Fell Farm For Christmas - Marjorie Lloyd

[burlingtonbertram]

This delightful book should appeal to fans of the Lake District, of birds, or just of nostalgia.
Published in 1954 it is the sequel to Fell Farm Holiday and precedes Fell Farm Campers.

There are five Browne children:
Sally (aged eight)
Jan and Hyacinth (twins aged 13)
Pat and Kay (twins aged 15)

Their parents are in India so they live with an Aunt, but they holiday without her in the Lake District. Events are told by Hyacinth who likes to keep a journal. Jan is a keen bird-watcher so there are lots of mentions of birds throughout the book.

The story starts with them packing their bags and then catching the train from Euston station to the Lake District. As you can imagine, they are loaded up with rucksacks, Gaberdines and huge packed lunches. They arrive in the Lake District with its snow capped peaks just after dark on a December day. Mr Jenks (farmer and friend) is on hand to take them up to High Tarn in Westmorland.

There are plenty of descriptions of life, and duties that have to be undertaken, on a working farm. The Jenks mainly keep sheep but they have a few cows, several pigs, hens and a cat named Mr Tiggles. Young Sally spends much of her time baking and doing household duties with Mrs Jenks. She has her own mini-adventure, going in pursuit of the missing Mr Tiggles.

There are lots of descriptions of the countryside and the wildlife; including a heron with its leg frozen in an icy pond.

There is a charming passage describing the simple pleasures of Christmas on the farm: chestnuts, turkey, presents wrapped in brown paper, carol-singing, and bed by eight.

There is an 'adventure' chapter where the children spot a peculiarly rural crime going on and attempt to thwart it (in freezing woodland at night). These events are only a small part of the whole however.

I would thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a 'gentle' read and loves the English countryside. It seems fairly easy to find on-line and later paperback editions are reasonably priced.

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Fell Farm For Christmas
Author: Marjorie Lloyd
(First published 1954)
Puffin edition 1975 – paperback
174 pp
Attractive cover – simple b & w illustrations – couple of map illustrations
Still tightly bound

[Moonraker]

I like to read books in sequence, so have just ordered a copy of Fell Farm Holiday. Thanks BB!

[burlingtonbertram]

Probably wise; I went straight for this one because I fancied the Christmas theme.

[Katharine]

My mum has the other two books, which I read years ago. I didn't know about Fell Farm for Christmas though, so will have to keep an eye out for it.

[Kate Mary]

I loved the Fell Farm books as a child and still have my old copies. All three books were Puffin originals and were never published in hardback. I must dig out Fell Farm Holiday and wallow in nostalgia.

[Kate Mary]

Fell Farm for Christmas is my festive read this year, it's a nice cosy book but I've just finished the chapters about the routing of the sheep rustlers which is quite exciting. This is the rarest of the Fell Farm trilogy and copies are very expensive which is a shame as I'm sure many on the EBS forum would enjoy it.

[Katharine]

Still on my wish list unfortunately.

Hope you enjoy reading it.

[timv]

The Fell farm trilogy were one of my favourites as a child; I read them in the 1960s paperback edition aged eight and adored them, though due to availability I read them in reverse order ie starting with FF Campers - which is probably the most assured and the most adult of the books. They were interestingly written in three different styles - one (the first, FF Holiday) as a series of 'diary' entries, one for each chapter and each by a different one of the children, the second (Christmas) all as if written by the most imaginative of the children, Hyacinth, and the third (Campers) as a normal narrative by the author in the third person. The setting, ie the Jenks' farm near Coniston, was closely based on the real life High Arnside Farm NE of Tarn Hows lake, where the author (a Lancs teacher) had stayed on walking holidays; it is close to the main Arthur Ransome sites and uses the real locations of the district more or less as in real life. I found it an evocative and exciting introduction to the Lake District, though the children's cool-headedness and expertise at rock-climbing and very long hikes at the ages of 13-15 (in FF Holiday in particular) seemed a bit unreal. The blizzard up on top of Rossett Ghyll when Jan and Hyacinth get lost in FFF Christmas is particularly exciting. I would guess that there is some influence from Ransome - the slightly bossy eldest Browne child, future naval officer Pat, seems like AR's John Walker, his twin Kay like Susan, Hyacinth like Titty, and Jan like Roger.

Campers is really difficult to get hold of, but you can pick the others up in PB from time to time at secondhand shops.

[Tony Summerfield]

Reading this thread has just sent me into a seldom visited area on my back stairs and I checked out the Puffin compound, where I fished out 'Christmas' which I see is the original 1954 edition, I also have 'Campers' but no 'Holiday' which is a bit annoying as I like to read books in order. I was a bit shocked to see the current prices on Abe Books as 'Christmas' cost me 20p, but that was in 1993.

My question is will I miss out by not reading 'Holiday' first?

[Kate Mary]

I too like to read series in order if I possibly can and I think it's best to read Fell Farm Holiday first. At least it's not as expensive as FF at Christmas, but even Holiday and Campers seem to be going up in price.

[Katharine]

Tony, your description of visiting the Puffin compound on your "back stairs" sounded very 'Blytonesque'.

I think my mother has the first two Fell Farm books, I know I've got 'Holiday' - pity we don't live closer and could have pooled our resources.

[Tony Summerfield]

Thanks so much for the replies, I will have to try and buy Holiday. I have had another expotition and managed to fish out Campers and I was delighted to see that it is illustrated by Shirley Hughes. I pushed the boat out for this one as it cost me 25p in 1993, but I was a bit of a fussy gussie as I was going for first editions, but not searching all that seriously so I only have about half of the first three hundred Puffins and I haven't bought any old paperbacks in the last twenty years.

Not having Holiday will mean I can keep adding to the Cave over Christmas. I am with Enid and Bobs in the 1940s, adding for once from Enid's own copies rather than photocopies, so after nearly 80 years some need a bit of a makeover! I have added under 50 so far, but I still have over a hundred more to go which should keep me busy over Christmas.

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/bly ... perid=1892

[Katharine]

Tony, hopefully you will be able to pick up a cheap copy of Holiday from somewhere. I think I only paid about 30p for mine.

The new addition to The Cave looks good - I might need to borrow a magnifying glass to read it though.

It is really is great to have all these articles available to read, as I doubt I'd be able to see them any other way.

[Kate Mary]

It's an ill wind as they say. It is a shame you can't read the Fell Farm books over Christmas but at least we get more TW columns. Thank you very much Tony they are always a joy to read.

[pete9012S]

Thank you for the additions to the cave Tony -

The new addition to The Cave looks good - I might need to borrow a magnifying glass to read it though.

Any better Katharine?