Green Hedges - a few questions

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Tony Summerfield
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Moonraker wrote:And not forgetting the Salisbury resident who got into Buckingham Palace, and sat on the Queen's bed and talked to her.
That wasn't me in case anyone is wondering! :lol: I did talk to Princess Diana, but not in her bedroom!
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Ming »

Did you manage to get her to read Enid Blyton? :wink:

I wasn't wondering anything till you mentioned it, by the way!
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Moonraker »

Ming wrote:I wasn't wondering anything till you mentioned it, by the way!
:?: :?: :?:
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I assume Ming was replying to Tony's comment: "That wasn't me in case anyone is wondering! :lol: "
Tony Summerfield wrote:I did talk to Princess Diana, but not in her bedroom!
Apparently a number of other men did, but I don't think they crept in uninvited! :lol:
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by pete9012S »

Enikyoga wrote:What, may be not surprising is how innocent security was during those days, probably through Enid's last day at Green Hedges. Maybe, this was because she had lived in an era i.e. the 1930s, the 1940s, 1950s, even almost to the end of the 1960s in an era when security threats such as terrorists, stalkers, serial killers etc were not aswell known or to put it better, more pronounced as is the case nowadays. Despite, as I have read somewhere, Green Hedges was the most well-known home residence in Britain after Buckingham Palace, yet there was no iron fence surrounding it. In fact in The Story Of My life, Enid Blyton recounts how some mischievous boys threw stones at her swans. This incident suggests that it was very easy to enter the grounds of Green Hedges. I also guess there was no security and Enid Blyton most of her time she may have been alone with her family and maybe domestic assistants. Nowadays, celebrities such as Enid Blyton have to lock themselves behind iron gates. i.e. look at J.K. Rowling in her carefully-guarded castle in Scotland. Nonetheless, despite being in a gated community, an intruder managed to penetrate and enter the late Beatles' George Harrison's residence in London. How things have changed since those "innocent" days. I am glad to learn that Old Thatch is well fenced and gated. That prevents creeps of all hues that may want to create either mischief or harm from having easy access to these premises.
Stephen I.
Yes,I agree Stephen.It's hard to imagine Enid being allowed to come and go without intrusion these days in our celebrity obsessed culture...
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bavers
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by bavers »

Somebody knows what happened to that statue of a girl who was reading in the gardens of Green Hedges? Thanks
I don't know unfortunately where the statue is but I can confirm that my mother still had it at her death. She was planning on putting it in the new garden she was going to create at her new, much smaller property. Unfortunately, the executors of her estate, with no consultation, sold the statue in Ilkley, in a sale with no attribution in 2009/2010, certainly prior to the sale of the other Blyton memorabilia in September 2010. Someone has a gem which presumably they are unaware of.

Had I known of the sale I would have tried to buy it, if only because of he memories it held for me. Not just the memories of it at Green Hedges, where it used to sit near a pond with the biggest goldfish I, aged under 8, had ever seen. But also because once it had moved to Yorkshire after Enid's death, my siblings and I knocked it off its plinth and decapitated it. I think my mother was angrier than I have ever seen her. I remember being so mortified and upset that I tore her Christmas card into bits because she quite clearly no longer loved me, as the card had assured me she did.

The statue was carefully mended and sat near two ponds, at Low Hall and Ty Bryn, until it was secured in the garage at her last house prior to a garden and pond being created.

I fortunately have the memory of it in the large Tom Adams biographical portrait which is hung in my hall, but it is not the same as the original.

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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Daisy »

Thank you so much for this information bavers, especially your own very personal memory of the lovely little statue. I'm so glad it wasn't damaged beyond repair. It is such a pity that it's present location is unknown - then perhaps you could have the opportunity of bringing her back into the family.
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Wayne Pyer »

What a travesty, Bavers! Let's hope someday, somebody will read this and give you the opportunity to right this wrong. Thanks for sharing your touching memories. :D
Wayne, living in an Enid Blyton world.
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Thanks very much for sharing your memories of the statue, Bavers. What a pity that its current location is unknown.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Lucky Star »

Hopefully the statue will surface again at some point. These things often do. In the meantime I will also add my thanks for the shared memories Bavers.
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Eddie Muir »

Thanks from me too, Bavers. Let's hope the statue is found in the not-too-distant future and restored to its rightful owners.
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by pete9012S »

misteriojuvenil wrote:Somebody knows what happened to that statue of a girl who was reading in the gardens of Green Hedges? Thanks

Image
Image

I tried to find a similar one and have posted it in black and white...

http://www.gardenornamentsdirect.com/gi ... tatue.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Courtenay »

Not a bad likeness, Pete! I was just reading through the earlier posts in this thread - sad that the original statue was sold. As a few have said, let's hope someone someday discovers its Blyton connection and its worth.
Tony Summerfield wrote:I did talk to Princess Diana, but not in her bedroom!
The mind boggles :shock: :wink:
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Lucky Star »

A nice find Pete. If I had a nice garden I wouldn't mind having that statue in it. Perhaps next to a nice pond or something.
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Re: Green Hedges - a few questions

Post by Ming »

It's a nice find, indeed. I think the original, though, is nicer. Not because it sat in Enid's garden because the girl is bent more, with her head cocked to the side - she seems more realistic and involved in the book than the newer stature (so expensive :cry: ), who seems just a little too stiff.
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