The Enid Blyton Society

As you say, not really my cup of tea, but I wish you well with your project, Number 6.

Well, it's not always the sun, but who wants the world anyway

Nice one, Wolfgang

It's decided that next year, maybe in Easter, I'll be going to the New Forest!! I'm so excited!!! ( and such an amazing coincidence that my sister would end up studying in Southampton!!)

That's really wonderful, Maria Esther !!!

Machupicchu14 wrote:It's decided that next year, maybe in Easter, I'll be going to the New Forest!! I'm so excited!!! ( and such an amazing coincidence that my sister would end up studying in Southampton!!)

Nice one, Maria Esther! I hope you enjoy yourself. Don't hesitate to ask if you need info on finding the location sites. There's plenty of us on this thread to guide you around the New Forest!

number 6 wrote:I hope you enjoy yourself. Don't hesitate to ask if you need info on finding the location sites. There's plenty of us on this thread to guide you around the New Forest!

Of course!!!!!!!!

Still not heard anything from Marc Checkley regarding the 1970's F5 documentary that he made three or more years ago. Contacted him a few times via e-mail & a few PM's on Twitter. Just wanted to know if he's going to be doing anything with the Doc in the near future... or is it never gonna surface? Would be nice to know either way!

number 6 wrote:The band are called The Stranglers, but I suspect they're not your cup of tea, Eddie! The idea has been in the pipeline for about a year & still in it's infancy stage at the moment! Nothing is certain & it's all about everyone finding time to co-operate. There's a slim chance of something going ahead in the near future, but it's all a bit complicated at present. It's not just a case of talking to the band & going out & taking photos of the venues, it's also about interviewing fans/venue owners, etc, who were around at that particular time & who attended the gigs. I'm already in contact with quite a few fans, but it's a hugh undertaking! However, despite my optimism, I'm not holding my breath, as these projects have an uncanny way of fizzling out before they've even started!

I love The Stranglers! Great band. I learned about them from Keith Floyd, one of my favourite chefs.
I watch his cooking shows as much as I watch old episodes of the Famous Five!

Good luck with the project!

Hello folks,

I have been reading through all of the posts and there's a lot of excellent information, and photographs! Thank you very much for these.

It is one of my biggest dreams to visit all of the places that the Famous Five 1978-1979 television series was filmed. I hope to achieve it in the future.

I have been watching the series recently and trying to work out some of the less-discussed locations, for example as Two Trees, Old Towers, the Old Hall (near Billycock Butterfly Farm), Kirrin Farmhouse.

I am currently writing up a list of all the locations, to make a spreadsheet which I can post to this forum. I hope this can be helpful for everyone to see all of the locations so they can go and visit them. Over time I will add links to the photos that members have already posted.

I am really glad that I have learned of some of the locations, e.g.

-#19 Demon's Rocks: Mudeford Quay (Demon's Rocks Village & Quay), Hurst Castle Lighthouse (Tinker's Lighthouse)

-#18 Finniston Farm: St. Leonard's Farm

-#17 Get into a Fix: Roydon Manor (Old Towers)

-#15 Secret Trail: Exbury Gardens [still don't know the location of the ruined red abandoned cottage]

-#13 Mystery Moor: Decoy Pond Farm Stables

-#12 Go down to the Sea: Dancing Ledge in Dorset, Highcliffe Castle (Wrecker's Tower)

-#11 Wonderful Time: Rhinefield House in Brockenhurst

-#10 Hike: Castle Hill near Burley Street, Vales Moor; Sowley Pond? (Gloomy Water), [still finding out about Two Trees]

-#9 Fall into Adventure: Lepe House, Highcliffe Beach (directions & photo by Number6)

-#8 Trouble: Exbury House (Owl's Dene), Pylewell Gates (gates)

-#6 On Kirrin Island: Lepe Beach, Blackwater House (Kirrin Cottage)

-#5 Caravan: Gatewood Bridge & Blackwell Common

-#4 Smuggler's Top: Burley Manor Hotel (Smuggler's Top), Keyhaven Marshes (marshes), Burley Village (Castaway Village)



This list is just basic, and I did write it in reverse order! But it is a start at organising the locations. It does assume that all of the locations are in the New Forest, except where noted.

petejt wrote:I love The Stranglers! Great band. I learned about them from Keith Floyd, one of my favourite chefs.
I watch his cooking shows as much as I watch old episodes of the Famous Five!

Good luck with the project!

I can't fault your taste in music, petejt! Sadly, my little project is actually on the back burner at the moment. I've found it almost impossible to find time get the ball rolling. The Stranglers have done nothing but tour & do festival gigs all year! They've recently done a tour in France, then they'll be off to tour Australia/New Zealand in Feb & embarking on a UK tour in March (2018). Then they've been busy writing new material in their spare time! This has mean't I've had virtually no contact with the band for a number of months, & I think it's going to be a quite a few more before they'll have any sort of time to themselves! Plus, I've just started a new job, which will take up more of my time & attention in the coming months. Hopefully, the project will be rebooted at some point in the future.

petejt wrote:I am currently writing up a list of all the locations, to make a spreadsheet which I can post to this forum. I hope this can be helpful for everyone to see all of the locations so they can go and visit them. Over time I will add links to the photos that members have already posted.

