in the 1940s. And, bizarrely enough, the town where Mister Meddle used to live! Probably busy and bustling for its day, but rather quiet by today's standards.
Thanks, Stephen, I'll put Flackwell Heath on my bucket list for our next UK trip. 8)
When we were at the Spade Oak and then visiting Old Thatch in May 2014, I would have loved to explore the FFO & Dog neighborhood afterwards, but there was so little time and I was not familiar enough with all the locations that Green Hedges and others found in the thread "Looking for Fatty in Peterswood".
Maybe next time...
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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by number 6 »

A real shame the cottage has lost its character, Rob. From the pic you posted, it really does look like a most quaint & intriguing place with its distinctive foliage. :|
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John Pickup
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Re: Blytonesque Places

Post by John Pickup »

I can definitely see that cottage in Ring O' Bells village. I can imagine Naomi Barlow living there.
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