Aussie Sue wrote:I have just finished reading the Dorset Magazine from cover to cover and I must say, unlike some you, I loved it.
The 7 page article on Enid had the usual disappointing bits criticising her but there were many more positive statements and overall a positive approach to her writing.
But the best thing was that the whole magazine mentioned and reflected Enid and her writings.
Maybe I enjoyed it more as being Australian, the whole magazine reflected the UK that I learned about from Enid’s books and magazines.
I thought the Editor’s comments on page 5 were great and explained well why ‘the food’ in Enid Blyton books was so important, at the time.
Art in Nature, page 16/17 is gorgeous, showed the lovely nature that EB talked about. And I particularly enjoyed it as my husband is a sculptor.
Page 19 Dorset Portrait, pleasant reference to Enid.
In the Footsteps of the Famous Five pages 32/33 may not be perfect but still a pleasant read with good references to Enid.
Pages 68/69 Hear my Song Spring Bird Events certainly reminds us of Enid’s love of nature and her wonderful Book of Birds.
Pages 98/100 Ideas for a splendid picnic, certainly fits the Enid theme and the recipes Rose’s Picnic Pie page 93 & Lizzie’s Dorset Ginger Cake sound worth trying.
Simply Smashing on page 103 is another interesting article that reflects the time of Enid’s writing.
Reawakening on page 127 is a very interesting article related to Dementia, this is of interest to me as my husband has Alzheimer’s but of course as we know Enid also had dementia.
Magnificent Gardens for May pages 140/143 could have been written by Enid, especially the section ‘Do you have a Wildlife Friendly Garden?
And the article ‘Buying in Famous Five Country’ on page 145, also has pleasant references to Enid.
So for a person who loves Enid Blyton I think this was a wonderful magazine to purchase, worth every cent.
I will regularly browse through it, dreaming of another visit to the UK.
Sue, while Cody is outside in the backyard trying to catch another rabbit
, I'll try to express my opinion on the first 65 pages of DORSET MAGAZINE.
So far it's not bad, except of page 31 with those very ugly new Famous Five illustrations.
But obviously the kids today like cartoon-like illustrations rather than the classy Soper illustrations. Oh well...
I've read the article on Blyton's Ripping Yarns, love the lay-out with the 2 EB photos and the 4 Soper FF illustrations. Even though I disagree with most of the text (I think Adam Lee-Potter made EB look worse than she really was) and hope he'll receive criticism from DORSET MAGAZINE readers for calling Sooty Lenoir a French schoolboy (?), I thought the rest of the article on page 29 was pretty interesting. This was the first time that I read that EB's womb stopped growing caused by her father leaving the family when she was 12.
Page 32/33 are lovely with "In the Footsteps of the FF" and the EB Trail on the Isle of Purbeck.
Wish my husband could once play at the Purbeck Golf Club!
Brownsea Island is also on my bucket list...
Not EB-related, but nevertheless interesting for me to read was the article on the Sherborne Abbey Festival on page 39. We found Sherborne and it's abbey by pure co-incidence in late August 2008 on the way back from Corfe Castle Village to Yeovil (our hotel) while looking for a tea room to enjoy Cream Tea and scones. We were hoping for something lovely located in the country outside a town, but we couldn't find a single place.
So we ended up in Sherborne.
When we walked by the abbey and heard a choir, we couldn't resist going inside. Somebody from the abbey told us that we need to be very quiet as the choir was recorded by a BBC team. We just listened for a while and then left. Very hungry by now we finally found a small café towards the end of the shopping street (I think there were no cars allowed, just a pedestrian zone). But the café had only one scone left, so we shared it and had something else like a flapper jack (sp?).
Too bad that the Lulworth Castle article on page 55 has not one single photo of the castle
.
The next page where I found the FF being mentioned was on pages 64/65 (Dorset's wildest picnic spots).
Will continue in a few days...still almost 100 pages to read.