Sounds like a nice idea, petejt. I used to have a great number of notes on each location, which included the likes of the two trees cottage, etc. Unfortunately, these went missing quite a while ago & i've no idea where they went to. I've got boxes of stuff in storage at my Mum's & my Brothers homes, & I've been hoping that I've just misplaced them & they'll turn up one day!

It sounds like it will be an interesting and useful reference source, Pete. Here's hoping that number 6 finds his notes.

Thank you very much folks. It's just to collate all of the great information that has already been posted here into one post. The list posted above is my start on it. I plan to expand on it over the next few weeks.

Then if I ever get the chance to visit England and the New Forest, I will set up a website that charts all of my visits complete with GPS coordinates, maps and photos. I'll have a section too so others can post links to their photos of the locations.

One thing I am wondering about is how to get permission to visit some of the houses? E.g. I read that Blackwater House Needs Ore Cottages (Kirrin Cottage) was sold about, what, October or November just gone? Also Gatewood House? And is there any chance that Exbury House would be open to the public? I would love to visit the basement where they made the secret passages and tunnels!

In fact, I was just watching Fall into Adventure where they go through the tunnels. I recognised it being the same tunnel used for On Kirrin Island that runs from Kirrin Castle Cellars to the mainland, surfacing near the beach on the other side of the ridge. I think it was also used in Adventuring Again as the Via Occulta Secret Way, the Finniston Castle cellars escape route to the chapel, and part of the Pirates Path/Wrecker's Way in Go Down to the Sea. There's a bit where they lay Timmy by a window in the stone wall, that leads to the outside. I can see hedges outside- like it's above ground!? I will post some screenshots later to illustrate.



Another thing is a particular set of stairs that was often used in secret passages, with a tarnished black and white wall (I think the bottom half of the wall was roughly painted white). I think it was a servants back stairs in Exbury House. It was used quite a few times.

-Adventuring Again, ascending in the 'Via Occulta' Secret Way to Kirrin Farmhouse (very dark).
-Smuggler's Top, ascending to the back of Sooty's bedroom cupboard.
-Billycock Hill, descending a set of stairs looking for Toby's cousin Jeff Thomas inside the Old Hall (full light).
-Get into a Fix, part of the mine where the Five, Morgan Jones and Aily's shepherd father are held captive on the stairwell while Llewellyn Thomas sets off a remote explosive charge to blow them up (I always thought this was rather morbid for a children's story!)

There was also a ladder shaft used most clearly in Go down to the Sea, where the Five climb up to the Wrecker's Light in what I guess is Highcliffe Castle in real life. It was also used in the Via Occulta.

I don't know where the underground vertical shaft is for the Secret Trail episode. Is that shaft still in existence at Exbury Gardens?

Also I am wondering about the caves behind the caravans in Five go off in a caravan. The entrance looked like some kind of hutch with doors that open, fairly poorly disguised underneath some bushes. The shaft seems to be on a slant that the Five and Nobby scatter down. Is that on the Common there near Gatewood Bridge?

petejt wrote:
One thing I am wondering about is how to get permission to visit some of the houses? E.g. I read that Blackwater House Needs Ore Cottages (Kirrin Cottage) was sold about, what, October or November just gone? Also Gatewood House? And is there any chance that Exbury House would be open to the public? I would love to visit the basement where they made the secret passages and tunnels!

Gatewood and Blackwater are private residences, so imagine if someone knocked on the door of your house one day and asked to look around. You'd probably say no, particularly after the 150th person did it. Exbury is now a big office complex, so internal access to the bits we used are now off-limits sadly.

petejt wrote:In fact, I was just watching Fall into Adventure where they go through the tunnels. I recognised it being the same tunnel used for On Kirrin Island that runs from Kirrin Castle Cellars to the mainland, surfacing near the beach on the other side of the ridge. I think it was also used in Adventuring Again as the Via Occulta Secret Way, the Finniston Castle cellars escape route to the chapel, and part of the Pirates Path/Wrecker's Way in Go Down to the Sea. There's a bit where they lay Timmy by a window in the stone wall, that leads to the outside. I can see hedges outside- like it's above ground!? I will post some screenshots later to illustrate.

Ha! Yup, the same fifteen feet of tunnel was used in every ep with tunnels, just redressed slightly. It was part of the old Exbury House kitchens - and the steps you mention actually joined the "tunnel" entrance - all part of the same kitchens

petejt wrote:Another thing is a particular set of stairs that was often used in secret passages, with a tarnished black and white wall (I think the bottom half of the wall was roughly painted white). I think it was a servants back stairs in Exbury House. It was used quite a few times.

There was also a ladder shaft used most clearly in Go down to the Sea, where the Five climb up to the Wrecker's Light in what I guess is Highcliffe Castle in real life. It was also used in the Via Occulta.

I don't know where the underground vertical shaft is for the Secret Trail episode. Is that shaft still in existence at Exbury Gardens?

Part of the same tunnel system we built. There's no real shafts in existence, they were all faked.

petejt wrote:Also I am wondering about the caves behind the caravans in Five go off in a caravan. The entrance looked like some kind of hutch with doors that open, fairly poorly disguised underneath some bushes. The shaft seems to be on a slant that the Five and Nobby scatter down. Is that on the Common there near Gatewood Bridge?

Again, all faked. No actual entrances, holes, shafts or tunnels existed - everything built by Bob Cartwright's fab art department team