The Enid Blyton Society

I've been to Norwich and seen the cathedral but I'm afraid I didn't get to visit any bookshops. I'll keep the Dormouse Bookshop in mind if I go there again - it looks lovely. Brilliant news that you found all three of the Naughtiest Girl books with dustwrappers, Courtenay. I've only got the 1970s Dean & Son editions but they're wonderful stories and I've read them many times. Whenever you get round to reading them, let us know your thoughts.

Yes - great buys, Courtenay - and well worth having the Naughtiest Girl books in their original versions, because money features so strongly in the books, and they make much, much better sense than later versions where children are living happily on 20p a week! I just got through reading my original versions a few weeks ago - the first time Id read the whole series in original editions - and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.

I received a very good dust wrapper copy of the original 1961 edition of 'The Big Enid Blyton Book' yesterday, which I bought from eBay (thanks to a tip from someone on here!). I already had the book, without a dust wrapper, but this new copy, complete with a very good wrapper for only £7 and free postage, was too good to resist!

Well done, Rob! It was a good value.

Thanks Sixret!

Yes - great value! I do love The Big Enid Blyton Book - but I only wish I'd had it when I was a child, and hadn't already read all of the longer stories the extracts are taken from! I would have loved dipping into them, and would definitely have sought the full length books out afterwards. Its a book I would have delighted in having for Christmas or birthday as a kid!

Courtenay wrote:Norwich Cathedral is beautiful and well worth visiting, Chrissie (I was there today too). It's not on the way to Yorkshire, though. You can see where it is in relation to York (and indeed Birmingham!) on this map:

Thank you for the map, Courtenay. It looks as if it's quite a detour to go to Norwich .
We have only 11 days for the UK (flight days already deducted) and then 3 more days for Amsterdam, so I don't know if we would have enough time to include Norwich.

On Wednesday I requested the Collins Road Atlas for the UK at our library, then we'll be able to see how many 4 digit roads there are...the navigation system in the UK rental cars seems to focus on those 4 digit hedge row roads only.
We'll try to do the trip with road maps only and ignore the navi as we'll don't have enough time to get lost on 4 digit roads this time.

What are 'four digit roads', Chrissie? Do you mean small roads like 'A3854 etc? Just wondered!

Rob, yes, those are the four digit roads that I meant.
In 1995 I drove on a fairly large road/highway to Salcombe in Devon using my UK map. Unfortunately I didn't bring that map in 2008.
When my husband and I tried to go to Salcombe in 2008, this two digit road mysteriously had disappeared and the navigation system in our rental car sent us for many hours on a four digit hedge row where we had lots of oncoming traffic and had to wait in parking spots to let cars go by.
It took us about three times as long to reach Salcombe (because we had no road atlas and were dependent on a non-functioning Tom Tom ). We had to abandon our plan to see a bit of Cornwall on that day.

I agree those roads must be quite scary for visitors - although they do offer a really British way to explore the out-of-the-way places off the beaten track! In Devon and Cornwall we mostly explored on those types of roads, as you get to see the country in a deeper way - but if you are attempting a quick tour, it must be frustrating!

Rob, actually you don't get to see much as the sides of the four digit roads are mostly lined with high hedges.
You can see a lot more from the M1 (?) motorway or similar large roads.

So glad your book arrived safe and sound Rob . It's a lovely wrapper isn't it? Much nicer than the later version one in my opinion. The style of the illustrations and the glossy bright red makes it look really appealing, I'd have loved to receive it for christmas as a child.

My latest bargain is a copy of the 2014 Famous Five annual that I found in the charity shop this morning for £1 . I'd only gone in to pass the time while the washing was in the tumble dryer at the laundrette!

IceMaiden wrote:My latest bargain is a copy of the 2014 Famous Five annual that I found in the charity shop this morning for £1 . I'd only gone in to pass the time while the washing was in the tumble dryer at the laundrette!

IceMaiden, the last 3 FF Annuals are so beautiful with the many Soper illustrations!

Chrissie777 wrote:Rob, actually you don't get to see much as the sides of the four digit roads are mostly lined with high hedges.
You can see a lot more from the M1 (?) motorway or similar large roads.

I meant - you get to visit a lot of places that aren't on the tourist map, rather than actually seeing it from the road! Most of the most beautiful places in Britain are of course, far away from the motorways and main roads.

Like Clun - Which I had never heard of until Julie mentioned Dick Turnip!

Rob Houghton wrote:...Most of the most beautiful places in Britain are of course, far away from the motorways and main roads.

Yes, you are right, Rob.
Without the tip of an elderly lady standing right behind me in a queue at the tourist information in either Salcombe or Kingsbridge, Devon (it's too long ago, I don't remember where exactly it was), I never would have been aware of an incredibly beautiful place like Wonwell Beach at the Erme Mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af_DsSEY_H4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BTW the further you walk away from the open sea, the more beautiful the landscape becomes.

That looks a beautiful place, Chrissie. Another lovely place near to Plymouth is Rame Head. Its a very Blytonian type of place - a long narrow headland with a small chapel at the end, really just as big as a hut, where in the old days, so the stories go, a hermit preacher used to keep a light burning to warn boats of the dangerous coastline.