Saturday 4 August 2012

On the trail of Enid Blyton

Last week we headed off on a trail around the Purbecks, well that was the plan. It was an Enid Blyton trail organised by the Ginger Pop Shop. The idea is you visit various places that inspired Enid Blyton and find clues along the way.
First stop was Swanage, a place I have many fond memories of as I lived there for a short while. Our destination was the restored pier. We stopped in the old fashioned amusements and exchanged a pound for some big old pennies to put in these vintage slot machines.
This is what remains of the old pier.
The jammers ran off to hunt down clues. I had better not share as they've set their hearts on winning!
Lovely views from the pier out to Old Harry rocks and Poole in the distance.

We picnicked overlooking the beach and I introduced the jammers to the world of Fortes icecream. We generally got distracted from the trail by icecream, food and a quick whizz around the chazzas for me.
Finally we were off again looking for something blue. Can you see where we are?The Blue Pool near Wareham.
The littlest jammer ran ahead. By now we found ourselves partaking in two trails. Enid Blyton and The Blue Pool's own hunt the squirrel.
We had to find posts labelled A-Z. easy peasy. Now at each post we had to look in the surrounding trees for a squirrel or possibly a woodpecker or owl (they obviously ran out of squirrels).
Boy this took some spotting. In fact many were not spotted!
I zoomed the camera as far as I could to check this was a plastic squirrel. Red or grey - who knows?!
Around the trail we peaked at the pool looking lovely and um blue.


And that's all for now folks. We caught the ferry from Studland to Sandbanks with the intention of going to the Ginger Pop shop for the next clue. However the queue was so long we missed that and opted for pizza supper instead.

10 comments:

  1. Ooh how fab! Loved Enid Blyton and her lashings of ginger beer ... Looking forward to next post. Have a lovely weekend

    Claire xx

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  2. What a lovely idea! May have to have a go at this too ... M x

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  3. Your holidays are sounding idyllic Ellie.

    Enid Blyton trail sounds a wonderful idea, fingers crossed they win.

    X

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  4. What a lovely idea - must add that to the list, I loved Enid Blyton as a child
    Julie xxxxxxxxx

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  5. That was a lovely post. I think every child should have an Enid Blyton type inspired childhood. I loved her stories and they really stirred your imaginations didnt they? I do worry that todays children dont have the same adventures as we did for various reasons. I'm sure the little jammers must have just loved it all!

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  6. A lovely posting and I echo most of the above comments. It's nice to see most of The Secret Seven and The Famous Five now back on the bookshelves again and Enid Blyton enjoying a comeback. Love your photos of the pier and the old machines in the penny arcade.
    June

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  7. How exciting, I have not been to Dorset for years, but your photos have reminded me of the wonderful place it is, Thank you
    Thea x

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  8. Such a lovely thing to do with little ones. It looks like you had a perfect day. I used to love her books as a child, especially Famous Five and Mallory Towers.

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  9. Beautiful pictures. Makes me want to visit.

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