Inspiration for Kirrin Bay, Island and Castle?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I am covering this fairly thoroughly in the next Journal, which will include another letter from Enid where she is far more precise about the location of both Kirrin Island and castle.Tony

I didn't subscribe to the Journal until 4 years ago, so I was wondering WHAT exactly EB disclosed in that letter regarding the Kirrin castle and island location? Would you please let us know, Tony?

The article referring to the letter was in Journal 31, which came out in November 2006. There's a thread on it here which contains discussion about the island and castle in Jersey:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... lit=jersey" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chrissie777]

I'm very happy to find another Kirrin-related thread. Thank you, Anita.

[Moonraker]

Hi Keith, Viv and others,

If we could really identify the island, do you think its remotely possible that we could perhaps have a very special society day there..? perhaps next year's meet or even 2 years hence..? Perhaps, in the broader scheme of things, every alternate venue at a place where Enid took her inspiration from.!
(I wonder where she would have put Toyland!).

. But seriously, it would be one step closer to making our meetings achieve even more in terms of discovery! Tony, George..Anita....your comments..please..?

I love this posters optimism - I'm sure he would love the planned gathering at Old Thatch & The Spade Oak!

Ah, dear Prabhu. He came to several Society Days from India. A lovely man with whom I still correspond from time to time.

[number 6]

I only met Prabhu once during a EBS meeting. He came across as a genuinely nice person. I'm glad that he's still in touch with you Nigel.

[Chrissie777]

Of course there were at least two people who created Kirrin Island for the books - Enid and Eileen Spoer. As readers of the original books we pictured it as illustrated by Eileen.

True!

[Chrissie777]

There's my avatar!!!

[Chrissie777]

Neither Maxey nor Soper seem to have had much influence on the way I see Kirrin Island and the castle in my mind's eye.

Anita, I do come more and more to the conclusion that it was the 1957 movie filmed at Corfe Castle that gave me my own imagination of Kirrin Castle, because I watched the film when I was 7 years old and didn't read the book before I was 10. And then I made the connection. When I watched the film on German TV around 1962, I didn't even know who Enid Blyton was.

[Chrissie777]

Anita says she likes the sea in Soper's work as it looks wet, and that's because she has drawn in correctly with the sea mirroring the castle. In the other persons work there is no reflections at all. It's just what I would call a rough sketch drawn in haste.
Soper for me everytime I'm afraid.

When I think of illustrators like Soper, Tresilian and Gilbert Dunlop, I think it's a shame that the art of children's books illustrations is totally lost and that we have to put up with such ugly illustrations nowadays like the new covers of the FF books.

[Chrissie777]

How fabulous your mum met and spoke with Daphne DuMaurier, Cathy. Fowey as you probably know where Daphanie lived hold a festival there yearly and it attracts thousands of people. I think it is her son who still owns the house over looking the water there.

Yes, Christopher "Kits" Browning lives in Old Ferryside/Bodinnick now with a lovely view on Fowey across the river.

[Chrissie777]

There's a second-hand bookshop in Fowey that sells a lot of Daphne-related books and strangely enough, a few years ago my mum bought a book from there (can't remember what book she said it was) and folded inside it between some pages was an order of service from Daphne's funeral - so the book must have belonged to someone close to her who was there, and obviously no-one had found the order of service sandwiched in the book! I'll get her to send me a photo of it.

Carlotta, that bookstore must be Bookends of Fowey. I was friends with the former owner, Christine Alexander. She sold the bookstore and retired, lives now on the Canary isles with her husband. She used to do book search for me from 1995 until I immigrated to the US. Thanks to her I found most old red hardcopies of the FF books and several FFO & Dog books etc.
It was Christine Alexander who had a FF brochure under her desk in the bookstore and gave me the phone number of CFF. I called them and after discussing it in two long phone calls (plus they wanted a letter from me WHY FOATI from 1957 means so much to me) I received a VHS copy. Many years before it was finally available on DVD.

Your mum has incredible memories!
I admire DDM for decades and have all her books and movies based on her books.