The Enid Blyton Society

You have to wonder whether the Three's parents didn't get a bit piqued at their kids wanting to spend so little time with them though don't you? And what about this place that they used to go every year - the one that was cancelled during the first book which is why they ended up at Kirrin in the first place? Did they get sick of that?

I very much doubt if the guest house at Polseath was booked up. It was probably just an excuse as everyone there was sick to the back teeth with the Kirrins.

Moonraker wrote:I very much doubt if the guest house at Polseath was booked up. It was probably just an excuse as everyone there was sick to the back teeth with the Kirrins. :|

     I haven't got the book here to check - but I thought it *did* say that they were booked out there. So why do you doubt that, Nigel? And why would everyone be sick of the Kirrins?
     And is Polseath a real place?

Regards, Michael.

There's a place in Cornwall called Polzeath, so Enid Blyton might have had that in mind when writing about Polseath.

MJE wrote: I haven't got the book here to check - but I thought it *did* say that they were booked out there. So why do you doubt that, Nigel? And why would everywhere be sick of the Kirrins?
And is Polseath a real place?

Regards, Michael.

It definitely says that the usual place is fully booked - I started reading the book last night in anticipation of the readathon.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:There's a place in Cornwall called Polzeath, so Enid Blyton might have had that in mind when writing about Polseath.

Been there, it's a lovely little place, like much of Cornwall.

If Kirrin wasn't set in Dorset, it most definitely would be set in Cornwall.

Daisy wrote: It definitely says that the usual place is fully booked

I didn't say it wasn't fully booked, just doubted it. My point was (I rather wish I hadn't made it now!) that the owner of the guest house (or hotel) had just said that it was fully booked as they didn't want the Kirrins back again.

Moonraker wrote:

Daisy wrote:It definitely says that the usual place is fully booked

I didn't say it wasn't fully booked, just doubted it. My point was (I rather wish I hadn't made it now!) that the owner of the guest house (or hotel) had just said that it was fully booked as they didn't want the Kirrins back again. :roll:

     I've always taken this passage on face value, as I saw no reason to find it unbelievable that the place might be booked out; and I'm struggling to think of any reason why the owners would not want the Kirrins as guests.

Regards, Michael.

Michael, I think you should just take some of Nigel's text with a pinch of salt! He's a great joker, and loves his big wooden spoon! He has a great sense of humour which has us falling over with laughter!! So I wouldn't take everything he writes to heart!

Petermax wrote: Your confusion is quite understandable. By some incredible coincidence, both Quentin and Fanny shared the same surname prior to their marriage. (I think ) This has been the subject of much debate on these forums in the past. It could well be that Kirrin was a very common surname in that part of the country. Enid Blyton never really went into fine detail, much was left for the reader to decide!

Inbreeding?

JamieUK wrote:Inbreeding? :mrgreen:

     No, I think just a mistake on Enid Blyton's part.
     According to http://www.whitepages.com.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , there is not a single Kirrin in all of Australia with a listed telephone number. So I wonder if the name exists at all, or whether Enid Blyton invented it.

     (I'll be sort of back to normal in a number of days, so possibly I'll post a bit more after that.)

Regards, Michael.

Moonraker wrote:I think it is in Five go off in a Caravan that it is most noticeable. The opening chapters take place at ? House in ?village with Uncle ? and Aunt ? .

Just using this as a jumping-off point.... In "Five on a Treasure Island," the Kirrins/Barnards live quite a car ride away from Kirrin. But in "Five Have a Mystery to Solve," there are references to George cycling over to meet Mrs. Layton for tea.

I suppose the logical explanation is they moved house....

mynameisdumbnuts wrote:Just using this as a jumping-off point.... In "Five on a Treasure Island," the Kirrins/Barnards live quite a car ride away from Kirrin. But in "Five Have a Mystery to Solve," there are references to George cycling over to meet Mrs. Layton for tea.

I suppose the logical explanation is they moved house....

     It has to be that. Or possibly Enid Blyton simply made a mistake; but we can assume that to be the reason even so.
     If the series had been planned that far ahead, Enid Blyton may have taken care to mention in one of the books that they were moving. But we see Julian's home and parents seldom enough in the series that the omission of any mention of moving doesn't seem too bad an omission.

Regards, Michael.

In Five Go Adventuring Again, George is initially very disappointed because Christmas for the four of them (& Timmy) had meant to be at Julian, Dick and Anne's in London. They had been plans to go to a pantomime and other such treats, George had never experienced. Someone was taken ill in the family and Christmas was at Kirrin with a crooked tutor instead.

In the first book J, D & A's Father had meet Fanny in town (presumably London) on a business matter; I took this as an adult to be him helping them out financially, then he goes on to say the children staying will help them out, so presumably they pay Fanny and Quentin. There is also a reference in this book to the parents staying overnght in a nearby hotel.

I have always assumed since first reading 'Go Off In A Caravan' that Enid vaguely meant Julian, Dick, and Anne to live somewhere in the outer London suburbs - possibly near Enid's own Buckinghamshire homes? At the start of this book the four children see a circus passing by J, D, and A's house on a nearby road, en route to a 'rest break' at the elusive 'Merran' , and when the horse-drawn caravans are acquired they can set off direct from the house by road after the circus. Of course the scenario is a bit 'wish fulfilment' for the readers and reminiscent of Enid's 'Caravan Family' (and post-war petrol rationing would keep down the traffic), but we don't get any sense that the London trio's parents are at all concerned about them handling untested horses on fairly noisy roads - Enid was looking back to the 1920s not ahead to post-war traffic.

Roads in general were a lot quieter in the 1940s, even in 'town' ie London, but presumably the house is in a fairly quiet residential area - and Mr Gorgio's circus would have needed a largeish open space (a piece of 'common' in a built-up area or a field?) for its previous camp which it wouldn't have had in inner London. Eileen Soper's illustrations, which Enid would have approved before publication, show open fields around the house as the children see the circus passing, not houses. I have my own ideas about where 'Merran' was meant to be, about 10-14 days' journey at trotting-pace from London, and that the name and the quiet countryside the children cross en route there implies that Enid was thinking vaguely of the Chilterns and SW Midlands/ Cotswolds for the trip - which would also make a starting point of Bucks logical.

Enid also seems to have used her own home as the 'default option' for an unnamed setting in other books. Cf 'House at the Corner' with mentions of a riverside and hills, and 'Willow Farm' where the children hunt nearby for runaway farm horses at 'Christmas Common' - a real place in the Chilterns near Bourne End.

cr.